Week 1 - Lecture Slides - January 31
There are different types of research:
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Basic vs. Applied
Deductive vs. Inductive
o Induction: Specific – General
o Deductive – General to Specific
Exploratory vs. Explanatory
Qualitative vs. Quantitative.
Qualitative vs. Quantitative
“Quantitative observations provide a high level of measurement precision and
statistical power, while qualitative observations provide greater depth of information
about how people perceive events in the context of the actual situations in which they
occur.” (Frey et al. 1991: 99)
“Qualitative research involves an interpretive approach to the world. This means that
qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense
of, or to interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them”
(Denzin & Lincoln 1994: 3).
There are 4 different worldviews or paradigms:
- Postpositivism: structured, more different methodologies to know you’re right.
One reality that can be empirically found/researched
- Social Constructivism: there is not one reality
- Advocacy/Participatory: researcher wants to change reality for the better
- Pragmatism: combination of the above, you tally whatever makes sense.
Week 1 – Chapter 2 (pg. 16/18 important)
Paradigms
Post positivist
- More similar to quantitative (empirical/systematic)
- Cause and effect orientated
- Positivism: One reality that we can observe. If you can’t measure it, it is not
there
- Post positivism: similar to positivism, in positivism everything had to be
empirical, now still has it as a basis but softer/more open to acknowledge that
their might be things that we can not measure directly but are still there and
relevant.
Social Constructivism
- Individuals seeks understanding of the world in which they live and work in
- Multiple realities
- Subjective meanings of their experiences
- Meanings directed toward objects or things
- Goal of research is to rely as much as possible on the participants views of the
situation
- Instead of starting with theory they generate or inductively develop a theory or
pattern of meaning.
Advocacy/Participatory
- Emancipates people (free people from certain constructs that their in)
- Action agenda for reform that may change the lives of participants, the
institutions in which they live and work, or even the researchers lives.
- Examples of study/use: oppression, domination, suppression, alienation, &
hegemony
Pragmatism
- Focus on outcomes of research (actions, situations, consequences of inquiry)
- Concern with applications “does whatever works” and solutions to problems.
- The important aspect of research is the problem being studied and questions
asked about this problem
Philosophical assumptions to be found in the text
Ontological
- About the nature of reality
- Participants see multiple realities
- Reality is subjective and multiple and seen by participants in study
- How the world works, issue questions
Epistemological
- How people know what they know
- How we as researchers come to know things about the world
- Researcher becomes an “insider” lessens distance between himself/herself and
research
- Need to experience the world, how do we get to know about it? Procedural
questions
Axiological
- Researcher has bias (certain values attached to it)
- Everyone has different values (this influences your research)
Rhetorical
- Informal style of research and use of qualitative terms and limited definitions
Methodological
- Inductive logic
- Studies topic within its context
- Uses an emerging design
Week 1 - Chapter 3 – Designing a Qualitative Study
Qualitative research begins with assumptions, a worldview, the possible use of a
theoretical lens, and the study of research problems inquiring into the meaning
individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. To study the problem,
qualitative researchers use an emerging qualitative approach to inquiry, the collection
of data in a natural setting sensitive to the people and places under study, and data
analysis that is inductive and establishes patterns and themes. The final written report
or presentation includes the voices of participants, the reflexivity of the researcher,
and a complex description and interpretation of the problem, and it extends the
literature or signals a call for action.
Key components to qualitative research:
Natural settings
 Collect data at the site where participants experience the issue or problem.
o Do not bring individuals into a lab.
 Fieldwork in a natural setting is a major component to qualitative research.
Researcher as a key instrument
 The qualitative researchers collect data themselves through examining
documents, observing behavior, and interviewing participants.
 They do not rely on questionnaires or instruments developed by others.
Multiple sources of data
 Qualitative researchers typically gather multiple forms of data, such as
interviews, observations, and documents – instead of a single source or type.
 Uses this data to identify categories or themes.
Inductive data analysis
 Researchers build their patterns, categories, and themes from the “bottom-up”,
by organizing data into increasingly more abstract units of information.
 Researcher goes back and forth between themes and the database until they
establish a comprehensive set of themes.
Participants meaning
 The researcher must focus on learning the meaning that the participants give
to an issue or problem.
Emergent design
 The structure of the research is tentative – meaning that the design needs to
change and be flexible in accordance to what is being researched.
o i.e. – questions may change, forms of data collection may shift, and the
individuals being studied may be modified.
Theoretical Lens
 Researchers often use a lens to view their studies – i.e. the concept of culture,
central to ethnography, or gendered, racial, or class differences .
Interpretative inquiry
 Researchers make an interpretation of what they see, hear, and understand.
 The researchers interpretation cannot be separated from their own background,
history, context, and prior understandings.
 People reading the published research report also make an interpretation of the
study.
Holistic account
 Researchers try to develop a complex picture of the problem or issue under
study.
 This involves reporting multiple perspectives, identifying the many factors
involved in a situation, and generally sketching the larger picture that emerges.
When to use qualitative research?
 When we identify a problem that needs to be explored – exploratory research.
 This exploration may be needed to:
o Study a group or population
o Identify variables that can be measured
o To hear silenced voices
 We also conduct qualitative research because it enables us to develop a
complex and detailed understanding of an issue.
o This detail can only be established by talking directly with people,
going to their homes or places of work, and allow them to tell the
stories unencumbered by what we expect to find or what we have read
in the literature.
 Qualitative research also enables the researchers to write a literary, flexible
style that conveys stories or theater, or poems , without the restrictions of
formal academic structures of writing.
o Researcher can better understand and describe events in their context.
The Process of designing a qualitative study?
Creswell notes that there is NO agreed upon structure for how to design a qualitative
study! However, there is a basic structures that all researchers seem to follow:
 Start with an issue or problem
 Examine the literature in some way related to the problem
 Pose questions
 Gather data and then analyze them
 Write up reports
The backbone of qualitative research is extensive collection of data, typically from
multiple sources of information:
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Interviews
Observations
Documents
Audiovisual materials
Following the collection of the data, the researcher must begin to analyze it, working
inductively from particulars to more general perspectives, whether these perspectives.
The perspectives can be considered themes, dimensions, codes or categories.
Following the collection and analysis of data, the author then begins to develop and
shape a narrative. The narrative unfolds over time and focuses on four aspects:
problem, question, method, findings.
Characteristics of a good Qualitative Study
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The Researcher employs rigorous data collection procedures. This means that
the researcher collects multiple forms of data, adequately summarizes the, and
spends a great deal of time in the field.
The researcher frames the study within the assumptions and characteristics of
the qualitative approach to research. This includes fundamental characteristics
such as an evolving design, the presentation of multiple realities, the
researcher as an instrument of data collection, and a focus on participants
views.
The researcher uses an approach to qualitative inquiry such as the ones
mentioned in the book: narrative, epistemology, grounded theory,
phenomenology, case study. The use of a recognized approach to research
enhances the rigor and sophistication of the research design.
The researcher begins with a single focus – focus on a single concept of idea.
The study includes detailed methods, a rigorous approach to data collection,
data analysis, and report writing.
o Rigor pertains to extensive data collection in the field, multiple levels
of data analysis, formation of narrow codes to broad interrelated
themes.
The researcher writes persuasively so that the reader experiences being there.
The study reflects the history, cultures, and personal experiences of the
researcher.
The qualitative research is ethical!
Week 2 - Lecture Slides - February 7
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Qualitative research is mostly done in the field and not in a
laboratory/stimulus environment.
Does not aim to generalize the outcome of experiments, it is more explorative
and more in-depth and VERY INDUCTIVE
Qualitative interviewing
Survey questioning
Face-to-face
Often not face-to-face
Flexible
Standardized
No fixed order of questions
Fixed order of questions
“Guided” conversation
“Interrogation”
Interative: continuous analysis Data gathering and data
analysis are 2 separate phases
Seeks understanding
Seeks patterns / test
hypothesis
There are 5 approaches to qualitative inquiry:
1.) Narrative Research (e.g. on the life on an individual)
“A specific type of qualitative design in which “narrative is understood as a
spoken or written text giving an account of an event/action or series of
events/actions, chronologically connected” (p. 54)
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Provides a chronology of events
Analysis of a narrative
Themes of stories
Procedures:
• 1) does the topic fit narrative research?
• 2) select individuals, devote time to gathering their stories
• 3) contextualize the stories
• 4) restorying: “the qualitative data analysis may be a description of both the
story and themes that emerge from it” (p. 56)
• 5) collaboration
An example in the appendix: a life story of one person (including the metaphor of
sitting in a bus).
Challenges narrative research …
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Collect extensive information;
Have a clear understanding of the context of the individual’s life;
Critical assessment of source materials to identify themes;
Be willing to collaborate with participants and reflect on one’s own
background
2.) Phenomenology
“Describes the meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a
concept or phenomenon…the basic purpose is to reduce individual experiences
with a phenomenon to a description of the universal essence” (p. 57-58)
Procedures:
• 1) Does the topic fit phenomenology?
• 2) Identify a phenomenon of interest to study
• 3) Specify the philosophical assumptions of this approach (e.g., epoche)
• 4) Collect data (often in-depth, multiple interviews; ask two broad general
questions)
• 5) Data analysis/textural description/essence
Challenges Phenomenology…
- One must understand (and identify) the broad philosophical assumptions of
the approach;
- Carefully chosen participants;
- Difficulty of epoch/bracketing (impossible?)
3.) Grounded Theory
“The intent of grounded theory is to move beyond description and to generate or
discover a theory…” (p. 62-63)
Procedures:
• 1) Does the topic fit a grounded theory approach?
• 2) Research questions are asked of the participants; focus on how they
experience the process/steps of the process; repeat until theoretical saturation
is reached
• 3) Data analysis (stages): open, axial and selective coding
• 4) Result: a substantive-level theory
Challenges grounded theory…
- Must set aside preconceived ideas so theory can emerge;
- Must determine when categories are saturated;
- Must keep in mind the outcome is a theory
4) Ethnograhpy
“A qualitative design in which the researcher describes and interprets the shared
and learned patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs, and language of a culturesharing group” (p. 68)
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Seen as a method of studying but also as a way of producing a final written
product of research
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Realist: more objective, reported in 3rd person and simply records the facts
about what has already been discovered (no desire to advocate)
Critical variation: takes on the advocacy perspective. You advocate for
participants in some way (written in first person, as immersing yourself in
research)
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Procedures:
• 1) Does the topic fit ethnography?
• 2) Identify a culture-sharing group to study
• 3) Select themes for analysis of the culture-sharing group (decide which type
of ethnography)
• 4) Conduct fieldwork
• 5) Data analysis/create a cultural portrait
An example is the analysis of a subculture and their shared beliefs and values.
Challenges ethnography..
- Grounding in the approach;
- Fieldwork is extensive (“going native”);
- Sensitivity of the researcher
Case Studies
“…a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a bounded system (a
case)…over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple
sources of data…and reports a case description and case-based themes” (p. 73).
Procedures:
• 1) Does the topic fit a case study approach? (Clearly defined boundaries i.e.
which newspaper what page etc…)
• 2) Identify the case(s) using purposeful sampling
• 3) (Extensive) data collection
• 4) Data analysis: holistic (Analyzing a whole case) or embedded (analyzing a
specific aspect of a case)
• 5) “Lessons learned” (reflecting on the research process)
For example the political protests in Egypt.
Challenges case studies..
• Identifying the case(s)/bonded system
• Providing a rationale
Overarching question: “How does the type or approach of qualitative inquiry
shape the design or procedures of a study?”
Week 2 - Chapter 4 – Five Qualitative Approaches to Inquiry
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Narrative study, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography & case study
Narrative
- Can be both a method and the phenomenon
- “Narrative is understood as a spoken or written text giving an account of an
event/action or series of events/actions, chronologically connected” (p.54)
- Procedure: focusing on studying one or two individuals, gathering data
through the collection of their stories, reporting individual experiences and
chronologically ordering (using life course stages) the meaning of those
experiences.
- Types of Narratives
o Narrative analysis: collect descriptions of events or happenings and
then configure them into a story using a plot line
o Analysis of narratives (Polkinghorne): how individuals are enabled and
constrained by social resources, socially situated in interactive
performances and narrators develop interpretations.
o A biographical study: a form of narrative study in which the
researcher writes and records the experiences of another person’s life
o Autobiography: written and recorded by the individuals who are the
subject of the study
o Life history: portrays an individuals entire life
o Oral history: gathering personal reflections of events and their causes
and effects from one individual or several individuals
- Challenges:
o Needs active collaboration with the participant is necessary, and
researchers need to discuss the participants stories as well as be
reflective about their own personal background that shapes how they
give the account
o Who owns the story? Who can tell it? Who can change it? Whose
version is convincing? What happens when narratives compete? What
do stories do among us?
Phenomenological Research
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Reports the life of single individuals, the meaning for several individuals of
their lived experiences of a concept or phenomenon. What they have in
common in their experience
Popular in psychology, social and health sciences, education, sociology
Epoche (bracketing): in which investigators set aside their experiences as
much as possible to take a fresh perspective toward phenomenon under
examination
Methods: often interviews
Procedure: have a transcript of the data (textual data) and analyse which
themes keep on popping up (dominant themes)
Types
o Hermeneutical phenomenology: research orientated toward lived
experience and interpreting the ‘texts’ of life.
o Transcendental phenomenology: consist of identifying a
phenomenon to study, beacketing our one’s experiences, and collecting
data from several persons who have experienced the phenomenon.
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Reduce the information to significant statements or quotes and
combines statements into themes
Textual description: what participants experienced
Structural description: how they experienced it in terms of
the conditions, situations, or context
Combination of the textual and structural description to convey
an overall essence of the experience.
Challenges:
o Bracketing of personal experiences may be difficult for the researcher
to implement
o Separating the researcher from the text
Stewart & Mickunas philosophical perspectives
o A return to the traditional tasks of philosophy: empirical science
similar to that of 19th century “scientism” which was limited to
exploring the world by empirical means
o Philosophy without presuppositions: suspend all judgements about
what is real “natural attitude” – epoche
o Intentionality of consciousness: reality is not divided into subjects
and objects but into dual nature of both subjects and objects as they
appear in the consciousness
o The refusal of the subject-object dichotomy: the reality of an object
is only perceived within the meaning of the experience of an individual
Grounded Theory
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Intent is to move beyond description and to generate or discover a theory.
Participants in the study would all have experienced the process, and the
development of the theory might help explain practice or provide framework
for further research
Popular in sociology, nursing, education, and psychology and other social
science fields
Units of analysis: situations
Useful in analysis of situations: situational, social world/arenas and
positional cartographic maps
Low level theory (still very specific to the case but may be able to be
generalised)
Purest form of inductive research not looking for grand theories (exploratory)
Types:
o Systematic approach: seeks to systematically develop a theory that
explains process, action, or interaction on a topic. i.e. interviews based
on several visits to the field to collect data to classify them in
categories/makes use of open/axial/selective coding. Also collects data
and documents but rarely used.
 Category: represents a unit of information composed of events,
happenings and instances.
 Constant comparative method: process of taking information
from data collection and comparing it to emerging categories
 Open coding: coding data for its major categories of
information
 Axial coding: identifies one open coding category to focus on
and then goes back to the data and create categories around this
core phenomenon.
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Causal conditions: what factors caused the core
phenomenon
 Strategies: actions taken in response to the core
phenomenon
 Intervening conditions: broad and specific situational
factors that influence the strategies.
 Selective coding: takes the model and develops propositions
(hypothesis) that interrelate the categories in the model or
assembles a story that describes the interrelationship of
categories in the model
 Conditional matrix: coding device to help researcher make
connections between the macro/micro conditions influencing
phenomenon
o Constructivist approach: emphasizing diverse local worlds, multiple
realities, and the complexities of particular worlds, views and actions.
A focus on theory developed that depends on the researchers view,
learning about the experience within embedded, hidden networks,
situations and relationships and making visible hierarchies of power,
communication and opportunity.
 Researcher makes decisions about the categories throughout the
process, brings questions to the data and advances personal
values, experiences and priorities.
 Charmaz: conclusions by grounded theorists are suggestive,
incomplete and inconclusive
Ethnography
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Examine many individuals not necessarily located at same time, on entire
cultural group (i.e. heavy punk rock culture)
Study participants that are not likely to be located at the same place often
enough to share learned behaviours, beliefs and language. Researcher
describes and interprets the shared and learned patterns of values, behaviours,
beliefs and language of culture sharing group
Method: conduct fieldwork, go onto the site/respect them (natural habitat) can
gather information via multiple means and then analyse data via interpretation
of group (emic) point of view of researcher that participates in the group (etic)
Participant observation: participating/immersed within the group your
observing
Types:
o Realist ethnography: Objective account of the situation, typically
written in 3person point of view and reporting objectively on the
information learned from participants at a site. Researcher in
background as omniscient reports of ‘facts’
o Critical ethnography: authors advocate for the emancipation of
groups marginalized in society. Usually politically minded who seek to
speak out against inequality and domination. i.e. power, empowerment,
inequality, dominance, repression, hegemony and victimization.
Case Study
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Don’t try to explain what happened but used as an illustration of what is
supposed to happen in theory.
Can use quantitative data i.e. survey’s
Holistic: how all the things in the case study are linked
Embedded: one aspect of the case
Week 2 – Summary Chapter 5 – Five Different Qualitative Studies
The chapter is divided into 2 parts- first part focuses on each of the type of qualitative
study through the prism of the stories from appendix –B-F, whereas the second part of
the chapter differentiates between these different approaches.
Narrative- biographical approach- Appendix B
Focus: on the life of an individual
The study illustrates the biographical type of narrative study. Life story of Vonnie
Lee, an individual with a mental retardation, who likes to travel on a bus (for him it’s
a symbol of wealth, freedom and empowerment). In short a narrative research’s main
characteristics in this research are:
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Story of a single individual as a central focus of a studying
The data collection consists of stories and conversations; the reconstruction of
life experiences through researcher participant observations
The individual recalled a special event in his life- epiphany (eg. The bus ride)
Epiphany is then situated within the context
The researcher is presented in the study, reflecting on his own experiences- he
interprets the story
Phenomenological approach- Appendix C
Focus: concept of phenomenon and the essence of lived experiences of persons about
phenomenon
Study about individuals who have experienced AIDS and the images and ways they
think about their disease. 58 men and women diagnosed with AIDS were interviewed
during the period of 18 months, questions like “What is your experience with AIDS?
What meaning does it have in your life?”. They also asked patients to draw pictures of
their disease. Results: 11 major themes based on 175 significant statements.
Phenomenological approach’s main characteristics in this research are:
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The use of systematic data analysis procedures of significant statements,
meanings, themes, and an exhaustive description of the essence of the
phenomenon
The inclusion of tables illustrating significant statements, meanings and theme
clusters
A central phenomenon and the context
Grounded Theory- Appendix D
Focus: to develop a theory
Sensitive topic- how 11 women survived and coped with childhood sexual abusedetailed view of women’s lives. Two open- ended questions: Tell me, as much as you
are comfortable sharing with me right now, what happened to you when you were
sexually abused? What were the primary ways in which you survived?”. Data
collected through one-on-one interviews, focus groups and participant observation.
Grouping data into categories and then reassembling the data through systematically
relating the categories into a visual model. Grounded Theory approach’s main
characteristics in this research are:
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The authors mentioned at the beginning that their purpose was to generate a
theory using a construct oriented approach.
The procedure was thoroughly discussed and systematic
The authors presented a visual model, a coding diagram of the theory
The language and feel of the article was scientific and objective whole, at the
same time, it addressed a sensitive topic effusively.
Ethnographic Study- Appendix E
Focus: description of a culture- sharing group
Research about the core values of the straight edge (sXe) movement that emerged on
the East Coast of the US from the punk subculture of the early 1980s. The sXers
adopted a clean living ideology of abstaining for life from alcohol, tobacco, illegal
drugs, and casual sex. The authors participated in the movement for 14 days, attended
250 music shows, interviewed 28 men and women plus gathered data from secondary
sources. Ethnography approach’s main characteristics in this research are:
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Study was about a culture- sharing group and their core values and beliefs.
The authors first described the group, then advanced 5 themes about the
group, and ended with a broad level of abstraction beyond the themes to
suggest how the subculture worked.
The author positioned himself by describing his involvement in the subculture
and his role as an observer of the group for many years
Unlike other critical approaches, the study did not end with a call for a social
transformation, but the overall study stood for reexamining subculture
resistance.
Case Study- Appendix F
Focus: a specific case in examined, often with the intent of examining an issue with
the case illustrating the complexity of the issue.
Research about the reaction of people at a large Midwestern university to a student
who entered a classroom in actuarial science with a machine gun and attempted to
shoot at the students. Data were collected through the multiple sources of information
(triangulation), such as interviews, observations, documents, and audiovisual
materials. Themes of denial, fear, safety, retriggering and campus planning emerged
from the data analysis. Case study structure- the problem, the context, the issues, the
lessons learned. Description of the personal experience of the researchers at the end of
the study. Case Study approach’s main characteristics in this research are:
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Researchers identified the “case” for the study, the entire campus and its
response to a potentially violent crime.
This case was a bounded system, bounded by time (6 months) and place (one
campus)
Use of extensive, multiple sources of information in data collection to provide
the detailed in- depth picture of the campus response.
Description of the context and/ or setting for the case, situating the case within
a peaceful Midwestern city, a tranquil campus, a classroom, along with the
detailed events during a 2 week period following the incident.
Differences among the approaches
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Narrative: is on the life of an individual. Gathering materials about the
person, either historically or from present-day sources (convo’s or
observations)
Phenomenology: a concept or phenomenon and the “essence” of the lived
experiences of persons about that phenomenon and meaning individuals hold.
Gathering data through interviews.
Grounded theory: to develop a theory. Data collection primarily through
interviews, and systematic procedures for analysing and developing the theory
i.e. open/axial/selective coding.
Ethnography: describe behaviours of culture-sharing group (individual). Data
collection through observation and interviews
Case study: specific case (bounded in time or place) is examined often with
the intent of examining an issue with the case illustrating the complexity of the
issue (clear boundaries). Needs wide array of information for in depth
understanding.
Week 3 Lecture Slides - February 14
Why Interview?
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Direct examination of the empirical world
Construction of meanings
Talk about topics themes that may otherwise be too embarrassing to talk about
What is an interview?
Interviewing is a qualitative method of data gathering. In-depth interviews are
unstructured, unlike (structured) surveys. Topics don’t have a necessary order, there
just is a topic list the interviewer deals with. After the interview, the interviewer also
writes down the atmosphere, thoughts he or she has: own experiences are significant
too. Activities can be noted down between brackets [laughing].
The interviewer is supposed to be active, interested, guiding the conversation, serious
and understanding. The interviewee tells the story in his or her own words, and is
supposed to be active as well. It is important that the interviewer:
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‘Compulsory topics’
– Check recording device
– Introduce yourself
– Explanation of interview process
– Discuss privacy and guarantee anonymity
Why should one use interviewing as a method?
- Construction of meaning
- Tracing cultural meanings
- Difficult/sensitive topics
Principles Active Interview:
– Conversation  interaction
– Constructed at a certain time and place
– Site of knowledge production
– Two active participants involved
– Collaboration
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Reflection at a different time than interview i.e. not having a list of set
QS, conversations depends on where you are/time and who you talk to.
Difference between active (can be qualitative) and conventional
interview (Quantitative) is that conventional interview is when
researcher has a good idea what the interview is going to be like.
Active is more fluid, not so static and more of an interaction, meaning
making process.
The more inductive the research, the more likely the use of an active
interview is pursued.
Interviewer:
o Active (listening and questioning)
o Leads/guides the interview
o Stimulates the narrative process
o Is serious, attentive and understanding
o Use words that interviewee uses, don’t con
Interviewee:
o Active (construction of meanings) with emotions/environment/history
o Tell story in their own words
o Not a repository of knowledge
o Gets to tell the story in his/her own words
Setting up the interview:
o Topic and aim
o Kind of interview
o Who to interview
o Contacting the interviewees
o Setting a date
o Topic list (1 A4) for conversation & closure. Takes a few days to
create
o Translate into theory i.e. researching genres and they don’t think they
like a specific genre but like house and grey’s anatomy
Topic list:
o Check record device
o Introduction and explanation of interview
o Discuss privacy and guarantee anonymity
o Get acquainted and tell something about yourself i.e. leisurely
activities
Style of Moral Deliberation - Theory
• Lawrence Kohlberg and Carol Gilligan
– Moral thinking/perspectives
– 2 styles:
• Ethics of justice: perspective about rules and regulation. Men
tend to be orientated to ethics of justice. Break a rule, deserve
punishment
• Ethics of care: Reasoning by thinking about others. Women
tend to be oriented to ethics of care i.e. stealing medication for
ill wife
Interview Techniques (see lectures slides for the full example of the interview)
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Open questions:
o NO: do you also agree that Lady Gaga’s style is cool?
o YES: how would you describe Lady Gaga’s style?
Follow up question
o Explanation/examples
o Repeating/parroting
o Repeat key terms
o Summarizing (careful)
Probing:
o Uhmhum
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o The art of being silent
o Parroting
Research Attitude
o Curiosity of the interviewee
o Your own opinion in irrelevant
o Trust your interviewee
o Watch your body language
Interview: Practical
o Batteries/power cord
o Extra tape
o Snacks
o Recording device
o Take a seat at table
o Take notepad
o Familiarise yourself with the topics
o Different strokes for different folks: how do you deal with this?
o Reflection on your role as an interviewer: how to?
After the interview – analysis
Write down your experiences immediately
o What kind of atmosphere
o Before the interview
o Thoughts for analysis (if applicable)
Transcription of the interview
o Location and time of interview
o Name etc. of interviewee
o How did you get in touch with interviewee
Different styles of transcription (dependent on research question)
o Verbatim: simply transcribe everything that is said
o Time coded: some purposes useful, what is actually useful? (Spoken
text)
o Phonetic
Do not correct words or grammar
Don’t change content, intent or put words in the interviewee’s mouth
Place certain recorded activities into squared brackets i.e. (laughs), (phone
rings)
Unintelligible parts of the recording? Listen carefully. What what you think it
says and add (???) or (unclear)
Use dashes-for pauses-interruptions-and incomplete sentences
Useful tools for transcription: headphones, foot pedal, Philips writer set, large
margins
Depends on the RQ.
Analysis
• Discourse analysis
– 'A text is the site of struggles for meaning that reproduce the conflicts
of interest between the producers and consumers of the cultural
commodity.' (Fiske, 1987, p. 14)
– Looking for patterns/repetitions (sometimes called repertoires) in the
text.
 Data-matrix: i.e. IV on rows and DV on columns.
topic 1 topic 2 topic 3
resp. 1
resp. 2
resp. 3
resp. 4
 Grounded Theory Approach: coding as a method of analysis based on
grounded theory:
o Self as an instrument
o Flexibility/accessibility
o Absorption
-
-
-
-
-
Interview analysis
o Induction: from a set of specific facts to general conclusion
o Deduction: from general conclusion to specific set
o Deduction  observationinductionanalysisreflection
Open coding: every sentence is read with the questions
o i.e. Friends  sitcom; CSI  drama/crime; I think a mother should be
there for her child  moral message
Reality of analysis
o Transcript is finished
o Underline everything that seems important
o Put a label/code in the margin
 Do not pay attention to used code words/labels but
Axial coding: relations, differences, similarities
o Signal words: of course, of course not, everyone knows that, I am not a
… but… (so called disclaimers) (Point out something interesting)
o Silences, what is not being said
o Be aware: ignore your own ideas
Organise categorize quotations
o Similar content
o Theme
o Code/label
o Pay specific attention to oppositions wording context of quotations etc.
Selective coding: key themes and reduction of themes
o What, how & why?
o Aim to discover overreaching themes that together answer your RQs
Step 1 read
Step 2 writing in margins
Step 3 Themes
Step 4 Read
Step 5 Think
Step 6 Theme reduction
Step 7 Read
Step 8 Think
Step 9 Write results
-
NOTE: If you find something strange, keep it in your analysis (authentic &
vital)
Four Research Phases during Analysis
• Exploration
– formulating sensitising concepts
• Specification
– building a theoretical framework
• Reduction
– formulating key themes
• Integration
– construction of 'new theory'
CHECK.
Internal Validity:
- Are the used research techniques sufficient to formulate the results you
formulate?
o Does it have:
 Principle of objectivity?
 Triangulation
 Member checks
 Peer debriefing
External Validity:
- Can your results be generalized to a larger population?
o Rarely possible, but often has strong indications
Reliability:
- The role of the researcher
- Non-reproducable data
– Member-checks
– Peer debriefing
• Desk research
Week 3 - Chapter 6 Summary – Introducing and Focusing the Study
The Research Problem
-
Qualitative studies begin with authors stating the research problem of the
study
o The “problem” leading to the study
o It is the “need for study”
o The research problem is the rationale or need for studying a particular
issue or “problem”. Why is this study needed?
-
Research problems can be found in personal experience, a job-related
problem, and adviser’s agenda or in literature.
-
It is important to provide a rationale, as a need exists to fill a gap in the
literature.
o May form a new line of thinking or it may assess an issue with an
understudied group or population.
-
Furthermore, the problem has to foreshadow one of the five approaches to
inquiry.
o This can be done by mentioning how the particular approach fills a
need or gap in the literature.
 E.g. in a narrative study, you could mention how individual
stories need to be told to gain personal experiences about the
research problem.
 Or, in grounded theory that we need a theory that explains a
process because existing theories are inadequate or do not exist
yet.
The Purpose Statement
-
A statement that provides the major objective or intent, or “road map”, to the
study
Needs to be carefully constructed and written in clear, concise language.
There is a “script statement”
“The purpose of this grounded theory study is to develop a phenomenon for study for
Dutch people in the Netherlands. At this stage in research, the phenomenon will be
generally defined as… …
-
In the purpose statement:
o The writer identifies the specific qualitative approach used in the study
by mentioning the type
o The writer encodes the passage with words that indicate the action of
the researcher (describe, discover, develop, generate)
o Identifies the central phenomenon (the concept being explored or
studied)
o Writer foreshadows the participants and the site for study.
o A general definition is given for the central phenomenon.
There are a bunch of examples on pages 105, 106 and 107.
The Research Questions
The Central Question
Research questions are divided into four types:
-
Exploratory: to investigate a phenomenon little understood
Explanatory: to explain patterns related to phenomenon
Descriptive: to describe the phenomenon
Emancipatory: to engage in social action about the phenomenon
Research questions are open-ended, evolving, and nondirectional.
-
It is recommended that the researcher reduce his/her study to a single
overarching question and several subquestions.
Ask the BROADEST question possible.
Subquestions
-
Issue Oriented Subquestions: they take the phenomenon in the central research
question and break it down into subtopics for examination.
o E.g. What are the experiences in this individuals life?
o What are the stories that can be told from these experiences?
-
Topical/Procedural Subquestions: These cover the anticipated need for
information. They advance the procedure in research, and help identify the
procedure they intend to use in inquiry.
o What statements describe these experiences?
o What themes emerge?
o What is the structural meaning?
Week 3 Article – “Active Interviewing” – Holstein/Gubrium
Introduction
-
It has been estimated that 90% of all social science investigations use
interviews in one way or another.
Interviews are seen as ‘windows on the world’.
-
Interviews are specialized forms of conversation
Either:
o Highly structured, standardized, quantitatively oriented survey
interviews or;
o Semi-formal guided, free-flowing informational exchanges.
-
To do an interview that minimizes bias, error, misunderstanding or
misdirection simply ask the question properly
-
Treating interviewing as a social encounter in which knowledge is constructed
suggests the possibility that the interview is not merely a neutral conduit, but a
producer of knowledge about yourself.
-
Simply put, interviewers deeply and unavoidably implicate in creating
meaning that resides within respondents.
o Both parties are active
o Meaning is actively assembled in the interview
o Stripping interviews of their interactional ingredients will be futile and
will harm the content.
o Interviewers should consciously attend to the interview process and
acknowledge on the respondents contributions
-
To be active you must:
o Harvest the interview and its transactions for narrative analysis.
o NOT lose track of what is being asked in interviews
o NOT lose track of what is conveyed by respondents
o Seek to ask and control questions that serve as relevant, and do not get
side-tracked.
Traditional Images of Interviewing
-
Terkel’s image of interviewing:
o Prospecting for true facts and feelings residing within the respondent.
o A “search and discovery mission”
o The challenge lies in extracting information as directly as possible
o Specific wording, flexible interviews etc…
The Subject Behind the Respondent
-
Subjects are vessels of answers for questions put to respondents by
interviewers.
They are facts and the related details of experience
The lurk behind the interviewee
Even in sensitive interviews, where it may be difficult to obtain an accurate
and ‘real’ answer, the information from the subject Is viewed as ‘true’ via the
vessel of answers.
The trick is to formulate questions in an easy manner to get ‘true’ answers.
-
The Vessels of Answers Approach
o The subject is not engaged in the production of knowledge
(epistemologically passive)
o Interview goes non-directional and unbiased, the respondent WILL
give an unadulterated fact and valid answer.
o Contamination may result from the setting or the interaction
-
What happens if we try to “look for the subject behind the respondent?”
o We get details that are added to and transformed for details
o The subject pieces experiences together
o The answers are continually being assembled and modified and the
truth cannot be judged simply in terms of whether they match the
‘objective knowledge’
o Simply put, we cannot expect the same answers two times in a row. It
cannot be replicated.
-
All of this is best compared with Survey Interviewing and Creative
Interviewing
Survey Interviewing
-
Here, the interviewer must not interfere with what the passive subject is
willing to disclose.
Interviewers must shake off self-consciousness, personal opinion.
The interview should be conducted in private
Good ‘hard data’ should be produced via ‘soft’ conversation
Creative Interviewing
-
“Creative” refers to the interviewer, not the respondent
Here, subjects also have the answers, yet they are well-guarded vessels that
have to be dug out of the person ‘creatively’
This is done by ‘getting to know’ the real subject behind the respondent.
It moves beyond words and tries to create a climate for mutual disclosure.
The interviewer shares his/her feelings and the respondent does the same.
-
Creative interviewing is a lot more emotional rather than rational
You have to dig deep
The Active Interview
-
It conceives an interview as an interpersonal drama with a developing plot.
From this perspective, interview participants constantly work to discern and
communicate the recognizable and orderly features of experience.
Meaning is created through interpretive practice (whatever it means…)
The active interview turns the subject into a productive source of knowledge
The imagined subject behind the respondent emerges as part of the project, not
beforehand.
The interview and its participants are constantly developing
-
So, why is interviewing so darn important?
o It engages a formal and systematic way to interpret a subject
o Active interviews therefore have a developing plot, in which roles and
format are fashioned during the interview. It is improvising.
-
In active interviewing the interviewer has to actively narrate production, and
to approach the respondent by narrating what he/she is saying LIVE
Implications for Analysis
-
-
The active approach seems to invite unacceptable forms of bias
For more is going on than simply retrieving information from the respondents’
repositories of knowledge
“contamination” is everywhere
Yet, this is a narrow point of view, as interviews are generally impossible to
do without some form of bias.
All participants are inevitably implicated in making meaning.
Analyzing active interviews us done by looking at the whats and the hows.
The goal is to show how interview responses are produced in the interaction
between interviewer and respondent, without losing sight of the meanings
produced or the circumstances that condition the meaning making process.
It is not merely to describe the situation production of talk, but to show
how what is being said relates to the experiences and lives being studied.
Week 4 - Lecture Slides – February 21
Discourse Analysis
Discourse is ‘a system of language’ (for example medical or political discourse).
Discourses “help to create and reproduce systems of social meaning”. However, this
does NOT mean that DA is not empirical or systematic!!
Post-structuralism:
“Language is seen not simply as a neutral medium for communicating information,
but as a domain in which our knowledge of the social world is actively shaped”.
Therefore, language itself can be seen as the topic of research.
NOTE: I am not able to copy the tables of this lecture. In the table content and
discourse analysis are compared!
RESEARCH PROCESS
1. ) Selecting and approaching data
2.) Sorting, coding, analyzing data  identify themes/patterns, look at social context
3.) Presentation and argumentation
The lecture mentions Steiner’s Study as an example, highlighting that ‘paying
attention to silences’ (what is not said) is very important too. Steiner’s conclusions:
- A community understands messages delivered by
various sources, but reconstitutes those messages in its
own terms
- Communication involves struggle and power
- Content becomes meaningful in context
Week 4 - Chapter 7 – Data Collection
Within all approaches, data collection resembles a circle of interrelated activities:
How each of these steps is different for the five approaches, is summarised in the
table. I copied the table to make it more readable when printing.
-
Data collecting is a number of activities. Locating a site or an individual,
gaining access and making rapport, sampling purposely, collecting data,
recording information, exploring field issues, and storing data
Data Collection
Activity
Narrative
Phenomenology
What is
traditionally
studied? (sites
or individuals)
Single (rarely
multiple)
individual(s),
accessible and
distinctive
Multiple
individuals who
have
experienced the
phenomenon
What are typical
access and
rapport
issues? (access
and rapport)
Gaining
permission from
individuals,
obtaining access
to information
in archives
How does one
select a site or
individuals to
study? (purpos
eful sampling
strategies)
What type of
information
typically is
collected? (for
ms of data)
How is
information
recorded? (rec
ording
information)
What are
common data
collection
issues? (field
issues)
Grounded
Theory
Ethnography
Case Study
Multiple
individuals who
have responded
to an action or
participated in a
process about a
central
phenomenon
Members of a
culture-sharing
group or
individuals
representative of
the group
A bounded
system, such as
a process, an
activity, an
event, a program
or multiple
individuals
Finding people
who have
experienced the
phenomenon
Locating a
homogeneous
sample
Gaining access
through the
gatekeeper,
gaining the
confidence of
informants
Gaining access
through the
gatekeeper,
gaining the
confidence of
participants
Several
strategies,
depending on
the person (e.g.
convenient,
politically
important,
typical, a critical
case)
Finding
individuals who
have
experienced the
phenomenon, a
"criterion"
sample
Finding a
homogeneous
sample, a
"theory-based"
sample, a
"theoretical"
sample
Finding a
cultural group to
which one is a
"stranger", a
"representative"
sample
Finding a "case"
or "cases," an
atypical" case,
or a "maximum
variation" or
"extreme" case
Documents and
archival
material, openended
interviews,
subject
journaling,
participant
observation,
casual chatting
Interviews with
5 to 25 people
Primarily
interviews with
20 to 30 people
to achieve detail
in the theory
Participant
observation,
interviews,
artefacts, and
documents
Extensive
forms, such as
documents and
records,
interviews,
observation, and
physical
artefacts
Notes, interview
protocol
Interviews,
often multiple
interviews with
the same
individuals
Interview
protocol,
memoing
Fieldnotes,
interview and
observational
protocols
Fieldnotes,
interview and
observational
protocols
Access to
materials,
authenticity of
accounts and
materials
Bracketing
one‘s
experiences,
logistics of
interviewing
Interviewing
issues (e.g.
logistics,
openness)
Field issues (e.g.
reflexivity,
reactivity,
reciprocality,
"going native",
divulging
private
information,
deception)
Interviewing
and observing
issues
Data Collection
Activity
How is
information
typically stored?
(storing data)
Narrative
Phenomenology
Grounded
Theory
File folders,
computer files
Transcriptions,
computer files
Transcriptions,
computer files
Ethnography
Case Study
Fieldnotes,
transcriptions,
computer files
Fieldnotes,
transcriptions,
computer files
Creswell adds a few ideas throughout the text, of which the most important points are
summarised here.
2. Gaining access and making rapport
Crewell raises ethical concerns and mentions that permissions need to be sought from
a human subjects review board. Although most qualitative studies are exempt from a
lengthy review, studies involving individuals such as minors or high-risk, sensitive
populations such as HIV-positive individuals are usually subjected to thorough
review. Oftentimes, there is a consent form signed by participants and researchers that
specifies their rights (e.g. withdrawing from the study at any time).
3. Sampling purposefully
Purposeful sampling refers to the inquirer selecting individuals and sites for study
because they can purposefully inform an understanding of the research problem and
central phenomenon in the study.
Decisions need to be made about who or what should be sampled, what form the
sampling will take, and how many people or sites need to be sampled. Further, the
researchers need to decide if the sampling will be consistent with the information
needed by one of the five approaches to inquiry.
Researchers can sample at the site level, at the event or process level, and at the
participant level. In a good plan for a qualitative study, one or more of these levels
might be present and they each need to be identified.
Typology of Sampling Strategies in Qualitative Inquiry
Type of Sampling
Purpose
Maximum variation
Documents diverse variations and identifies important common
patterns
Homogeneous
Focuses, reduces, simplifies, and facilitates group interviewing
Critical case
Permits logical generalisation and maximum application of
information to other cases
Theory based
Find examples of a theoretical construct and thereby elaborate
on and examine it
Confirming and disconfirming
cases
Elaborate on initial analysis, seek exceptions, looking for
variation
Snowball or chain
Identifies cases of interest from people who know people who
know what cases are information-rich
Extreme or deviant case
Learn from highly unusual manifestations of the phenomenon
of interest
Typical case
Highlights what is normal or average
Intensity
Information-rich cases that manifest the phenomenon intensely
but not extremely
Politically important
Attracts desired attention or avoids attracting undesired
attention
Random purposeful
Adds credibility to sample when potential purposeful sample is
too large
Stratified purposeful
Illustrates subgroups and facilitates comparisons
Criterion
All cases that meet some criterion; useful for quality assurance
Opportunistic
Follow new leads; taking advantage of the unexpected
Combination or mixed
Triangulation, flexibility; meets multiple interests and needs
Convenience
Saves time, money, and effort, but at the expense of
information and credibility
Form of data
Although there are continually newly emergent forms of data in qualitative research,
all forms might be grouped into four basic types of information:
1. observations (ranging from nonparticipant to participant)
2. interviews (ranging from close-ended to open-ended)
3. documents (ranging from private to public)
4. audiovisual materials (including materials such as photographs, compact disks, and
videotapes)
Interviewing and observing deserve special attention, because they are frequently
used in all five of the approaches to research.
Interviewing
1. Identify interviewees based on one of the purposeful sampling procedures
2. Determine what type of interview is practical and will net the most useful
information to answer RQ
3. Use adequate recording procedures
4. Design an interview protocol, a form about four or five pages in length, with
approx. five open-ended questions and ample space between the questions to write
the interviewee‘s comments.
5. Refine the interview questions and the procedures further through pilot testing.
6. Determine the place for conducting the interview.
7. After arriving at the interview site, obtain consent from the interviewee to
participate in the study.
8. During the interview, stay to the questions, complete the interview within the time
specified, be respectful and courteous, and offer few questions and advice. A good
interviewer is a good listener.
Observing
Observing in a setting is a special skill that requires addressing issues such as the
potential deception of the people being interviews, impression management, and the
potential marginality of the researcher in a strange setting.
1. Select a site to be observed (obtain permission if required)
2. At the site, identify who or what to observe, when, and for how long.
3. Determine, initially, a role to be assumed as an observer (from complete participant
(going native) to complete observer).
4. Design an observational protocol as a method for recording notes in the field
5. Record aspects such as portraits of the informant, the physical setting, particular
events and activities, and your own reactions.
6. During the observation, have someone introduce you if you are an outsider, be
passive and friendly.
7. After observing, slowly withdraw from the site, thanking the participants and
informing them of the use of the data and their accessibility to the study.
Week 4 – Summary Article by Tonkiss
This chapter focuses on the study of language and texts as forms of discourse, which
therefore helps to construct systems of social meaning.
I Approaches to discourse
This is a method which is frequently used in different disciplines such as linguistics,
psychology, politics, etc. It is primarily concerned with the production of meaning
through talk and text (also knowledge construction). Language is not simply a method
of communication, but a domain in which our understanding of the social world is
actively shaped.
It does not reflect meaning, but constructs meaning.
Language also works to divide up, stereotype and categorize different groups of
individuals (people with physical disabilities) and thus, shape the attitudes of the
society towards different problems.
This critical approach to language is associated with post-structuralist social theories
(Michel Foucault)
II What is discourse?
Discourse can refer both to a single utterance or specific speech act and to a more
systematic ordering of language (legal discourse).
Language is viewed as the topic of the research in discourse analysis
Discourse refers to a system of language which draws on a particular terminology and
encodes specific forms of knowledge (the jargon which doctors use). Such an expert
language has 3 effects: marks out a field of knowledge, confers membership, bestows
authority).
III Discourse in a social context
1. Interpretative context of discourse- language in its larger social context, the
analysis “goes beyond” the text and is situated within the outside world.
Analysts also pay attention to the small-scale contexts of particular
interactions
2. Rhetorical organization of discourse- it is related to the effects that the
statements of a discourse seek and their insertion into a larger rhetorical
context. It is a about how persuasive the arguments are (for example the legal
defenses in a court room).
IV Doing discourse analysis
DA is a messy method, no particular structure of analysis is presented. However there
are several steps which Tonkiss presents.
1. Selecting and approaching data- you select the problem first, then you collect
the data and afterwards the RQ arise from what you have in your data. At first
you have to begin with some broad question for the future study. Typically
DA looks at e.g. “how is the immigration presented in the newspapers”. The
data is collected through multiple sources. Not the amount, but the quality of
the materials is important. In depth data which gives the insights of a problem
is required.
2. Sorting, coding, analyzing- abandon all preconceptions, challenging commonsense knowledge, selecting a number of themes. All these may end up making
you change the initial domain of the interest.
3. Using key words and themes- this process will bring order and structure into
the data. These themes are then being compared and contrasted.
4. Looking for variation in the text-internal hesitations and inconsistencies,
combating alternative accounts
a. Analyzing contrasts, oppositions, alternative accounts
5. Reading for emphasis and detail- a three part list(building up a sequence to
create a “crescendo” effect). Repetitions, synonyms, etc. Also looking for
vague but difficult to rebut formulations.
6. Attending to silences- reading against the grain, search for gaps, exclusions or
omissions
7. Presenting the analysis- take into account validity and reflexivity
Week 5 – Lecture - Doing Participant-Observation
By: David R. Novak
Qualitative researchers need to develop and maintain research skills, and learn how to
change and adapt  skills will help you achieve inclusion, credibility and rapport.
Skills a researcher needs:
-
Curiosity & openness
-
Rigor & structure
Systematic observation
Definition Systematic Observations: Weick (1985) – “sustained, explicit, methodical
observing and paraphrasing of social situations in relation to their naturally occurring
contexts.”
-
The success of observing depends on what the observer learns through
participation and the uses to which that knowledge is put.
Participant-Observation
Participant-Observation needs to be performed in ways that are honored by group
members.
-
Analysis

Create increasingly sharp, detailed, and theoretical relevant
description

Record as much as possible, also seemingly insignificant
details

Develop a system (record dates, times, places, people involved
ect.)
Tolerance for Marginality
When in the field, qualitative researchers should bare in mind that:
-
They must move from the center to periphery
-
Temporary duration of Participant-Observation can cause problems, if
a researcher is in a group for a very short period of time this might
bring limitations to his perception of the group
-
Embrace/ Reject group ideologies or practices
-
Don’t confuse/overlap ‘home’ bases with ‘the field’, keep separated
Requisite Variety
Different beliefs and broad knowledge will lead to a better understanding of complex
environments  Actively seek out different perspectives
Visuality
Seeing is privileged, which can lead to disembodiment, omniscience, and voyeurism,
therefore we should attempt to include all senses like tastes, smells, touches, sounds
even colors, lights, shapes and textures.
Different Roles of a researcher in Participation Observation
-
Complete Participant: role as researcher is hidden (researcher might
affect what happens)
-
Participant as Observer: role as a researcher is acknowledged, can
take part in interaction, does not commit to the group completely.
-
Observer as Participant: primary role is observer, no central roles in
group are taken
-
Complete Observer: role as researcher is hidden ( researcher does not
affect what happens)
Practical Tips
What kind of notes should you take?
You can not capture everything.
Do not worry about mistakes at first.
Recognize what can/cannot be observed, give participants the benefit of the doubt.
Keep a log.
Week 5 - Chapter 8 Summary - Data Analysis & Representation



Data analysis consists of preparing/organising the date for analysis, then
reducing the data into themes through a process of coding and condensing the
codes, and finally representing the data in figures, tables or a discussion.
Falls back on the three ‘I’s’: insight, intuition and impression
Three Analysis Strategies
-
Steps:
o Preparing and organizing the data for analysis
o Reducing the data into themes through a process of coding and
condensing the codes
o Finally representing the data in figures, tables or a discussion
-
Huberman and Miles (1994) provide detailed steps in the process i.e. writing
marginal notes, drafting summaries of fieldnotes, and noting relationships
among the categories
-
Madison (2005): introduces the need to create a point of view – a stance that
signals the theoretical perspective (i.e. critical, deminist) taken in the study
-
Wolcott (1994) discusses the importance of forming a description from the
data, as well as relating the description to the literature and cultural themes in
cultural anthropology

Three Analysis Strategies



The Data Analysis Spiral: to analyse qualitative data, the researcher engages
in the process of moving in analytic circles rather than using a fixed linear
approach.
Data analysis is choreographed
Once again, it falls back on the 3 I’s: insight, intuition and impression
o 4 Loops:
 Data management (reading & memoing): organising data and
converting it to appropriate text units (e.g. via computer
programs)
 Reading and Memoing: researcher interprets data via
interacting with text visuals by writing memo’s and notes.
 Describing, classifying and interpreting: code/category
formation and in detail description of themes through some
classification, descriptive detail or interpretation (heart of
qualitative data analysis)
 3 Issues with coding:
o Whether qualitative researcher should count
codes (more quantitative approach)
o The use of pre-existing/a priori codes (may limit
analysis as it does not open up the codes to
reflect views of the participants)
o The question as to the origin of the code names
or labels (may have different sources)
 Deconstruction strategies:
o Dismantling a dichotomy/difference, exposing it
as a false distinction (e.g. public/private,
nature/culture, etc.)
o Examining silences – what is not said (e.g.
noting who/what is excluded by the use of
pronouns such as ‘we’)
o Attending to disruptions and contradictions;
places where a text fails to make sense or does
not continue
o Focusing on the element that is most
alien/peculiar in the text – to find the limits of
what is conceivable/permissible
o Interpreting metaphors as a rich source of
multiple meanings
o Analysing double entendres that may point to an
unconscious subtext, often sexual in content
o Separating group-specific and more general
sources of bias by ‘reconstructing’ the text with
substitution of its main elements
 Interpreting the data; making sense of the data, the
‘lessons learned’ – based on hunches, insights and
intuition (may be a social science construct).

Representing the data: representing the information found,
either through visual imagery, or explanation of hypotheses or
propositions
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
Analysis within approaches to inquiry:
Narrative Analysis:
o Two approaches:
 Analytic process that involved analysing text data for five
elements of plot structure – characters, setting, problem,
actions, and resolution (Yussen & Ozcan)
 The three-dimensional space approach that involved analysing
the data for three elements – interaction, continuity and
situation (Clandinin & Connelly)
o Common elements: collecting stories of personal experiences in the
form of field texts (interviews, conversations), retelling the stories
based on narrative elements, rewriting the stories into a chronological
sequence, and incorporating the setting/place of the participants’
experiences.
o Denzin suggests that a researcher begin biographical analysis by
identifying an objective set of experiences in the subject’s life  good
beginning point for analysis.
o Steps (according to Denzin):
 Identify set of experiences
 Look for life-course stages/experiences (e.g.
childhood/marriage/employment)
 Develop a chronology of the individual’s life based on these
stages (stories/epiphanies will emerge from the individual’s
journal/interviews)
 Look in the database (interviews/documents) for concrete,
contextual biographical material.
 Prompt the participant during the interview to expand on various
sections of the stories and asks to theorise about their life.
 Isolate narrative segments and categories within the interviewstory and determine larger meanings/patterns
 Reconstruct the individual’s biography and identify factors that
have shaped the individual’s life.
 This leads to the writing of an analytic abstraction of the case
that highlights (a) the processes in the individual’s life, (b) the
different theories that relate to these life experiences, and (c)
the unique and general features of the life.

Phenomenological analysis
o There have been specific, structure methods of analysis advanced.
o Approach:
1. Describe personal experiences with the phenomenon under
study, including a full description.
2. Develop a list of significant statements, treating them as
having an equal worth.
3. Take the significant statements and group them into larger
units of information – ‘meaning units’/themes
4. Write a description of ‘what’ the participants in the study
experienced with the phenomenon – ‘textural description’
of the experience
5. Write a description of ‘how’ the experience happened –
‘structural description’ (place it into context)
6. Write a composite description of the phenomenon
incorporating both the textural and structural description.

Grounded Theory analysis
o Consists of three phases of coding: open, axial and selective.
o Open coding: the researcher examines the text for salient categories of
information supported by the text – attempting to ‘saturate’ the
categories.
o Axial coding: the database is reviewed to provide insight into specific
coding categories that relate/explain the central phenomenon (causal
conditions, strategies, context, intervening conditions and
consequences).
o Selective coding: the generation of propositions/hypotheses that
interrelate the categories in the coding paradigm – creating of
conditional matrix.

Ethnographic analysis
o Three aspects of data analysis: description, analysis, interpretation of
the culture-sharing group
o Starting point: describing the culture-sharing group and setting.
o From an interpretive perspective, the researcher may only present one
set of facts.
o This description may be analysed by presenting information in
chronological order – ‘a day in the life of’.
o This includes highlighting specific material introduced in the
descriptive phase through tables, charts, diagrams and figures.

Case study analysis
o Analysis consists of making a detailed description of the case and its
setting (like in an ethnography)
o Includes analysis multiple sources and placing data in a chronological
order (if necessary)
o The setting is particularly important, including how the incident fits
into the setting.
o Four forms of data analysis (Stake):
 Categorical aggregation – researcher seeks a collection of
instances from the data, hoping that issue-relevant meanings
will emerge
 Direct interpretation – the researcher looks at a single instance
and draws meaning from it without looking for multiple
instances

Establishing patterns and correspondence – similarities
and differences) i.e. use of 2 x 2 table. Easier to view
similarities and differences between categories.
 Naturalistic generalizations: creating generalization that people
can learn from the case either for themselves or to apply to a
population of cases.

Comparison of the 5 approaches:
o Similarities:
 Across all five approaches, the researcher typically begins by
creating/organising files of information, followed by general
reading/memoing of information and making sense of them
(phase of description)
 Phase of description does not occur in grounded theory, in which
the inquirer seeks to begin building toward a theory of the
action/process
o Differences:
 Grounded theory/phenomenology have the most detailed,
explicated procedure for data analysis
 Ethnography/case studies have analysis procedures taht are
common
 Narrative research represents the least structured procedure
 The terms used in the phase of classifying show distinct
language among these approaches (what is called open coding
in grounded theory is similar to the first stage of identifying
significant statements in phenomenology and to categorical
aggregation in case study research).
 The presentation of the data reflects the data analysis steps, and
it varies from a narration in narrative approach to tabled
statements, meanings and description in phenomenology to a
visual model/theory in grounded theory.

Computer Use in Qualitative Data Analysis
o Advantages:
 It provides an organised storage file system
 It helps researchers local material easily
 It encourages a researcher to look closely at the data
 The concept mapping feature of computer programs enables the
research to visualise the relationship among codes/themes
 It allows the researcher to easily retrieve memos associated with
codes/themes/documents.
o Disadvantages:
 It requires that the researcher learn how to run the program.
 It may put a machine between the researcher and the actual data
(too much distance)
 The categories/organisation of the data may be changed by the
software user.
 Instructions for using computer programs vary in their ease of
use and accessibility.
 It may not have the features/capabilities that researchers need.
o Use with the 5 approaches:
 It helps store/organise qualitative data
 It helps locate text/image segments associated with a code or
theme.
 It helps locate common passages/segments that relate to 2 or
more code labels.
 It helps make comparisons among code labels.
 It helps the research to conceptualise different levels of
abstraction in qualitative data analysis
 It provides a visual picture of codes and themes
 It provides the capability to write memos and store them as codes
 It allows the researcher to create a template for coding data
within each of the five approaches.
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Computer software: use when more than 500pgs of text, good for structure
and easy use as can locate material quickly.
o Identify text/image segment
o Assign code label
o Search through database for all text segments that have the same code
label
o Disadvantages: learn how to use program (does not come easy to all),
software may change the fixed or set categories and computer may not
have features or capability researcher needs.
Computer Programs
o Atlas.ti: Windows, PC based enables organization of text, graphic,
audio and visual data files, along with your coding, memos and
findings, into a project. Code, annotate, and compare segments of the
information.
o NVivo: latest version from QSR. Combines features of popular
programs N6 and NVivo 2.0. For PC only and helps analyse, manage,
shape and analyse qualitative data. Provides security, allows team
research and enables researcher to easily manipulate data and search
o HyperRESEARCH: PC/Mac easy-to-use software enabling coding
and retrieving build theories, conduct analyses of the data. Allows
researcher to draw visual diagrams.
o MAXqda: PC that helps researcher to systematically evaluates and
interpret qualitative texts. Also good for developing theories and
testing conclusions. Hierarchal code system and can attach a weight
score to a text segment to indicate the relevance of the segment.
Week 6 – Lecture - Qualitative Methods available in an online context
By: J. Ward
Although the Internet offers a rich source of data, it also offers some challenges to the
researcher. A particular problem is dealing with bias in the research sample. In order
to use the Internet as a tool, it may be necessary to develop technical skills in order to
make use of the full possibilities offered by the Internet. Of course some
considerations like ethics also apply to Internet research.
-
Care must be taken to avoid sample bias
Standard methods need adaptation to ensure that Internet data collection
online is effective
Attention needs to be paid to the development of trust online
Ethical research still applies
The Internet Sample
It is relatively easy (compared with other methods) to…
- Obtain global samples of respondents
- Locate respondents from are groups
Keep in mind:
- International digital divide  in western developed nations, a majority of
people have access to the internet, in less developed nations, the proportion is
much lower.
Online Surveys
Representativeness:
- Internet access is different in different countries. i.e. UK more likely among
men, youth, better educated, and higher incomes
- If pick a language you will be excluding a large proportion of internet users
- People use internet in different ways and thus may therefore react in different
ways to your research

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Advantages
saves postal costs
access to a geographically dispersed sample
ability to target particular groups
automatic generation of computer readable data

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Disadvantages
possible sample bias
little or no help for respondents on how to answer from the researcher
low response rate
Also keep in mind that particular attention needs to be paid to the development of
trust online and ethical research practices apply equally to online data collection.
Online Interviewing
By email, instant messaging or internet telephony (e.g., Skype)



Best for those respondents already familiar with the technology
Can be more difficult to build rapport than with face-to-face interviews
But good for interviewing at home/across time zones and on sensitive
topics
Online Focus Groups
Synchronous and asynchronous options
 Advantages
– participants can be questioned over long periods of time
– larger numbers can be managed
– more heated and open exchanges occur
 Disadvantages
– obtaining complete informed consent
– recruiting individuals to participate
– choosing times to convene given different international time zones
Online Observations
Your field is a : - chat room or social networking site
And you collect data from:
- observations of web pages, discussion forums
- content analysis of archives
- online interviews
- offline interviews
Online documents
Data Online: documents available online
- billions of documents are available on the web
- sampling can be tricky
- document can be analyzed using conventional techniques developed for paper
documents
Online Data: analyzing online interactivity
- e.g. transactional (site Producer asks for certain information i.e. name/email)
vs. coproductive interactiviy
- Also can analyze the links between pages (hyperlink analysis)
The Ethics of Online Research
 The idea of ‘informed consent’ can be difficult to apply to online materials,
e.g. in a chat room, where participants come and go
 Pages published on the web may be publicly accessible, yet considered by
their originators to be private
 Direct quotes from web pages can be traced back to the authors using a search
engine
Also keep in mind that particular attention needs to be paid to the development of
trust online and ethical research practices apply equally to online data collection.
Week 6 - Chapter 10 - Standards of Validation and Evaluation
In this chapter two interrelated questions are addressed:
1. Is the account valid, and by whose standards?
2. How do we evaluate the quality of qualitative research?
Validation and Reliability in Qualitative Research
Perspectives on Validation
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-
-
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Qualitative research has been criticized by scientists for failure to “adhere to
canons of reliability and validation” in the traditional sense.
Different studies incorporated different terms that are simply synonyms of
quantitative research terms i.e. Lincoln & Guba’s use of “credibility,
transferability, dependability and conformability” due to the argument that use
of positivist terms encourages acceptance of qualitative research in
quantitative world
Lincoln & Guber 1985:
o To establish findings that are transferability between researcher and
those studied thick description is necessary.
o Trustworthiness = Credibility, Authenticity, Transferability,
Dependability, confirmability (naturalist equivalent for internal
validity, external validity, reliability and objectivity)
o Credibility = prolonged engagement in the field and the triangulation
of data of sources, methods and investigators
o Dependability that the results will be subject to change and instability
= reliability
o Confirmability = objectivity
o NOTE: Both dependability and confirmability are established through
a review of research process
Instead of validation Eisner constructed structural corroboration, consensual
validation and referential adequacy.
o Structural corroboration: researcher related multiple types of data to
support or contradict the interpretation
o Consensual validation: seeks the opinion of others, an agreement
among competent others that the description, interpretation and
evaluation and thematic’s are correct.
o Referential adequacy: the importance of criticism to illuminate the
subject matter and bring out more complex and sensitive human
perception and understanding.
Lather four frames of validation:
o Ironic validation: researcher presents truth as a problem
o Paralogic validation: concerned with undecidables, limits, paradoxes,
and complexities, provides direct exposure to other voices in an almost
unmediated way.
o Rhizomatic validity (situated/embedded): questioning proliferations,
crossings, and overlaps without underlying structures or deeply rotted
connections also questions taxonomies, constructs and interconnected
networks whereby reader jumps from one group to another moving
from judgement to understanding.
o Voluptuous validity: researcher sets out to understand more than one
can know and to write toward what one does not understand.
-
-
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Wolcott 1994: “validation neither guides nor informs”, instead identifies
“critical elements” and write “plausible interpretations” from them. Rather
understand than convince
Angen 2000: validation is a judgement of the trustworthiness or goodness of a
piece of research.
o Ethical validation: all research agendas must question underlying
moral assumptions, their political and ethical implications and the
impartial treatment of diverse voices. “generative promise” raise new
possibilities, questions, discourse, transformative value (leading to
action and change) as well as nondogmatic answers to the questions we
pose
o Substantive validation: understanding one’s own understandings of
the topic, understandings derived from other sources, and the
documentation of this process in the written study. (self reflection &
interpretive research for other to judge the trustworthiness of the
meanings arrived at the end)
Whittemore, Chase & Mandle 2001: validation towards interpretive lens with
an emphasis on researcher reflexivity and on researcher challenges that
include raising qs about ideas developed during research.
o Primary criteria:
 Credibility (accurate interpretation of participants meaning?)
 Authenticity (are different voices heard?)
 Criticality (is there a critical appraisal of all aspects of the
research?)
 Integrity (investigators self-critical?)
o Secondary criteria:
 Explicitness, vividness, creativity, thoroughness, congruence
and sensitivity.
Richardson & St Pierre 2005: Validity as a crystal, that grows, changes and
alters but not shapeless. What we see depends on our angle of response (i.e.
crystals with different colours, patterns and arrays casting off in different
directions) Validation as an attempt to assess accuracy of findings as best
described by the researcher and the participants. Any report of research is a
representation of the author.
Creswells own stance:
- Validation in qualitative research is an attempt to assess the accuracy of the
findings as best described by the researcher and the participants. Any report of
research is a representation by the author.
- Validation is a distinct strength of qualitative research because the account
made through extensive time spent in the field, the detailed thick description,
and the closeness of the researcher to participants all add to the value or
accuracy of a study.
- The author uses the term validation to emphasize a process rather than other
historical words. The author acknowledges that there are many types of
qualitative validation and researches should choose those with which they are
comfortable, and reference them.
- Distinct validation approaches do not exist for the five approaches to
qualitative research. It is recommended to use validation strategies regardless
of the type of qualitative approach.
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The authors framework for thinking about validation is to suggest that
researchers employ accepted strategies to document the accuracy of their
studies. Which are called “validation strategies”
Validation Strategies
Eight strategies that are frequently used by qualitative researchers:
1. Prolonged engagement and persistent observation in the field include
building trust with participants, learning the culture, and checking for
misinformation that stems from distortions introduced by the researcher or
informants. In the field, the researcher makes decisions about what is salient to
the study, relevant to the purpose of the study, and of interest for focus,
2. In triangulation, researchers make use of multiple and different sources,
methods, investigators, and theories to provide corroborating evidence.
Typically this process involves corroborating evidence from different sources
to shed light on a theme or perspective.
3. Peer review or debriefing provides an external check of the research process.
The peer debriefer is “devil’s advocate” an individual who keeps the
researcher honest, asks hard questions, and provides the researcher with the
opportunity for catharsis by sympathetically listening to the researchers
feelings. Written accounts are kept of the sessions, called “peer debriefing
sessions”.
4. In negative case analysis, the researcher refines working hypotheses as the
inquiry advances in light of negative or disconfirming evidence. The
researcher revises initial hypotheses until all cases fit, completing this process
late in data analysis and eliminating all outliers and exceptions.
5. Clarifying researcher bias from the outset of the study is important so that
the reader understands the researchers position and any biases or assumptions
that impact the inquiry.
6. In member checking the researcher solicits participants views of the
credibility of the findings and interpretations. This approach involves taking
data, analysis, interpretations, and conclusions back to the participants so that
they can judge the accuracy and credibility of the account.
7. Rich, thick description allows readers to make decisions regarding
transferability because the writer describes in detail the participants or setting
under study. With such detailed description, the researcher enables readers to
transfer information to other settings and to determine whether the findings
can be transferred “because of shared characteristics”.
8. External audits allow an external consultant, the auditor, to examine both the
process, and the product of the account, assessing their accuracy. This auditor
should have no connection to the study.
Creswell recommends that qualitative research engages at least two of these
validation strategies.
Reliability Perspectives
In qualitative research “reliability” often refers to the stability of responses to multiple
coders of data sets.
One of the key issues is determining what exactly the codings are agreeing on,
whether they seek agreement on code names, the coded passages, or the same
passages coded the same way. We also need to decide on whether to seek agreement
based on codes, themes, or both codes and themes.
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Can be addressed in multiple ways (Silverman 2005)
o If researcher obtains detailed field notes through good quality tape for
recording and transcribing
o Done ‘blind’ with the coding staff and analysts conducting their
research without knowledge of the expectations and questions of the
project directors and through the use of computers to assist in
recording and analysing data.
o Intercoder agreement: multiple coders to analyse data. Main issue:
establishing what coders are agreeing on i.e. code names, coded
passages or same passages coded same way, also seek agreement on
codes, themes, or both codes & themes.
Coding suggestions:
o Agreed that when assigning a code word to a passage, all coders
assigned the same code word to the passage.
o 1. Develop codebook of codes
o 2. Code few transcripts then meet and examine codes, names, & text
segments in order to create a codebook of MAJOR codes.
o 3. Codebook contained a definition of each code, and the text segment
that’s assigned to each code. (More important to have agreement on
the text segments assigned to codes than to have same passages
coded.)
o 4. After comparison and asking whether all coders used same code
word to passage collapse group back to broader themes and compare
whether coders coding of themes were consistent in the use of the
same theme.
o 5. Revise codebook, conduct a new assessment of passages that were
all coded and determined if used same or different codes/themes.
o NOTE: Silverman states with each step they achieved a higher % of
agreed upon codes and themes for text segments.
Evaluation Criteria
Qualitative Perspectives
Although validation is certainly an aspect of evaluating the quality of a study, other
criteria are useful as well.
-
Howe and Eisenhardt (1990) state that only broad, abstract standards are
possible for qualitative/quantitative research.
5 standards in research:
o 1. Assess a study in terms of whether the research questions drive the
data collection and analysis rather than the reverse
o 2. Examine the extent to which the data collection and analysis
techniques are competently applied in a technical sense
o 3. Are researcher’s assumptions made explicit? i.e. aware of own
subjectivity
o 4. Does study have overall warrant? I.e. robust (strong case made),
uses respected theoretical explanations, and discusses disconfirmed
theoretical explanations
o 5. Value in both informing and improving practice. Also in protecting
the confidentiality, privacy, & truth telling of participants
8 Standards in Methodological criteria:
- The standard set in the inquiry community, such as by guidelines for
publication.
- The standard of positionality guides (your own stance on the subject) guides
interpretive or qualitative research.
- Another standard is under the rubric of community ( research serves takes
place in, is addressed to, and serves the purpose of the community in which it
was carried out).
- Interpretive or qualitative research must give voice to participants so that their
voice is not silenced, disengaged or marginalised. Alternative or multiple
voices must be heard in the text.
- Critical subjectivity as a standard means that the researcher needs to have
heightened self-awareness in the research process and create personal and
social transformation (high quality awareness). This enables the researcher to
understand their own psychological and emotional state before, during, and
after the research process.
- High-quality interpretive or qualitative research involves reciprocity between
the researcher and those being researched.
- The researcher should respect the sacredness of relationships in the researchto-action continuum.
- Sharing of the privileges acknowledges that in good qualitative research,
researchers share their rewards with persons whose lives they portray.
4 Criteria when reviewing papers and looking at interpretive standards:
- Substantive contribution (does the research contribute to our understandings of
social life?)
- Aesthetic merit ( does the use creative and analytical practices open up the text
and invite interpretive responses?)
-
Reflexivity ( How has the authors subjectivity been both a producer and a
product of the text?)
Impact ( does the piece affect me emotionally or intellectually?)
Creswell prefers the methodological standards of evaluation.
Narrative Research
Denzin (1989) is primarily interested in the problem of “how to locate and interpret
the subject in biographical materials?”
Creswell would look for the following aspects of a good narrative study:
- Focuses on a single individual (or two or three)
- Collects stories about a significant issue related to this individual’s life
- Develops a chronology that connects different phases or aspects of a story
- Tells a story that restories the story of the participant in the study
- Tells a persuasive story told in a literary way
- Possibly reports themes that build from the story to tell a broader analysis
- Reflexivity brings himself or herself into the study
Phenomenological Research
To Polkingjorne (1989), validation refers to the notion that an idea is well grounded
and well supported. He asks “Does the general structural description provide an
accurate portrait of the common features and structural connections that are manifest
in the examples collected?”
Creswell would look for the following aspects of a good phenomenological study:
- Does the author convey an understanding of the philosophical tenets of
phenomenology?
- Does the author have a clear phenomenon to study that is articulated in a
concise way?
- Does the author use procedures of data analysis in phenomenology?
- Does the author convey the overall essence of the experience of the
participants? Does this essence include a description of the experience and the
context in which it occurred?
- Is the author reflexive throughout the study?
Grounded Theory Research
Strauss and Corbin (1990) identify the criteria by which one judges the quality of a
grounded theory study.
Creswell would look for the following aspects of a good grounded theory study:
- The study of a process, action, or interaction as the key element in the theory
- A coding process that works from the data to a larger theoretical model
- The presentation of the theoretical model in a figure or diagram
- A story line or proposition that connects categories in the theoretical model
and that presents further questions to be answered
- A reflexivity or self-disclosure b the researcher about his or her stance in the
study
Ethnographic Research
The ethnographers Spindler and Spindler (1987) emphasize that the most important
requirement for an ethnographic approach is to explain behaviour from the “native
point of view” and to be systematic in recording this information using note taking,
tape recorders, and cameras. This requires that the ethnographer be present in the
situation and engage in constant interaction between observation an interviews
.
Creswell would look for the following aspects of a good grounded theory study:
- The clear identification of a culture sharing group
- The specification of cultural themes that will be examined in light of this
culture-sharing group
- A detailed description of the cultural group
- Themes that derive from an understanding of the cultural group
- The identification of issues that arose “in the field” that reflect on the
relationship between the researcher and the participants, the interpretive nature
of reporting, and sensitivity and reciprocity in the co-creating of the account
- An explanation overall of how the culture-sharing group works
- A self disclosure and reflexivity by the researcher about her or his position in
the research.
Case Study Research
Stake (1995) provides a rather extensive critique checklist.
Creswell would look for the following aspects of a good case study:
- Is there a clear identification of the case or cases in the study?
- Is the case/cases used to understand a research issue or used because the case
has intrinsic merit?
- Is there clear description of the case?
- Are assertions or generalisations made from the case analysis
- Is the researcher reflexive or self-disclosing about his or her position in the
study?
Week 6 – Article by Pyett : Validation of qualitative research in the “ real
world”
In qualitative research, an account is valid if it represents accurately those features of
the phenomena that is intended to describe explain or theorize. As a researcher you
should always ask yourself: how can I be confident that my account in an accurate
representation? You should also be aware that a researcher is a key instrument in the
research process.
How do we achieve valid qualitative analysis?
There are no straightforward tests to make sure a research is valid, but there are some
guidelines, collected from previous literature on this topic:
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Rigor in sampling, data collection and analysis
Triangulation of data sources, methods, investigators and theories
Search for negative cases (don’t close your eyes for cases that do not fit your
model, include them in your research)
Thick description (very detailed description)
Detailed reporting in writing up our accounts
Adopt strategies of honesty/openness and reflexivity (reflexivity in qualitative
research means checking your methods, analysis, interpretations, not only
with literature, but also in the group you are researching; member check. You
go trough every step you have taken so far)
The actual steps researchers make to make sure their research is valid are rarely
described in the literature.
The quality of researcher
As a qualitative researcher you should accept that your individual attributes and
perspectives have an influence on the research process. The human factor is the great
strength and also the fundamental weakness of qualitative research. The best way for
checking validity is by testing it in the real world, but this is rarely possible.
How do I have confidence?
In a qualitative study of the health and risk behaviors of female sex workers, Pyett
and her colleague undertake the following three steps to make sure their research was
valid:
1. they established a critical reference group
2. they applied triangulation to recruitment/interviewing and coding
3. checked the initial analysis with not only the reference group, but also with a
sex-workers organization and two welfare agencies.
Multiple realities:
As post-modern qualitative researchers we acknowledge that there are multiple
realities. As researchers you often have to choose who you are going to represent.
You should also check in the group you research if your interpretations are correct.
Winter (2000) believes that participants have more analytic authority than the
researcher, but Pyett believes that a researcher must always respect their participants,
but they do not have to agree with them, because individuals do not always
understand their own actions. As a qualitative researcher you should also look at the
quality of a participants answer instead of looking at the number of responses or the
number of similarities between answers.
Examples.
Pyett describes two of her researches, and she explained which methods she used to
make sure her researches were valid.
Example 1: The Private Relationships of Two Sex Workers
In this research she looked at the relationships of sex workers with other sex workers,
and the use of condoms in those relationships. She made her research valid by:
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doing a peer review
presenting her work to an audience of doctors and nurses, whose clients are
often sex workers.
Examples 2: The Street Worker and the Journalist
This research was about how the youngest street workers coped with the fear of being
raped or killed. She ensured validations by:
-
giving an interview to a critical journalists who believed that Pyett was only
looking for sensationalism
the journalist interviewed the youngest street workers, and they gave him the
same answers as were reported in the research of Pyett.
Week 7 - Lecture 7 – Payal Arora
Focus Groups
What are focus groups?
- They have a moderator and participants
- Can be both qualitative and quantitative
- Focuses on a problem solving and outcome creation
- Participants are aware that they are being studied
- Aims to link the social beliefs, expression and decision making abilities of
participants to a method
3 types of Focus groups
1. Traditional – 1 moderator, 6-12 participants
2. 2 way focus - one focus group watches another focus group and discusses the
observed interactions and conclusion
3. Technologically mediated – via internet, conference call, Skype etc.
Case #1 – The Military
In the past it was assumed that men went to war to protect their country and because it
was the right thing to do. Thinking this, advertisements were designed with these
types of themes. So…a focus group research was done.
From this they learned that the biggest factors influencing a soldiers decision were:
-family social support
- soldiers social environment
In turn, advertisements reflected these new themes and focused on portraying:
- Financial security – signing bonus
- Education – money for college
- Skills – job training
Problems with Focus Groups:
- Group think
- Less control and thereby messy data
- Artificial settings – laboratories
- Dependent on the quality of the moderator
- Crowd manipulation
Week 7 - Summary Choi et al. (2005)
Abstract
Use of mobile data services had spread across the globe, the effect of cultural
differences on user requirements has become an important issue.
This paper proposes a set of critical design attributes for mobile data services that
takes cross-cultural differences into account.
To determine these attributes, a qualitative method is devised and in-depth long
interviews are conducted in Japan, Korea and Finland
Introduction
As little research has been conducted on the role that cultural factors play in the
design of mobile data services, this paper investigates a set of critical design attributes
for mobile data services that take cross-cultural differences into account.
 Cultural factors exert an influence on how web and other technology
applications are used. Culture also has a strong effect on what users look for in
a system’s interface and how they interpret such interfaces. Due to these
cultural factors, simply translating messages and online documents is not
enough to achieve interface localization.
Culture is defined as “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the
members of one group from people from another.” Four Dimensions of culture used
in this study are:
 Uncertainty avoidance, i.e. the extent to which the members of a culture feel
threatened by uncertainty and ambiguity, along with the eagerness to avoid
such situations.
 Individualism/collectivism, where individualism represents a preference for a
loosely-knit social framework where people are expected to take care of
themselves and their own interests.
 Context, i.e. the information that surrounds an event (similar to Hofstede’s
low/high context cultures).
 Time perception, i.e. monochronic (people carry out only one task at a time
in a linear manner) and polychronic (people carry out many tasks
simultaneously and in a concurrent manner).
Method
Twenty-four individuals from Korea, Japan, and Finland were interviewed after
asking each subject to view video clips of mobile data services and to discuss their
impressions.
These qualitative interviews allowed the researchers to identify fifty-two substantial
attributes of mobile data services. After the identification of these attributes,
relationships between the significant attributes of mobile data services and the culture
to which an individual belonged were investigated.
Data collection
The (in total 12) video clips that were shown to the studied subjects prior to the
qualitative interviews displayed the process of using mobile data services in four
specific cases in each of the three countries, namely downloading ring tones,
downloading games, reserving movie tickets, and reading sports news. A pilot test
was conducted in which the video clips were shown to one Japanese, one Finish, and
four Korean users who had lived in their own country for more than ten years. This
pilot test also included qualitative interviews.
After the pilot test was conducted, 24 people (eight from each country) participated in
the study. Each interviewee watched the video clip from his/her own country’s mobile
data service first, and then video clips of services in the other two countries.
Participants watched the videos at their own pace and were asked some general openended questions when they finished watching a video clip. Each interview took more
than three hours; all interviews were recorded and transcribed.
Data analysis
Raw data of the transcripts was broken down by theme and analyzed to conceptualize,
label, and categorize the design attributes interviewees considered important; 52
mobile data service attributes were elicited.
The Kappa ratio for inter-coder reliability was found to be high, namely 0.83.
Particpants preference for the 52 attributes was investigated by eliminating the
attributes that were not referred to at least once by 90% of the interviewees of each
country. This yielded 11 attributes, which were related to the cultural characteristics
of each interviewee.
Results
The interview results show that people in the same country demonstrate similar
cultural characteristics in terms of their preference for mobile data services.
 Uncertainty avoidance: efficient lay-out or space usage and a large amount of
information within a screen help high uncertainty-avoidance (i.e. Japanese and
Korean) users comprehend the overall structure of menu items.
a. Over 90% of Koreans and Japanese participants preferred efficient lay
out or space usage, large amount of information within a screen, clear
menu labeling and secondary information about contents.


Individualism/collectivism: individualist users (i.e. Finish and Japanese) prefer
a wide variety of options for contents, but don’t like a wide variety of actual
contents.
a. The Finnish interviewees wanted to focus just on what they were
interested in. Since individualistic people tend to base their actions
on personal goals.
b. Korean interviewees have more collectivist tendencies, they often use
services that enable them to feel more connected to other people.
Context: users from high context-cultures (i.e. Korean and Japanese) prefer
implicative menus with icons or animations over text-based explanatory
menus.
a. Users from a high-context culture prefer implicative menus with icons
or animations over text-based explanatory menus.
b. High-context people get information about the menu from diverse
colors and sizes. They can obtain more info from implicit menu style
than low-context people.

Time perception: all groups (i.e. Finish, Korean, and Japanese) displayed
monochronic tendencies.
Limitations

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The number of interviewees was small.
Familiarity with certain attributes in an interviewee’s country could influence
an interviewee’s preference regarding the attributes.
The interviews were conducted without any real use of mobile data services.
Culture may not be the only factor in the differences observed across
countries.
Week 8 – Lecture Slides – How To Write a Qualitative Study
Creswell’s 4 Rhetorical issues:
1. Reflexivity and representation – the researcher has an impact on how the data
is interpreted. He/she positions themselves in various ways, self-disclosing
(i.e. having a particular political background will alter research)
2. Audience – be aware of who you are writing for (Colleagues, Participants,
Policy Makers, General Public)
a. Watch use of jargon – only when writing to people familiar with the
jargon.
3. Encoding- References, language, style
a. Perceive needs for our audience
b. Use references
c. Language and style of writing (formal/informal)
4. Quotes – taken from the interviews, help determine themes from the research
Narrative Research
“Understood as a spoken or written text giving an account of an event/action or series
of events/actions, chronologically connected” (pg. 54)
Procedures:
- Does the topic fit narrative research
- Select individuals, devote time to gathering their stories
- Contextualizing the stories
- Restorying :”the qualitative data analysis may be a description of both the
story and themes that emerge from it” (pg.56)
- Collaboration
Keep in mind:
- Must be chronological
- Tells a story
- Biographer can start with a key event
- Focus on an individual or story
Phenomenology
“Describes the meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a concept
or phenomenon…the basic purpose is to reduce individual experiences with a
phenomenon to a description of the universal essence” (pg. 57-58)
Procedures:
- Does the topic fit phenomenology?
- Identify a phenomenon of interest to study
- Specify the philosophical assumptions of this approach
- Collect data (often in-depth, multiple interviews, ask two broad general
questions)
- Data analysis/ textural description/ essence
Keep in mind:
- Define a phenomenon or event
- Find key themes
- Detailed form
- Understand essence of experience
- Highly structures
- Identify themes within phenomenon
- Identify key statements (5-25 participants)
Grounded Theory
“The intent of grounded theory is to move beyond description and to generate or
discover a theory” (pg. 62-63)
Procedures:
- Does the topic fit a grounded theory approach?
- Research questions are asked of the participants, focus on how they
experience the process/ steps of the process, repeat until theoretical saturation
is reached
- Data analysis (stages): open, axial and selective coding
- Result: a substantive-level theory
Keep in mind:
- Deduction – general to specific
- Discover a theory for a specific case
- RQ broad
- 20-60 people
- Be specific about sampling
- Open, axial and selective coding
- Can also include examples of there your theory also or may also apply
Ethnography
“A qualitative design in which the researcher describes and interprets the shared and
learned patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs, and language of a culture-sharing
group” (pg. 68)
Procedures:
- Does the topic fit ethnography
- Identify a culture-sharing group to study
- Select themes for analysis of the culture-sharing group (decide which type of
ethnography)
- Conduct fieldwork
- Data analysis/ create a cultural portrait
Keep in mind:
- Realistic tales - portrait of studied cultures (scientific, objective)
- Description of a culture
- Pattern of themes
- Interpretation strategies – link to a theory
- Objective vs. advocacy
- “thick” description (pg. 194)
Case Study
“A qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a bounded system (a
case)…over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving multiple
sources of data…and reports case description and case-based themes” (pg. 73)
Procedures:
- Does the topic fit a case study?
- Identify the case(s) using purposeful sampling
- Extensive data collection
- Data analysis: Holistic or embedded
- “Lessons learned”
Keep in mind:
- Broad to narrow perspective
- Multiple sources of information needed
- Describe a case
- Key issues
- Finding patterns
- Can use a vignette (small story to pull in the reader) at begin and/or end
Week 8 - Chapter 9 Summary - Writing a Qualitative Study
Rhetorical issues
Qualitative writing has been shaped by a need for researchers to be self-disclosing
about their role in the writing, the impact of it on participants and how information is
read by audiences. This leads to four rhetorical issues when writing a qualitative
study:
-
Overall Rhetorical Structure: The overall organization of the report of the
study
Embedded Rhetorical Structure: Specific narrative devices and techniques
that the writer uses in the report.

Reflexivity and representations in writing
- Researchers are often much more self-disclosing about studies these
days
 How we write is often a reflection of our own interpretation
based on culture, social, gender, class, and personal politics.
- Researchers often accidentally put their positions on subjects in their
texts, based on cultural and personal politics. The researcher should
acknowledge this prejudice and point it out in their text. The best
writing does this acknowledgement.
- Objectivity and distancing from researcher might lead to ‘silencing’
both the researcher and the participants. However, subjectivity might
lead to wrong display of participants.
- Important is how the text will be perceived. Does the audience
understand the text exactly as the researcher wanted it to be interpreted
– and if not, what are the consequences?
- Self-reflection is key!!!

Audience for our writings
- Researchers often write while consciously having their audience in
mind, sometimes more than the research itself.
- Different audiences perceive texts in a different way; colleagues might
understand certain theories better than the general audience will, so
you have to think about how you write to attract an audience.

Encoding our writings
Related, the best way of writing might be to encode the whole text. If there
are multiple audiences, one can code the text in several ways so all
audiences are satisfied; professionals need theories, academic background
etc, while enthusiasts need practical background etc. Creswell proposes
three basic strategies:
- An overall structure that does not conform to standard titles such as
methodology, results etc. Instead, the researcher should use his own
titles, sometimes based on themes identified by participants.
- A personal writing style, made readable for a broad audience;
persuasive and grabbing.
- Details make the work come alive. Verisimilitude: making the writing
real and alive, taking the reader right in to the world of the study.

Quotes in our writings
Quotes are used to bring in the voice of the participants. Three types:
Eye-catching quotes:
- Short and eye catching, easy to read quotes, standing out from the
researcher’s own text.
Embedded quotes:
- Embedded quotes, preparing the reader for a shift in the text and
support that new theme.
- Allows the writer and reader to move on.
- Embedded quotes therefore consume little space, and provide specific
concrete evidence in informants words to support a theme
Longer Quotations:
- Long quotes that express ideas, and are thus quite difficult to read
because the reader needs to be guided into it, and out of it.
- Used to convey more complex understandings
- Difficult to use due to space limitations
- May contain many ideas.
Rhetorical structures:
For all types of qualitative research, there are overall rhetorical structures and
embedded rhetorical structures that can be identified – see table 9.1 on the next page,
that summarizes it quite well.
Creswell discusses how he believes the table does not show major similarities in
structures among the five research approaches, but how there definitely should be
overlap. The writing of the study, regardless of the approach, is dependent on the way
of data gathering, analysis and report writing. Some approaches have less structure
than others.
Week 8 - Chapter 11 – “Turning the Story” and Conclusion
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To capture the essence of a good qualitative study, it should contain as shown
in the circle (figure 11.1, p. 224) the approach of inquiry, research design
procedures, and the philosophical and theoretical frameworks and
assumptions.
Approach
to Inquiry
Assumptions,
Worldviews,
Theories
Research
Design
-
“Turning the story”: considering alternate scenarios for specific problems.
i.e. studying a single individual’s reaction to a gun incident is different from
specific problem of how several students as a culture sharing group reacted.
Done via distinguishing general problem.
-
Looking at the research general problem from different study approaches
(narrative, case study, grounded theory, ethnography, and phenomenology).
Knowing more information would help us devise better plans for reacting to
certain types of problem as well as add to literature
1) Research, phenomenon or concept can be examined from multiple study
approaches (narrative, case study, grounded theory, ethnography, and
phenomenology).
2) Pure objectivity is impossible. We cannot step aside and be ‘objective’ about
what we see and write. Our words stem from our own personal experiences,
culture, history and backgrounds
3) Approach to research shapes the language of the research design procedures in
a study especially in terms used in the introduction, data collection and the
analysis phases of design.
4) Approach to research includes the participants who are studied. May consist of
one or two individuals (narrative study), groups of people (phenomenology,
grounded theory) or an entire culture (ethnography)
5) The distinctions among the approaches are most pronounces in the data
analysis phase as it ranges from unstructured to structured approaches.
Ethnographies, case studies and biographies employ substantial description
where as phenomenologies use less description and almost none in grounded
theory. Less structured approaches: ethnography & narrative, more structured
approached: grounded theory with a systematic procedure and
phenomenology.
6) The approach to research shapes the final written product as well as the
embedded rhetorical structures. This explains why qualitative studies look so
different and are composed so differently.
7) The criteria for assessing the quality of a study differ among the approaches.
Overlap in procedures for validation but not in criteria for assessing