lOMoARcPSD|14840171
Qualitative research methods - IB
Lecture 1
Characteristics of Qual:
- Providing an in-depth and interpreted understanding of the social world of
research participants
- Purposively selected samples based on a salient criterion
- Close contact between researcher and the research participant
- Analysis open to emergent concepts
- Outputs which focus on the interpretation of social meaning
- Focuses on personal experiences, holistic view (case study, interview, focus group)
- Weakness of holistic approach (the research remains too abstract)
Qualitative research: Techniques to describe, decode and translate meanings of less naturally
occurring phenomena
Association of qualitative research: Research designed to help organizational decision-making
(focuses on phenomena and its meanings)
Qualitative Research Consultants Association: Seeking to explore/explain consumer behaviour,
attitudes, opinion through in-depth interviews
Characteristics of Quan:
- More objective (e.g. survey, lab experiment, mathematical modeling)
- Measures things that could be counted, investigates behavior/trends
Empiricism: Knowledge about the world and it originates in our experiences, derived through senses
➢ Ontology: A philosophy that tries to categorize all existent things. Debate is about
whether there is a captive social reality and how this should be constructed.
- Realism: Distinction between the way the world is and the way human beings interpret it
- Materialism: only material features of the real world had reality
- Idealism: Reality is only knowable through the human mind and through socially
constructed meanings.
Positivism: The social world could be studied in terms of invariant laws (only phenomena that is
observable could be counted as knowledge, knowledge is developed through accumulation of actual
facts, hypotheses are tested empirically, observations are the final arbiter in theoretical disputes).
Interpretivism: Knowledge could be acquired in other ways than direct observation (perception also
relates to human interpretation of what our senses tell us, understanding about the world is derived
, lOMoARcPSD|14840171
from thinking about what happens to us, distinction between “scientific reason” (causal
determinism) and “practical reason” (moral freedom).
Difference between natural (positivism) and social (empiricism) science: The former produces
law- like propositions, the latter tries to understand subjectively meaningful experience
Lecture 2:
Contextual research: Describing the nature of what
exists Explanatory: Examining the reasons of what exists
Evaluative: Appraising the effectiveness of what exists
Generative: Aiding the development of theories, strategies, and actions
Formative evaluation: Provide info that will help to change or improve a program or policy
Summative evaluation: Impact of an intervention or policy in terms of effectiveness and the different
outcomes that have resulted.
Focus groups: researcher-led group discussions for exploratory purposes (purpose to get collective
views on a certain defined topic of interest from a defined group):
- 6-10 participants
- Hard to generalize
- Recruiting specific people
- Pay attention to interviewer moderating style
- Enable to elicit opinions and beliefs, but is time consuming and expensive, observer
faces social pressure
Complete observer: Scrutinizes the phenomenon of interest. There is no intervention and complete
objectivity ; observer is neither seen nor noticed
Observation as participant: People know they’re observed, but the researcher only observes,
Participant as observer: Observer fully engages and takes part in the action ; he participates, people
know he’s there
Complete participant: people don’t know he’s there, he fully commits
, lOMoARcPSD|14840171
Participant observation: Researcher joins and experiences himself
Documentary analysis: study existing documents
Discourse analysis: construction of texts and verbal accounts
Miner metaphor: Knowledge is given
Traveler metaphor: Knowledge is created/negotiated, journey with the interviewee
Structured / Unstructured / Semi – Structured
During semi-structured, the interviewer should be task-oriented (direct what the IR needs), and
relation oriented (create a good atmosphere)
Guide: 3 topics for each topic opening question and 2-4 sub-topics
To achieve breadth and depth, the research could ask content mapping and content mining
questions.
➢ Content mapping
- Ground mapping questions (open up the subject “Have you ever blabla..)
- Dimension mapping question (signpost, structure, and direct the interview; What
happened next?)
- Perspective-widening question: Let the interviewees give more than their initial
thoughts, widens their initial perspectives (Are there any other factors blabla)
➢ Content mining
Amplificatory probes: elaborate
Exploratory probes: explore
feelings Explanatory probes:
reasons
Clarification probes: Achieving high degree of clarity and precision
Qualitative research methods - IB
Lecture 1
Characteristics of Qual:
- Providing an in-depth and interpreted understanding of the social world of
research participants
- Purposively selected samples based on a salient criterion
- Close contact between researcher and the research participant
- Analysis open to emergent concepts
- Outputs which focus on the interpretation of social meaning
- Focuses on personal experiences, holistic view (case study, interview, focus group)
- Weakness of holistic approach (the research remains too abstract)
Qualitative research: Techniques to describe, decode and translate meanings of less naturally
occurring phenomena
Association of qualitative research: Research designed to help organizational decision-making
(focuses on phenomena and its meanings)
Qualitative Research Consultants Association: Seeking to explore/explain consumer behaviour,
attitudes, opinion through in-depth interviews
Characteristics of Quan:
- More objective (e.g. survey, lab experiment, mathematical modeling)
- Measures things that could be counted, investigates behavior/trends
Empiricism: Knowledge about the world and it originates in our experiences, derived through senses
➢ Ontology: A philosophy that tries to categorize all existent things. Debate is about
whether there is a captive social reality and how this should be constructed.
- Realism: Distinction between the way the world is and the way human beings interpret it
- Materialism: only material features of the real world had reality
- Idealism: Reality is only knowable through the human mind and through socially
constructed meanings.
Positivism: The social world could be studied in terms of invariant laws (only phenomena that is
observable could be counted as knowledge, knowledge is developed through accumulation of actual
facts, hypotheses are tested empirically, observations are the final arbiter in theoretical disputes).
Interpretivism: Knowledge could be acquired in other ways than direct observation (perception also
relates to human interpretation of what our senses tell us, understanding about the world is derived
, lOMoARcPSD|14840171
from thinking about what happens to us, distinction between “scientific reason” (causal
determinism) and “practical reason” (moral freedom).
Difference between natural (positivism) and social (empiricism) science: The former produces
law- like propositions, the latter tries to understand subjectively meaningful experience
Lecture 2:
Contextual research: Describing the nature of what
exists Explanatory: Examining the reasons of what exists
Evaluative: Appraising the effectiveness of what exists
Generative: Aiding the development of theories, strategies, and actions
Formative evaluation: Provide info that will help to change or improve a program or policy
Summative evaluation: Impact of an intervention or policy in terms of effectiveness and the different
outcomes that have resulted.
Focus groups: researcher-led group discussions for exploratory purposes (purpose to get collective
views on a certain defined topic of interest from a defined group):
- 6-10 participants
- Hard to generalize
- Recruiting specific people
- Pay attention to interviewer moderating style
- Enable to elicit opinions and beliefs, but is time consuming and expensive, observer
faces social pressure
Complete observer: Scrutinizes the phenomenon of interest. There is no intervention and complete
objectivity ; observer is neither seen nor noticed
Observation as participant: People know they’re observed, but the researcher only observes,
Participant as observer: Observer fully engages and takes part in the action ; he participates, people
know he’s there
Complete participant: people don’t know he’s there, he fully commits
, lOMoARcPSD|14840171
Participant observation: Researcher joins and experiences himself
Documentary analysis: study existing documents
Discourse analysis: construction of texts and verbal accounts
Miner metaphor: Knowledge is given
Traveler metaphor: Knowledge is created/negotiated, journey with the interviewee
Structured / Unstructured / Semi – Structured
During semi-structured, the interviewer should be task-oriented (direct what the IR needs), and
relation oriented (create a good atmosphere)
Guide: 3 topics for each topic opening question and 2-4 sub-topics
To achieve breadth and depth, the research could ask content mapping and content mining
questions.
➢ Content mapping
- Ground mapping questions (open up the subject “Have you ever blabla..)
- Dimension mapping question (signpost, structure, and direct the interview; What
happened next?)
- Perspective-widening question: Let the interviewees give more than their initial
thoughts, widens their initial perspectives (Are there any other factors blabla)
➢ Content mining
Amplificatory probes: elaborate
Exploratory probes: explore
feelings Explanatory probes:
reasons
Clarification probes: Achieving high degree of clarity and precision
