Muhammad Ibrahim

Types of Qualitative Research

Data collection Instruments Observation Interview Questionnaire Documents review

Ethnography Narrative Phenomenological Grounded Theory Case Study Types of Research Ethnography Narrative Phenomenological Grounded Theory Case Study

Ethnography Ethnographic research is probably the most popular and applicable type of qualitative research. In ethnography, you engage yourself in the target participants' environment to understand the Behavior, cultures, challenges, motivations, and themes that occur. Ethnography has its roots in cultural anthropology where researchers engage themselves within a culture, often for years! Rather than relying on interviews or surveys, you experience the environment first hand, and sometimes as a "participant observer.“ Marriage institution of any culture.

Purpose : to describe a culture's characteristics Outcome: description of culture

Narrative/Historical The narrative approach weaves together a sequence of events, usually from just one or two individuals to form a cohesive story. You conduct in-depth interviews, read documents, and look for themes; in other words, how does an individual story illustrate the larger life influences that created it. Often interviews are conducted over weeks, months, or even years, but the final narrative doesn't need to be in chronological order. Rather it can be presented as a story (or narrative) with themes, and can reconcile conflicting stories and highlight tensions and challenges which can be opportunities for innovation.

Purpose : describe and examine events of the past to understand the present and anticipate potential future effects Outcomes : select means of presentation - biography, chronology, issue paper

Phenomenological When you want to describe an event, activity, or phenomenon, the properly named phenomenological study is an appropriate qualitative method. In a phenomenological study, you use a combination of methods, such as conducting interviews, reading documents, watching videos, or visiting places and events, to understand the meaning participants place on whatever's being examined. You rely on the participants' own perspectives to provide insight into their motivations.

Purpose : to describe experiences as people are lived e Purpose : to describe experiences as people are lived e.g examines uniqueness of individual's lived situations Outcomes: Findings described from subject's point-of-view Researcher identifies themes Structural explanation of findings is developed

Grounded Theory Whereas a phenomenological study looks to describe the essence of an activity or event, grounded theory looks to provide an explanation or theory behind the events. You use primarily interviews and existing documents to build a theory based on the data.

Purpose: theory development Outcome: theory supported by examples from data

Case Study Case study involves an in-depth examination of a single person or single individual or single institution / organization. The goal of case study is to provide an accurate and complete description of the case, the principal benefit of case-study is that it-can expand our knowledge about the human behavior or attitude. It is also useful when the case is too-complex and need special attention. Case study often include in-depth interviews with participant, review of his/her previous record, observation. It provides an opportunity for the intensive analysis of many specific details, which are often over looked by other methods. A case study involves a deep understanding through multiple types of data sources. Case studies can be explanatory, exploratory, or describing an event.

Purpose : describe in-depth the experience of one person, family, group, community, or institution Outcomes : in-depth description of the experience

Method Focus Sample size Data collection Ethnography Context or culture   Observation & interviews Narrative Individual experience & sequence 1 to 2 Stories from individuals & documents Phenomenological People who have experienced a phenomenon 5 to 25 Interviews Grounded Theory Develop a theory from grounded in field data 20 to 60 Interviews, then open and axial coding Case Study Organization, entity, individual, or event  Interviews, documents, reports, observations