Chapter 1: Introduction to qualitative research
Research consists of asking and answering relevant and researchable questions.
When there is an activity for which some thinking is required first, we are dealing with a
research of social sciences. Science is only acknowledged and accepted as such, when the
researchers comply with the rules that concern executing the scientific research. The most
important rules are:
- The study is theoretically informed
- It is a systematic procedure
- Approved methods and technics are used
- The research is documented in such a way that others are able to judge the
findings.
Studying the literature and talking to experts can lead to research questions that are
suitable to scientific methods. Scientific research requires that the questions that are
being asked are related to the theory in some way.
When the goal of the research is especially knowledge, then we speak of a grounded
research.
When it is mostly aimed at using knowledge to improve or change situations, then we
speak of applied research.
Qualitative research can be both grounded and applied.
Quantitative research= drawing up hypotheses beforehand and testing these with the help
of empirical observations.
Qualitative research= theory is used more like a searchlight.
Variations in qualitative research:
- The interpretative variation (reality is central, giving meaning)
- Structural variation (communication processes and language)
In qualitative research, theory is seen as an attempt to describe, understand, and explain
a social phenomenon.
,In quantitative research, a deductive process is used; the theory is the starting point for
the formulation of the hypothesis that is being tested in the research.
In qualitative research, inductive thinking is used; a research of a social phenomenon is
carried out by the request of finding empirical pattern that can function as the start of a
theory.
Paradigm= a frame for thinking about the outline of a research, the measurement, the
analysis, and the personal commitment by the members of field of speciality. They reflect
the questions that concern the nature of social reality and the nature of knowledge.
Ontology= nature of the social reality.
Epistemology= concerns the question whether there is one road to truth, or that one
needs several methods to describe the meaning of social experience.
Constructivism= Qualitative research usually starts with the assumptions that
individuals have an active role within the construction of social reality and this demands
that the research methods can take the place of this process of social construction.
Grounded theory= glaser & strauss, want to breath new life into empirical research with
this research strategy. They though that etnograpghic research tried too much to describe
instead of explaining social phenomena. They contributed to the systematical approach of
qualitative research in general and to the qualitative analysis.
They offered a methodology in which the data are the middle point to reach a theoretical
description of a phenomenon and to explain it. The data are systematically generated and
are analyzed step-by-step to develop the theory. The start of the research has mostly an
explorative character. Comparable cases need to be found to expand, confirm or to
deepen the statements. This is called a theoretical sample, because the choice of new
cases depends on the theoretical needs of the researcher.
The data are analyzed with the help of a technique called “coding”, in which the relevant
parts of the data are indicated and labelled. Through a constant comparison of the newly
collected data with earlier results, the process slowly progresse from the coded parts of
the data to conceptual modelling and theory-forming.
The aim of qualitative research is to describe and understand social phenomena in
terms of the meaning that people add to them.
The research questions are studied with the help of flexible methods, making contact with
those involved necessary to understand what is happening in the field.
,The methods produce rich, descriptive data that have to be interpreted with the
identification and coding themes and categories and which can lead to findings that can
contribute to theoretical knowledge and practical use.
Biggest area of concern for qualitative researchers is “what all of it means for the people
who are involved”.
People talk about their social reality, they give their opinion on what they think is
happening, they share their experiences, they show what they feel.
In case of an inductive approach, it is often not clear beforehand which data will be
generated and what the framework of the analysis will look like. Improvisation, creativity
and flexibility need to be allowed in the phase of analysis.
Qualitative researchers have tools like describing what they heard and presenting notes
from field work.
The researchers cannot jost present “raw data”. They are obligated to give a re-
interpretation of the data that still represents the meaning maintained by the participant.
The researchers do not only have the goals of describing what is happening, but they also
want to explain how it works and why things are happening in that way.
Chapter 2: Research Design
The research plan:
- Research questions
- Research goals
- Ethical section
- The spread of the results
- A strategic plan with the methods.
Literature review= acknowledging the already existing scientific knowledge, including
possible theories.
Theories= coherent frameworks that describe and explain aspects of the social life.
Research questions can be adjusted during the research.
Literature research= important to determine the topic of research, points out the gaps in
existing knowledge, clarifies the scientific contribution of your research.
,You should draw up a research question that is broad enough to include all the central
issues and relations and it should be narrow enough to indicate data collection.
Research can be basic to increase scientific knowledge(fundamental) or it can pe applied
to change or improve a situation(applied).
Research can also be either descriptive or explanatory.
Sampling, recruitment and access:
The choice of a setting or location is very important.
Generic qualitative research= they do not know to which group they belong, they just do
qualitative research.
Grounded-theory approach= involves forming concepts and theory, working towards a
theory.
Saturation = the research question is answered.
Chapter 3: Ethics in qualitative research
beneficience= maximizing good outcomes for science, humanity, and the individual
research participants while avoiding or minimizing unnecessary harm, risk or wrong.
Informed consent= obligation to fully outline the nature of the data collection and the
purpose for which the data will be used to the people being studied.
Privacy = the interest of individuals to control the access that others have to them.
Confidentiality and anonymity= data and agreement as to how the data are to be
handled in the research to ensure privacy.
Risks in qualitative research:
- Exploitation =research will not produce meaningful results and needlessly exposes
participants to risk and inconvenience. Research has to improve well-being or
increase knowledge.
- Coercion =vulnerable groups may not understand their rights or may not be
entirely capable of exercising their right to refuse to participate in research when
asked by someone of apparent authority.
- Sanctions
, Chapter 4: Data Collection
The method that is used depends on the research question and the goal of the research.
Empirical data= stories told by participants, quotes, observations made by the
researcher, pictures, case descriptions.(information that comes from the research)
Qualitative data reflects the experiences of people in the daily life. By studying this data,
social scientists are able to understand certain aspects of the social world.
Quantitative data are not exact representations of life experiences.
Data depends on the participants’ ability to reflectively distinguish aspects of their own
thoughts, and to effectively communicate what they perceive through language.
Participant observation= the process in which a researcher has a multifaceted and
relatively long relation with a human being and in which he builds up a relation with the
natural environment of that person with the aim of developing scientific insight in that
relation.
Participant observation is the classic research methodology of both anthropology and
sociology.
Participation is seen as essential to the search of meaning, feelings and experiences.
Participation observation is especially useful when: there is little information available
about the phenomenon.
Participation observation is an umbrella term for different methods and techniques:
- Observing the activities of people
- Keeping the participants company
- Taking part in their activities
- Interviewing participants
Obtaining acces and building up and keeping the trust of the participants is one of the
most important issues of participant observation.
Interviews allow researchers to get to know the social life through the perspective of
those that live it.
Semi-structured and half-structured interviews are most used during qualitative research.
Types of interviews:
Research consists of asking and answering relevant and researchable questions.
When there is an activity for which some thinking is required first, we are dealing with a
research of social sciences. Science is only acknowledged and accepted as such, when the
researchers comply with the rules that concern executing the scientific research. The most
important rules are:
- The study is theoretically informed
- It is a systematic procedure
- Approved methods and technics are used
- The research is documented in such a way that others are able to judge the
findings.
Studying the literature and talking to experts can lead to research questions that are
suitable to scientific methods. Scientific research requires that the questions that are
being asked are related to the theory in some way.
When the goal of the research is especially knowledge, then we speak of a grounded
research.
When it is mostly aimed at using knowledge to improve or change situations, then we
speak of applied research.
Qualitative research can be both grounded and applied.
Quantitative research= drawing up hypotheses beforehand and testing these with the help
of empirical observations.
Qualitative research= theory is used more like a searchlight.
Variations in qualitative research:
- The interpretative variation (reality is central, giving meaning)
- Structural variation (communication processes and language)
In qualitative research, theory is seen as an attempt to describe, understand, and explain
a social phenomenon.
,In quantitative research, a deductive process is used; the theory is the starting point for
the formulation of the hypothesis that is being tested in the research.
In qualitative research, inductive thinking is used; a research of a social phenomenon is
carried out by the request of finding empirical pattern that can function as the start of a
theory.
Paradigm= a frame for thinking about the outline of a research, the measurement, the
analysis, and the personal commitment by the members of field of speciality. They reflect
the questions that concern the nature of social reality and the nature of knowledge.
Ontology= nature of the social reality.
Epistemology= concerns the question whether there is one road to truth, or that one
needs several methods to describe the meaning of social experience.
Constructivism= Qualitative research usually starts with the assumptions that
individuals have an active role within the construction of social reality and this demands
that the research methods can take the place of this process of social construction.
Grounded theory= glaser & strauss, want to breath new life into empirical research with
this research strategy. They though that etnograpghic research tried too much to describe
instead of explaining social phenomena. They contributed to the systematical approach of
qualitative research in general and to the qualitative analysis.
They offered a methodology in which the data are the middle point to reach a theoretical
description of a phenomenon and to explain it. The data are systematically generated and
are analyzed step-by-step to develop the theory. The start of the research has mostly an
explorative character. Comparable cases need to be found to expand, confirm or to
deepen the statements. This is called a theoretical sample, because the choice of new
cases depends on the theoretical needs of the researcher.
The data are analyzed with the help of a technique called “coding”, in which the relevant
parts of the data are indicated and labelled. Through a constant comparison of the newly
collected data with earlier results, the process slowly progresse from the coded parts of
the data to conceptual modelling and theory-forming.
The aim of qualitative research is to describe and understand social phenomena in
terms of the meaning that people add to them.
The research questions are studied with the help of flexible methods, making contact with
those involved necessary to understand what is happening in the field.
,The methods produce rich, descriptive data that have to be interpreted with the
identification and coding themes and categories and which can lead to findings that can
contribute to theoretical knowledge and practical use.
Biggest area of concern for qualitative researchers is “what all of it means for the people
who are involved”.
People talk about their social reality, they give their opinion on what they think is
happening, they share their experiences, they show what they feel.
In case of an inductive approach, it is often not clear beforehand which data will be
generated and what the framework of the analysis will look like. Improvisation, creativity
and flexibility need to be allowed in the phase of analysis.
Qualitative researchers have tools like describing what they heard and presenting notes
from field work.
The researchers cannot jost present “raw data”. They are obligated to give a re-
interpretation of the data that still represents the meaning maintained by the participant.
The researchers do not only have the goals of describing what is happening, but they also
want to explain how it works and why things are happening in that way.
Chapter 2: Research Design
The research plan:
- Research questions
- Research goals
- Ethical section
- The spread of the results
- A strategic plan with the methods.
Literature review= acknowledging the already existing scientific knowledge, including
possible theories.
Theories= coherent frameworks that describe and explain aspects of the social life.
Research questions can be adjusted during the research.
Literature research= important to determine the topic of research, points out the gaps in
existing knowledge, clarifies the scientific contribution of your research.
,You should draw up a research question that is broad enough to include all the central
issues and relations and it should be narrow enough to indicate data collection.
Research can be basic to increase scientific knowledge(fundamental) or it can pe applied
to change or improve a situation(applied).
Research can also be either descriptive or explanatory.
Sampling, recruitment and access:
The choice of a setting or location is very important.
Generic qualitative research= they do not know to which group they belong, they just do
qualitative research.
Grounded-theory approach= involves forming concepts and theory, working towards a
theory.
Saturation = the research question is answered.
Chapter 3: Ethics in qualitative research
beneficience= maximizing good outcomes for science, humanity, and the individual
research participants while avoiding or minimizing unnecessary harm, risk or wrong.
Informed consent= obligation to fully outline the nature of the data collection and the
purpose for which the data will be used to the people being studied.
Privacy = the interest of individuals to control the access that others have to them.
Confidentiality and anonymity= data and agreement as to how the data are to be
handled in the research to ensure privacy.
Risks in qualitative research:
- Exploitation =research will not produce meaningful results and needlessly exposes
participants to risk and inconvenience. Research has to improve well-being or
increase knowledge.
- Coercion =vulnerable groups may not understand their rights or may not be
entirely capable of exercising their right to refuse to participate in research when
asked by someone of apparent authority.
- Sanctions
, Chapter 4: Data Collection
The method that is used depends on the research question and the goal of the research.
Empirical data= stories told by participants, quotes, observations made by the
researcher, pictures, case descriptions.(information that comes from the research)
Qualitative data reflects the experiences of people in the daily life. By studying this data,
social scientists are able to understand certain aspects of the social world.
Quantitative data are not exact representations of life experiences.
Data depends on the participants’ ability to reflectively distinguish aspects of their own
thoughts, and to effectively communicate what they perceive through language.
Participant observation= the process in which a researcher has a multifaceted and
relatively long relation with a human being and in which he builds up a relation with the
natural environment of that person with the aim of developing scientific insight in that
relation.
Participant observation is the classic research methodology of both anthropology and
sociology.
Participation is seen as essential to the search of meaning, feelings and experiences.
Participation observation is especially useful when: there is little information available
about the phenomenon.
Participation observation is an umbrella term for different methods and techniques:
- Observing the activities of people
- Keeping the participants company
- Taking part in their activities
- Interviewing participants
Obtaining acces and building up and keeping the trust of the participants is one of the
most important issues of participant observation.
Interviews allow researchers to get to know the social life through the perspective of
those that live it.
Semi-structured and half-structured interviews are most used during qualitative research.
Types of interviews:
