Qualitative Data analysis : An Introduction Carol Grbich Chapter 1 : Introduction

Qualitative research Characteristics: subjectivity has value (meaning the views of the participant and the researcher are to be respected and data and its interpretation will be constructed by both; power lies predominantly with the researched (who are viewed as being the experts on the research topic); an holistic view is essential (so the structures impacting on the setting such as policies, culture, situation and context need to be included); every study is time and context bound (so that replication and direct generalisation are unlikely outcomes).

Best research areas Culture Phenomena ( intense experiences) Structural processes (organisation) Historical changes (over time)

Issues to consider prior to researching Frames and framing The position and power of the researcher The position of the reader Research paradigms Design methodologies  

Frames and Framing extra textual frames – your accumulated knowledge of the world; intra textual frames – your internal framing devices of age, sex, socioeconomic class etc; inter-textual frames the interpretive frames (models and theories and concepts) from your discipline/s; and circum textual frames – involving contextual construction and your interpretation of the immediate situation or event.

The position and power of the researcher Researcher position Centred/decentred? Objective/subjective? Position of the reader Open or closed text?

Research paradigms Realism/post positivism (expert researcher) Critical theory (class, power and the location and amelioration of oppression) Interpretivism/Constructionism (symbols & signs in reality construction) Postmodernism and post structuralism (the questioning of ‘truth’ and ‘reality’)