What Is Qualitative Research?

What is Qualitative
Research?
What is Qualitative Research?
What are you curious about?
What questions do you have about your

area of study?
 Key Terms
Research: the notion of inquiring into, or

investigating something in a systematic
manner
 Key Terms
2 Categories of Research:
1. Basic: motivated by intellectual interest
in a phenomenon and has as its goal the
extension of knowledge
- to know more about the topic
 Key Terms
2 Categories of Research:
2. Applied: undertaken to improve the
quality of practice of a particular
discipline
- improve the way things are done
 Key Terms
Models: overall framework for how we
look at reality
- what reality is like & its basic elements
- nature and status of knowledge
 Key Terms
Concept: clearly defined set of ideas
deriving from a particular model
- ways of looking at the world to help
define the research problem
- filing cabinet
 Key Terms
Theories: arranged set of concepts to define
and explain some phenomenon
- contain plausible relationships
- provides a footing for considering the
world
- basis for considering how the unknown
may be organized
 Key Terms
Hypothesis: a proposition(s) set forth as an
explanation for the occurrence of some
specified group of phenomena
- directly tested
 Key Terms
Methodology: specific means of studying a topic,
gathering data, and analysis of that data
- contain:
1. preference for certain methods
2. theory of scientific knowledge
3. range of solutions
4. systematic sequence of procedural steps
 Key Terms
2 Types of Research:
Qualitative and Quantitative
 Defining
Quantitative Research: the systematic
empirical investigation of quantitative
properties and phenomena and their
relationships.
a. Objective is to develop and employ
mathematical models, theories and/or
hypothesis pertaining to the topic being
examined
 Defining
Quantitative Research:
b. Measurement process is crucial
- provides the fundamental
connection between empirical
observation and mathematical
expression of quantitative
relationships
 Defining
Qualitative Research:
To seize upon the interpretations people place on
existence and to synthesize them so they are
more readily available to us. This is a process of
making large claims from small matters:
studying particular rituals, poems, plays,
conversations, songs, dances, theories, and
myths and gingerly reaching out to the full
relations within a culture or a total way of life.
James Carey (1975)
 Defining
Generic term for investigative
methodologies described as
ethnographic, naturalistic,
anthropological, field, or participant
observer research.
- Emphasizes the importance of looking
at variables in the natural setting in
which they are found. Interaction
between variables is important.
 Defining
- Detailed data is gathered through open
ended questions that provide direct
quotations.
- The interviewer is an integral part of
the investigation
(Jacob, 1988)
 Defining
Umbrella term covering an array of
interpretive techniques which seek to
describe, decode, translate, and otherwise
come to terms with the meaning, not the
frequency, of certain more or less naturally
occurring phenomenon in the social world
 Defining
- an attempt to understand the meaning
people of constructed /how people make
sense of their world
(Van Maanen, 1979, p. 520)
 Qualitative Research Characteristics:

1. Purpose: Understanding - Seeks to
understand people’s interpretations.
2. Reality: Dynamic - Reality changes with

changes in people’s perceptions.
mutual simultaneous shaping: multiple
events occur to shape events/meaning

3. Viewpoint: Insider - Reality is what
people perceive it to be.
4. Values: Value bound - Values will have an

impact and should be understood and taken
into account when conducting and
reporting research.

5. Focus: Holistic - A total or complete
picture is sought.
- cylinder
6. Orientation: Discovery - Theories and

hypotheses are evolved from data as
collected.
7. Data: Subjective - Data are perceptions of

the people in the environment.
8. Instrumentation: Human - The human

person is the primary collection
instrument.
9. Conditions: Naturalistic - Investigations

are conducted under natural conditions.
10. Results: Valid - The focus is on design

and procedures to gain "real," "rich," and
"deep" data.
 Qualitative Research Competencies:
1. A questioning stance with regard to your

work and life context
- Why are things the way they are?
2. High tolerance for ambiguity and

flexibility
 Qualitative Research Competencies:
3. Being a careful observer
4. Asking good questions
5. Thinking inductively
- moving from raw data to categories
and concepts
6. Strong writing capabilities

Advantages:
1. Produces more in-depth, comprehensive
information.
2. Uses subjective information and participant
observation to describe the context, or natural
setting, of the variables under consideration, as
well as the interactions of the different variables
in the context. It seeks a wide understanding of
the entire situation.
Disadvantages
1. The very subjectivity of the inquiry leads to

difficulties in establishing the reliability and
validity of the approaches and information.
2. It is very difficult to prevent or detect researcher

induced bias.
3. Its scope is limited due to the in-depth, comprehensive

data gathering approaches required.
What is Qualitative
Research?
 Qualitative Research Characteristics
Qualitative research is all about exploring
issues, understanding phenomena, and
answering questions.
- Happens in nearly every workplace and
study environment, nearly every day.
Multiple Focus Points

What people say
Mean, Need
Culture or Desire
What people do
 Difference b/t Qualitative & Quantitative

Where quantitative research which attempts to
gather data by objective methods to provide
information about relations, comparisons,
and predictions and attempts to remove the
investigator from the investigation, the
researcher is an integral part of qualitative
research.
(Smith, 1983)
 Difference b/t Qualitative & Quantitative
Where quantitative research which attempts to gather

data by objective methods to provide information
about relations, comparisons, and predictions and
attempts to remove the investigator from the
investigation, the researcher is an integral part of
qualitative research.
(Smith, 1983)
 Philosophical Perspectives
Paradigm: a framework for observation and
understanding that shapes what we see
and how we understand it
- accepted assumptions
 Philosophical Perspectives & Paradigms

Paradigms
1. Can not be true or false
2. Cyclical in nature
3. Theories and methods

Positivist:
1. Objective reality knowable only through
empirical observations
2. Generalizable laws
3. Study of variables
- Cause & effect relationships
Positivist:
4. Hypothesis (predictions)
5. Quantifiable data
Interpretive:
1. Understanding human behavior and meanings the

meanings in which they are embedded
2. No single reality – many factors
- Purposive meaning-making activities

Interpretive:
3. Humans are individuals and behavior can not be

“pigeon-holed” or generalized
4. Unique explanations
5. Qualitative data
Critical:
1. Goal is to challenge, transform, and empower
2. Reads interactions in terms of conflict and

oppression
3. Frame research questions in terms of power

Postmodern:
1. Sees explanations of the way things are in the world

as myths or grand narratives
2. There is no single reality, but rather multiple truths
3. Celebrates diversity among people, ideas, and

institutions
 Languages of Qualitative Research
1. Naturalism: seeks to minimize
presuppositions in order to witness
subjects’ worlds in their own terms
- focuses on the factual characteristics of
the object under study
2. Emotionalism: the primary issue is to
generate data that gives an authentic
insight into people’s experiences
- tend to favor open-ended interviews
- locates the “real” in real life
- concerned with authenticity
2. Ethnomethodology: the study of folks’
methods. Seeks to describe methods
persons use in constructing reality in
everyday life
- creates meaningful categories
- may lose sight of the topic due to focusing
too much on the process of creation
2. Postmodernism: interdisciplinary
movement based on the critique of all
concepts and paradigms
- analyzes and questions modern
achievements
- examines how we come to acknowledge
and accept “truths” as being true
 Should I use qualitative methods?
See questions on page 11

What Is Qualitative Research?

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What is Qualitative

What are you curious about?

What questions do you have about your

Research: the notion of inquiring into, or

 Qualitative Research Characteristics:

2. Reality: Dynamic - Reality changes with

 Qualitative Research Characteristics:

4. Values: Value bound - Values will have an

 Qualitative Research Characteristics:

6. Orientation: Discovery - Theories and

 Qualitative Research Characteristics:

7. Data: Subjective - Data are perceptions of

8. Instrumentation: Human - The human

9. Conditions: Naturalistic - Investigations

10. Results: Valid - The focus is on design

1. A questioning stance with regard to your

2. High tolerance for ambiguity and

 Qualitative Research Characteristics:

1. The very subjectivity of the inquiry leads to

2. It is very difficult to prevent or detect researcher

3. Its scope is limited due to the in-depth, comprehensive

Multiple Focus Points

 Difference b/t Qualitative & Quantitative

 Difference b/t Qualitative & Quantitative

Where quantitative research which attempts to gather

 Philosophical Perspectives & Paradigms

3. Theories and methods

1. Understanding human behavior and meanings the

2. No single reality – many factors

- Purposive meaning-making activities

3. Humans are individuals and behavior can not be

1. Goal is to challenge, transform, and empower

2. Reads interactions in terms of conflict and

3. Frame research questions in terms of power

1. Sees explanations of the way things are in the world

2. There is no single reality, but rather multiple truths

3. Celebrates diversity among people, ideas, and

See questions on page 11

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