Qualitative Research Dr. Constance Knapp Information Systems DCS891A Research Seminar 1 October 7, 2005

What is qualitative research?  An approach  Usually field research  Usually complex

Why would you use a qualitative method?  To develop a theory  To understand a phenomena  To describe the nature of a phenomena  To verify something in a real world setting  To evaluate a practice or approach

How is this different from quantitative research?  No null hypothesis  No causal relationship  No confidence intervals

Qualitative vs. quantitative  Interpretive vs. Positivist  Some challenges Replication Rigor Researcher as instrument

Methods  Case Study  Ethnography  Action Research Study  Grounded Theory Study  Content Analysis

An example  My dissertation Topic: organizational and technological factors affecting CASE tool success Underlying theory Methodology used

Grounded Theory  Literature review  Data collection  Coding  Theoretical sampling

An example  Checklists from Leedy Planning a qualitative study Evaluating a qualitative study  “A Grounded Theory Study of Successful Organizational Integrated CASE Technology Implementation” Knapp, C. Proceedings of the Proceedings of the Second Annual Association of Information Systems Conference, Phoenix, AZ,1996.

Some observations about qualitative methods  Takes time  Requires a field setting  Requires insight on the part of the researcher  Provides richness  Can be very satisfying work

Sources  

So what’s so special about qualitative research?  What you ask  How you design your study  What data you collect  How you interpret your data  How you use the literature review  How you write up your results  In short, EVERYTHING!