QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Notes by Asiah Capponi
LECTURE 1
People’s experiences, how they view certain things
What do we need to become qualitative researchers?
Eyes and hears → observe and listen to how ppl feel
Interest in the the process
Critical approach to life and knowledge → you want to know why
Reflexivity → reflect on your own, as a person you have certain characteristics
Good interactional skills
What is QR?
Words as data, you need to listen to what ppl tell you
Meanings
Rich data we search for deeper info between a smaller number of people
Theory generating, not testing theory but making theories, we want to know more about
something and we start asking about it to the people around us
BIG Q APPROACH: the whole process is done with qualitative research, from start to finish
SMALL Q APPROACH: use certain methods from qualitative research, mixed approach:
qualitative + quantitative
10 FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
1. QR is about meaning, not numbers → how people express their feelings
2. QR does not provide a single answer → people’s stories are different, how they
perceive a situation is different
3. QR treats context as important → subjectivity is the most important concept
4. QR can be experimental (focuses on the experience of the interviewee) or critical (don’t
only looks at the words used by the interviewee but also at how they behave, react, digs
deeper)
METHODS
METHODOLOGY= the study and discussion of methods
EPISTEMOLOGY
ONTOLOGY (realism and relativism)
5. QR is underpinned by ontological assumptions
Qualitative research Quantitative research
Relativism Critical realism Realism
=we assume there is a reality
, But it changes from person to
Person
6. QR is underpinned by epistemological assumptions
Qualitative Quantitative
Constructionism Contextualism Positivism
=knowledge is constructed by =there is one truth
People
7. QR involves a qualitative methodology: using a qualitative framework
8. QR uses all sorts of data
9. QR involves ‘thinking qualitatively’ → keeping in mind all of the other fundamentals
10. QR values subjectivity (2 level: subjective way of seeing the interview by the
interviewee and subjective way of collective and analyzing data) and reflexivity (2
levels, I bring my own background as a person in this interview, my experience will make
me biased, I acknowledge that I am subjective and I reflect on how I might have biased
the results)
→ Very problematic but valid concepts
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How or Why question
SAMPLING → there are no strict rules
Saturation
Purposive sampling
Sampling strategies:
CONVENIENCE SAMPLING: ask someone that you know, in your own network
STRATIFIED SAMPLING: for example you decide on age categories, you will ask someone in
their 20s, someone in their 30s and so on, afterwards you already know there are some
stratification
Randomization in qualitative research doesn’t make sense, because we assume that everyone
is unique and different
CYCLICAL PROCESS
RQ → sensitization concepts (concepts derived from previous research, but are just a guideline)
→ tabula rasa → purposive sampling/collecting data → analyses → (possible that you have to
go back to a previous step)
Not a straightforward process
ETHICS IN QR
Notes by Asiah Capponi
LECTURE 1
People’s experiences, how they view certain things
What do we need to become qualitative researchers?
Eyes and hears → observe and listen to how ppl feel
Interest in the the process
Critical approach to life and knowledge → you want to know why
Reflexivity → reflect on your own, as a person you have certain characteristics
Good interactional skills
What is QR?
Words as data, you need to listen to what ppl tell you
Meanings
Rich data we search for deeper info between a smaller number of people
Theory generating, not testing theory but making theories, we want to know more about
something and we start asking about it to the people around us
BIG Q APPROACH: the whole process is done with qualitative research, from start to finish
SMALL Q APPROACH: use certain methods from qualitative research, mixed approach:
qualitative + quantitative
10 FUNDAMENTALS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
1. QR is about meaning, not numbers → how people express their feelings
2. QR does not provide a single answer → people’s stories are different, how they
perceive a situation is different
3. QR treats context as important → subjectivity is the most important concept
4. QR can be experimental (focuses on the experience of the interviewee) or critical (don’t
only looks at the words used by the interviewee but also at how they behave, react, digs
deeper)
METHODS
METHODOLOGY= the study and discussion of methods
EPISTEMOLOGY
ONTOLOGY (realism and relativism)
5. QR is underpinned by ontological assumptions
Qualitative research Quantitative research
Relativism Critical realism Realism
=we assume there is a reality
, But it changes from person to
Person
6. QR is underpinned by epistemological assumptions
Qualitative Quantitative
Constructionism Contextualism Positivism
=knowledge is constructed by =there is one truth
People
7. QR involves a qualitative methodology: using a qualitative framework
8. QR uses all sorts of data
9. QR involves ‘thinking qualitatively’ → keeping in mind all of the other fundamentals
10. QR values subjectivity (2 level: subjective way of seeing the interview by the
interviewee and subjective way of collective and analyzing data) and reflexivity (2
levels, I bring my own background as a person in this interview, my experience will make
me biased, I acknowledge that I am subjective and I reflect on how I might have biased
the results)
→ Very problematic but valid concepts
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
How or Why question
SAMPLING → there are no strict rules
Saturation
Purposive sampling
Sampling strategies:
CONVENIENCE SAMPLING: ask someone that you know, in your own network
STRATIFIED SAMPLING: for example you decide on age categories, you will ask someone in
their 20s, someone in their 30s and so on, afterwards you already know there are some
stratification
Randomization in qualitative research doesn’t make sense, because we assume that everyone
is unique and different
CYCLICAL PROCESS
RQ → sensitization concepts (concepts derived from previous research, but are just a guideline)
→ tabula rasa → purposive sampling/collecting data → analyses → (possible that you have to
go back to a previous step)
Not a straightforward process
ETHICS IN QR
