QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

DEFINING AND DESIGNING

 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

In the context of applied research:

Collecting and generating data to further our
understanding of real – world problems
DATA TYPES
DATA GATHERING

Participant Observation

In-depth interviews

Focus groups
 DATA ANALYSIS/APPROACHES

• Individual experiences
• In-depth interviews and focus
groups

• Shared meanings and practices (social and

cultural)
• Participant observation, long term fieldwork
 DATA ANALYSIS/APPROACHES

• Identifying and coding emergent themes within data

• Generation of free-flowing data
• In-depth interviews and focus groups

• systematic and exhaustive comparison of text

segments to build thematic structure and theory
from a body of text
• In-depth interviews and focus groups
 DATA ANALYSIS/APPROACHES

• Cases that are unique with

respect to the research
topic
• Observation

• “naturally occurring”
(public events to
existing documents)
• Text and structures
within discourse
 DATA ANALYSIS/APPROACHES

• Narratives (storytelling)
• In-depth interviews, focus group, participant
observation, written forms

• Integrating quantitative and qualitative

research methods in one study
RESEARCH DESIGN
CONSIDERATIONS
RESEARCH PARAMETERS
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Determine Study’s Primary Purpose

 Understand a Real World Problem
 Build Knowledge/Theory
 Develop a Program
 Evaluate Something
 Inform a larger Study

Determine Study’s Primary

Audience
RESARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Determine Study Population and

Geographic Parameters

Decide If and What Comparative

Elements to include
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Determine Temporal Orientation

of Design

Choose your Objective Verb

- identify, explore, describe,
explain, evaluate
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Choose Your Qualitative

Approaches
Phenomenology
Ethnography
Inductive Thematic Analysis
Grounded Theory
Case Study
Discourse / Conversation Analysis
Narrative Analysis
Mixed Methods
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Select Attribute(s) of Human

Experience to Examine

Behavior
Attitudes/Opinions/Perceptions
Values and Emotions
Knowledge
Culturally Shared Meanings
Social Structure and Relationships
Processes and Systems
Environmental Context
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Select Data Collection Methods

Participant Observation

In-depth interviews

Focus groups
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Determine If/How Additional

Activities/ Procedures Will Inform
Study
Listing
Categorizing
Timelines
Drawings/Mapping
Visual Elicitation
Rating/Ranking
Post Event Reflection
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Establish Sampling Procedures

Inductive vs Priori Sampling
Census
Purposive
Quota
Convenience
Simple Random
Systematic
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Determine Recruitment Method(s)

Media Based
Investigator Initiated
Socially Based
Panel/List Based
RESEARCH DESIGN STEPS AND OPTIONS

Time and Resource Constraints

Review, Revise, and Repeat