QRM Notes.
Lecture 01
What is Qualitative Research?
Focuses on understanding meaning, experiences, and processes rather than measuring quantities.
Interviews, observations. Setting-in the real world, naturalistic.
Quantitative– Deductive, outsider perspective, structured, objective, large samples, numbers.
Qualitative– Inductive, insider perspective, flexible data, small samples, stories.
Perspectives in research.
Ethical Perspective (outsider view)
Researcher categorizes, compares phenomena across cultures.
Emic Perspective (insider view)
Researchers try to understand phenomena from participants' own viewpoint.
Both perspectives can be used in qual and quant, but qualitative research often prioritizes emic.
Functions of Social Research
Quantitative typically measure prevalence, test associations.
Qualitative typically undercover meanings, explain processes, generate new concepts.
Example: Homelessness
Quantitative → % homeless, average duration, statistical correlations.
Qualitative → What does homelessness mean to people? How do they experience shelters? Why do
certain interventions succeed or fail?
Defining Qualitative Research
Jerome Bruner 1986
Paradigmatic knowledge– abstract, casual “if-then” explanations. (Closer to quantitative).
Narrative knowledge– human meaning-making through stories. (Qualitative).
Hennink et al. 2020
Broad term– detailed study of experiences using interviews, focus groups, observations, life stories.
Not just methods, but an approach: understand issues from participants perspective.
Denzin and Lincoln 2008
Interpretive, naturalistic approach– study things in real settings, interpreting phenomena via
participants' meanings.
,Key Takeaways from Lecture 1
Qualitative research asks what, how, why, not “how many.”
It is flexible, inductive, narrative-driven, interpretive.
Strongly tied to context → culture, society, economy, personal experience.
Has four functions: contextual, explanatory, evaluative, generative.
,Lecture 02- Paradigms, Reflexivity, and Generalizability.
History of Qualitative Research
Late 19th- Early 20th Century (1880-1939)
Lone ethnographer era. Researchers travelled to remote areas, living among people, and wrote accounts.
Issues: romanticizing the exotic, over-identifying with subjects, tied to colonialism.
Mid 20th Century (1945-1970)
Push to make social science more “scientific”.
Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss)-- a systematic approach to build theory from data.
Tried to align qualitative work with quantitative rigor. Structured models.
1970- onward.
More applied work– studying marginalized groups, everyday settings. Workplace, schools.
Interpretive run– emphasis on understanding meanings.
1990- onward.
Reflexive turn– focus on the researcher stole.
Ask: how do our assumptions, backgrounds, and biases shape what we see?
Reflexivity. Ravitch & Carl, 2021
Systematic reflection on how the researchers identity, background, and assumptions influence research
design, data collection, and analysis.
Why is this important?
The researcher is never neutral– your presence, questions, and background shape data.
Example (Street Corner Society): Whyte noticed that boys behaved differently when he was present
(some exaggerated, some held back).
Reflexivity is an ongoing process, not just at the end. Requires questioning biases, participant
relationships, paradigm assumptions.
Positionality.
Related to reflexivity, but more explicit and written.
Positionality= statement of your standpoint. (who you are, where you come from, how this may affect
your research).
Examples:
Shared characteristics (gender, ethnicity, religion) with participants → insider position.
Differences → outsider position.
Neither is “better” → both shape what you can/can’t see.
What is the difference?
Reflexivity– Ongoing questioning of assumptions.
, Positionality– Written statement summarizing where you stand.
Example (The Managed Heart): Hochschild acknowledged that as a woman in academia, she too
experienced gendered emotional expectations — shaping how she understood flight attendants’
experiences.
Research Paradigms
Worldviews that guide how we think about reality, knowledge, and methods.
They answer 3 questions:
- Ontology (Reality)- What is the nature of reality?
- Epistemology (Knowing)- How can we know reality?
- Methodology (Doing)- How do we study it?
Positivism
Objective truth, reliability/validity.
Reality (ontology)- One objective reality exists.
Knowing (epistemology)- We can measure it objectively; researcher is neutral.
Doing (methodology)- Experiments, surveys, statistics.
Quality- Reliability, validity, generalizability.
Example: Lab experiments in psychology.
Post-Positivism
Reality exists but imperfectly known, use triangulation.
Reality- A real world exists, but we can only know it imperfectly.
Knowing- Aim for objectivity but accept fallibility; use multiple methods to reduce bias.
Doing- Quasi-experiments, structured interviews, mixed methods.
Quality- Rigor, triangulation, careful handling of bias.
Example: Large-scale surveys with acknowledgment of sampling limitations.
Critical Theory (and related)
Knowledge is shaped by power/ideology, research should expose domination.
Reality- Shaped by power, ideology, inequality, history.
Knowing- Knowledge is never neutral → must expose and challenge domination.
Doing- Critical ethnography, discourse analysis, participatory/action research.
Quality- Fairness, attention to voice/power, potential for transformative insight.
Example: Research on how media reinforces gender stereotypes.
Constructivism / Interpretivism
Multiple socially constructed realities, focus on trustworthiness.
Reality- Multiple socially constructed realities.
Knowing- Knowledge is co-created with participants.
Doing- Interviews, focus groups, ethnography, narrative analysis.
Quality- Trustworthiness (credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability).
Example: Understanding cultural rituals through participants’ stories.
Lecture 01
What is Qualitative Research?
Focuses on understanding meaning, experiences, and processes rather than measuring quantities.
Interviews, observations. Setting-in the real world, naturalistic.
Quantitative– Deductive, outsider perspective, structured, objective, large samples, numbers.
Qualitative– Inductive, insider perspective, flexible data, small samples, stories.
Perspectives in research.
Ethical Perspective (outsider view)
Researcher categorizes, compares phenomena across cultures.
Emic Perspective (insider view)
Researchers try to understand phenomena from participants' own viewpoint.
Both perspectives can be used in qual and quant, but qualitative research often prioritizes emic.
Functions of Social Research
Quantitative typically measure prevalence, test associations.
Qualitative typically undercover meanings, explain processes, generate new concepts.
Example: Homelessness
Quantitative → % homeless, average duration, statistical correlations.
Qualitative → What does homelessness mean to people? How do they experience shelters? Why do
certain interventions succeed or fail?
Defining Qualitative Research
Jerome Bruner 1986
Paradigmatic knowledge– abstract, casual “if-then” explanations. (Closer to quantitative).
Narrative knowledge– human meaning-making through stories. (Qualitative).
Hennink et al. 2020
Broad term– detailed study of experiences using interviews, focus groups, observations, life stories.
Not just methods, but an approach: understand issues from participants perspective.
Denzin and Lincoln 2008
Interpretive, naturalistic approach– study things in real settings, interpreting phenomena via
participants' meanings.
,Key Takeaways from Lecture 1
Qualitative research asks what, how, why, not “how many.”
It is flexible, inductive, narrative-driven, interpretive.
Strongly tied to context → culture, society, economy, personal experience.
Has four functions: contextual, explanatory, evaluative, generative.
,Lecture 02- Paradigms, Reflexivity, and Generalizability.
History of Qualitative Research
Late 19th- Early 20th Century (1880-1939)
Lone ethnographer era. Researchers travelled to remote areas, living among people, and wrote accounts.
Issues: romanticizing the exotic, over-identifying with subjects, tied to colonialism.
Mid 20th Century (1945-1970)
Push to make social science more “scientific”.
Discovery of Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss)-- a systematic approach to build theory from data.
Tried to align qualitative work with quantitative rigor. Structured models.
1970- onward.
More applied work– studying marginalized groups, everyday settings. Workplace, schools.
Interpretive run– emphasis on understanding meanings.
1990- onward.
Reflexive turn– focus on the researcher stole.
Ask: how do our assumptions, backgrounds, and biases shape what we see?
Reflexivity. Ravitch & Carl, 2021
Systematic reflection on how the researchers identity, background, and assumptions influence research
design, data collection, and analysis.
Why is this important?
The researcher is never neutral– your presence, questions, and background shape data.
Example (Street Corner Society): Whyte noticed that boys behaved differently when he was present
(some exaggerated, some held back).
Reflexivity is an ongoing process, not just at the end. Requires questioning biases, participant
relationships, paradigm assumptions.
Positionality.
Related to reflexivity, but more explicit and written.
Positionality= statement of your standpoint. (who you are, where you come from, how this may affect
your research).
Examples:
Shared characteristics (gender, ethnicity, religion) with participants → insider position.
Differences → outsider position.
Neither is “better” → both shape what you can/can’t see.
What is the difference?
Reflexivity– Ongoing questioning of assumptions.
, Positionality– Written statement summarizing where you stand.
Example (The Managed Heart): Hochschild acknowledged that as a woman in academia, she too
experienced gendered emotional expectations — shaping how she understood flight attendants’
experiences.
Research Paradigms
Worldviews that guide how we think about reality, knowledge, and methods.
They answer 3 questions:
- Ontology (Reality)- What is the nature of reality?
- Epistemology (Knowing)- How can we know reality?
- Methodology (Doing)- How do we study it?
Positivism
Objective truth, reliability/validity.
Reality (ontology)- One objective reality exists.
Knowing (epistemology)- We can measure it objectively; researcher is neutral.
Doing (methodology)- Experiments, surveys, statistics.
Quality- Reliability, validity, generalizability.
Example: Lab experiments in psychology.
Post-Positivism
Reality exists but imperfectly known, use triangulation.
Reality- A real world exists, but we can only know it imperfectly.
Knowing- Aim for objectivity but accept fallibility; use multiple methods to reduce bias.
Doing- Quasi-experiments, structured interviews, mixed methods.
Quality- Rigor, triangulation, careful handling of bias.
Example: Large-scale surveys with acknowledgment of sampling limitations.
Critical Theory (and related)
Knowledge is shaped by power/ideology, research should expose domination.
Reality- Shaped by power, ideology, inequality, history.
Knowing- Knowledge is never neutral → must expose and challenge domination.
Doing- Critical ethnography, discourse analysis, participatory/action research.
Quality- Fairness, attention to voice/power, potential for transformative insight.
Example: Research on how media reinforces gender stereotypes.
Constructivism / Interpretivism
Multiple socially constructed realities, focus on trustworthiness.
Reality- Multiple socially constructed realities.
Knowing- Knowledge is co-created with participants.
Doing- Interviews, focus groups, ethnography, narrative analysis.
Quality- Trustworthiness (credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability).
Example: Understanding cultural rituals through participants’ stories.
