Summary Lectures Qualitative Research
L1: Introduc-on & Focus Group Research ........................................................................................................ 2
Introducing Qualita/ve Research ...................................................................................................................... 2
What is focus group research? And what is it not? .......................................................................................... 4
Designing focus group research ........................................................................................................................ 6
Analyzing focus group data ............................................................................................................................... 7
L2: Interview Techniques ................................................................................................................................. 8
Steps in Grounded Theory.................................................................................................................................. 8
Data analysis...................................................................................................................................................... 8
L3: Think Aloud Protocols in Usability Tes-ng + Content Analysis .................................................................. 11
Think Aloud Protocols in Usability Tes/ng ...................................................................................................... 11
Usability tes/ng ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Thinking aloud ................................................................................................................................................. 12
Think-aloud data, analyzing data.................................................................................................................... 13
AGer analyzing data ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Content/Media analysis .................................................................................................................................. 15
Corpus (in case of newsmedia ar/cles) ........................................................................................................... 16
Goal of media analysis..................................................................................................................................... 16
Making the code book ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Content #1: Deduc-ve frames .................................................................................................................... 17
Content #2: Stakeholders ............................................................................................................................ 17
Content #3: Arguments ............................................................................................................................... 17
Content #4: Sen-ment ................................................................................................................................ 18
Content #5: ??? ........................................................................................................................................... 18
Content summarized ........................................................................................................................................ 18
Analysis of data ............................................................................................................................................... 19
Intercoder Reliability........................................................................................................................................ 19
Cohen’s Kappa ............................................................................................................................................. 19
L4: Observa-ons + Ethics............................................................................................................................... 21
What are observa/on studies?........................................................................................................................ 21
Strengths and Weaknesses .............................................................................................................................. 21
When and why observa/ons? ......................................................................................................................... 21
Par/cipant observa/ons.................................................................................................................................. 22
Ethical Principles .............................................................................................................................................. 23
,L1: Introduc-on & Focus Group Research
Introducing Qualita/ve Research
Quan-ta-ve versus qualita-ve observa-ons.
Quan+ta+ve observa+on: Posi+vism
Qualita+ve observa+on: Construc+onism
The essence of qualita+ve research:
‘’Qualita4ve research generally starts with the assump4ons that
individuals have an ac4ve role in the construc4on of social reality and
required research methods that can capture this process of social
construc4on.’’ (Boeije, 2009, p. 6)
o This is also the essence of the Qualita+ve Research course; learning more about qualita+ve methods
that can capture processes of social construc+on of reality.
Ontological: How data comes into being as scien+fic data.
o Different qualita+ve methods we use.
Epistemological: How data relates to the world we study.
o Conclusion we can draw with different methods.
Towards a defini+on of qualita+ve research
Boeije, on page 11, uses a defini+on for qualita+ve research, taking into account three key elements:
1. Qualita+ve research is looking for meaning.
2. Qualita+ve research is using methods enabling contact with or between humans/par+cipants.
3. Qualita+ve research involves the repor+ng of qualita+ve findings.
Diversity in qualita-ve research
o Qualita+ve research to interpret and explain human experiences and behavior.
o Phenomenology (i.e., by interviewing)
o Ethnographic studies (i.e., by observing)
o Case study analysis (i.e., by focus group research)
o Par+cipatory research (i.e., by usability research)
o Narra+ve studies (i.e., by content or discourse analysis)
How to design a qualita-ve research
In chapter 2 of Boeije, the process outline of designing a qualita+ve research is presented. Basically, Boeije
dis+nguishes following steps in seXng up a qualita+ve research, three of the steps we will discuss in this
lecture:
1. DraY a research planning/proposal.
2. Perform a literature review.
3. Formulate the research ques+on and purpose of the study.
4. Legi+mize the choice for qualita+ve research.
5. Formulate a strategy for sampling and recrui+ng par+cipants.
, Perform a literature review
Boeije challenges the relevance of literature research for qualita+ve research. Why would she do so...? Boeije
challenges whether literature research actually relevant when conduc+ng qualita+ve research..
o Literature may block researchers from being open-minded towards the topic being researched.
However, a literature review in qualita+ve research is important…
o …, to accumulate on to other/previous research findings.
o …, to proper introduce the central problem area or domain.
o …, to indicate the gaps in literature addressed by the study.
o …, to convince funding commissioners of the (scien+fic) relevance of the proposed study.
Legi+mize the choice for qualita+ve research
It is important that choosing a qualita+ve approach is in line with the central research ques+on and purpose.
Depending on the topic(s) studied, reasons to choose for a qualita+ve design can be because of:
o The explora+ve nature of the topic (know more about a phenomenon).
o The explanatory nature of the study (explain the condi+ons of a phenomenon).
o The changing nature of the topic(s) studied/responsiveness of the method.
o The (direct) usability of findings.
o The sensi+ve nature of the topic(s) studied.
Formulate a strategy for sampling and recrui+ng par+cipants
Choose or select the appropriate research content or seXng to collect data and define a strategy to recruit
par+cipants.
o Ul+mately this is important to demonstrate validity or research findings.
Purposive sampling of par+cipants.
o Contrary to the (random) sampling procedures in quan+ta+ve research, selec+ng par+cipants based on
their specific characteris+cs is oYen applied in qualita+ve research.
o Sampling of par+cipants may involve looking for diversity in the popula+on.
o Hence, depending on the topics studies, you may need to focus, or you may need to diverge
par+cipant selec+on and recruitment.
o Recrui+ng and accessing (or contac+ng) par+cipants can be a very open or public procedure, as well as
a very closed or selec+ve procedure.
o Depending on the sensi+vity of the topic, some ethical concerns may also arise.
o Think about recrui+ng par+cipants with certain type of illness.
o Or recrui+ng par+cipants who have been a vic+m of (cyber-)bullying on the workplace.
o Always consider whether you are targe+ng the right par+cipants for your research and be as objec+ve
as possible when selec+ng your par+cipants.
o Think about random chance when selec+ng par+cipants.
o Think about how representa+ve your sample is considering the topic to be researched.
L1: Introduc-on & Focus Group Research ........................................................................................................ 2
Introducing Qualita/ve Research ...................................................................................................................... 2
What is focus group research? And what is it not? .......................................................................................... 4
Designing focus group research ........................................................................................................................ 6
Analyzing focus group data ............................................................................................................................... 7
L2: Interview Techniques ................................................................................................................................. 8
Steps in Grounded Theory.................................................................................................................................. 8
Data analysis...................................................................................................................................................... 8
L3: Think Aloud Protocols in Usability Tes-ng + Content Analysis .................................................................. 11
Think Aloud Protocols in Usability Tes/ng ...................................................................................................... 11
Usability tes/ng ............................................................................................................................................... 11
Thinking aloud ................................................................................................................................................. 12
Think-aloud data, analyzing data.................................................................................................................... 13
AGer analyzing data ........................................................................................................................................ 14
Content/Media analysis .................................................................................................................................. 15
Corpus (in case of newsmedia ar/cles) ........................................................................................................... 16
Goal of media analysis..................................................................................................................................... 16
Making the code book ..................................................................................................................................... 16
Content #1: Deduc-ve frames .................................................................................................................... 17
Content #2: Stakeholders ............................................................................................................................ 17
Content #3: Arguments ............................................................................................................................... 17
Content #4: Sen-ment ................................................................................................................................ 18
Content #5: ??? ........................................................................................................................................... 18
Content summarized ........................................................................................................................................ 18
Analysis of data ............................................................................................................................................... 19
Intercoder Reliability........................................................................................................................................ 19
Cohen’s Kappa ............................................................................................................................................. 19
L4: Observa-ons + Ethics............................................................................................................................... 21
What are observa/on studies?........................................................................................................................ 21
Strengths and Weaknesses .............................................................................................................................. 21
When and why observa/ons? ......................................................................................................................... 21
Par/cipant observa/ons.................................................................................................................................. 22
Ethical Principles .............................................................................................................................................. 23
,L1: Introduc-on & Focus Group Research
Introducing Qualita/ve Research
Quan-ta-ve versus qualita-ve observa-ons.
Quan+ta+ve observa+on: Posi+vism
Qualita+ve observa+on: Construc+onism
The essence of qualita+ve research:
‘’Qualita4ve research generally starts with the assump4ons that
individuals have an ac4ve role in the construc4on of social reality and
required research methods that can capture this process of social
construc4on.’’ (Boeije, 2009, p. 6)
o This is also the essence of the Qualita+ve Research course; learning more about qualita+ve methods
that can capture processes of social construc+on of reality.
Ontological: How data comes into being as scien+fic data.
o Different qualita+ve methods we use.
Epistemological: How data relates to the world we study.
o Conclusion we can draw with different methods.
Towards a defini+on of qualita+ve research
Boeije, on page 11, uses a defini+on for qualita+ve research, taking into account three key elements:
1. Qualita+ve research is looking for meaning.
2. Qualita+ve research is using methods enabling contact with or between humans/par+cipants.
3. Qualita+ve research involves the repor+ng of qualita+ve findings.
Diversity in qualita-ve research
o Qualita+ve research to interpret and explain human experiences and behavior.
o Phenomenology (i.e., by interviewing)
o Ethnographic studies (i.e., by observing)
o Case study analysis (i.e., by focus group research)
o Par+cipatory research (i.e., by usability research)
o Narra+ve studies (i.e., by content or discourse analysis)
How to design a qualita-ve research
In chapter 2 of Boeije, the process outline of designing a qualita+ve research is presented. Basically, Boeije
dis+nguishes following steps in seXng up a qualita+ve research, three of the steps we will discuss in this
lecture:
1. DraY a research planning/proposal.
2. Perform a literature review.
3. Formulate the research ques+on and purpose of the study.
4. Legi+mize the choice for qualita+ve research.
5. Formulate a strategy for sampling and recrui+ng par+cipants.
, Perform a literature review
Boeije challenges the relevance of literature research for qualita+ve research. Why would she do so...? Boeije
challenges whether literature research actually relevant when conduc+ng qualita+ve research..
o Literature may block researchers from being open-minded towards the topic being researched.
However, a literature review in qualita+ve research is important…
o …, to accumulate on to other/previous research findings.
o …, to proper introduce the central problem area or domain.
o …, to indicate the gaps in literature addressed by the study.
o …, to convince funding commissioners of the (scien+fic) relevance of the proposed study.
Legi+mize the choice for qualita+ve research
It is important that choosing a qualita+ve approach is in line with the central research ques+on and purpose.
Depending on the topic(s) studied, reasons to choose for a qualita+ve design can be because of:
o The explora+ve nature of the topic (know more about a phenomenon).
o The explanatory nature of the study (explain the condi+ons of a phenomenon).
o The changing nature of the topic(s) studied/responsiveness of the method.
o The (direct) usability of findings.
o The sensi+ve nature of the topic(s) studied.
Formulate a strategy for sampling and recrui+ng par+cipants
Choose or select the appropriate research content or seXng to collect data and define a strategy to recruit
par+cipants.
o Ul+mately this is important to demonstrate validity or research findings.
Purposive sampling of par+cipants.
o Contrary to the (random) sampling procedures in quan+ta+ve research, selec+ng par+cipants based on
their specific characteris+cs is oYen applied in qualita+ve research.
o Sampling of par+cipants may involve looking for diversity in the popula+on.
o Hence, depending on the topics studies, you may need to focus, or you may need to diverge
par+cipant selec+on and recruitment.
o Recrui+ng and accessing (or contac+ng) par+cipants can be a very open or public procedure, as well as
a very closed or selec+ve procedure.
o Depending on the sensi+vity of the topic, some ethical concerns may also arise.
o Think about recrui+ng par+cipants with certain type of illness.
o Or recrui+ng par+cipants who have been a vic+m of (cyber-)bullying on the workplace.
o Always consider whether you are targe+ng the right par+cipants for your research and be as objec+ve
as possible when selec+ng your par+cipants.
o Think about random chance when selec+ng par+cipants.
o Think about how representa+ve your sample is considering the topic to be researched.
