Philosophic Underpinnings of Qualitative Research Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şehnaz Şahinkarakaş

Main differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research Based on observations that are converted into discrete units that can be compared to other units by using statistical analysis. Based on a positivist position Qualitative: Examines people’s words and actions in narrative or descriptive ways (closely representing the situation as experienced by the participants) Based on a phenomenological position

Three features of qualitative research Inductive view: relationship between theory and research, (the former is generated out of the latter) Epistemological position (interpretivist): the stress is on the understanding of the social world through an examination of the interpretation of that world by its participants (NOT the adoption of a natural scientific model in quantitative research)

Ontological position (constructionist): Social properties are outcomes of the interactions between individuals, rather than phenomena ‘out there’ and separate from those involved in its construction.

Main Steps in Qualitative Research

Characteristics of designing a qualitative research A qualitative study reflects the researcher’s goal of discovering what is important to know It has a focus which is broad and open- ended at the beginning and it allows for important meanings to be discovered. There may be 8 characteristics of qualitative research:

1. An exploratory and descriptive focus Qualitative research develops a general ‘focus of inquiry’ Interested in investigating and responding to exploratory and descriptive questions: What is young children’s conception of ‘mind’? How do people who work in this place think the physical environment could be improved? In what ways do teachers in this city build informal social network? The outcome of such studies is not to generalize but to get a deeper understanding of experience from others’ perspectives.

2. Emergent design In non-emergent design, we collect the data according to the focus and then analyze (qualitative and quantitative) In emergent design, in the early phases of data collection, new questions can be pursued. Thus, we can broaden or narrow the focus during the study.

3. A Purposive sample Carefully selected participants, who represent the group of people for the focus of inquiry E.g. If you want to understand how young learners in rural areas use technology, you would include people who have access to technology in rural areas As your study proceeds, you may need to include some other people to fully understand your inquiry.

4. Data collection in natural setting People’s experience in context Personal meaning is tied to context E.g. To understand how teachers give feedback, you would need to go to the classrooms.

5. Emphasis on ‘human-as-instrument’ Qualitative researchers’ mutual responsibility: i) Collecting relevant data ii) Collecting the meaning from that data (in the form of people’s words and actions).

6. Qualitative methods of data collection Generally data is people’s words and actions Some techniques: Participant observation Interviews Collection of relevant documents How to collect: Observation schemes Field-notes Audio/video tapes (transcribed later).

7. Early and ongoing inductive data analysis Two main characteristics: Ongoing research activity Inductive: What is important is not predetermined by the researchers

8. A case study approach to reporting outcomes Results are presented in a rich narrative way. Description should provide the reader with enough information to determine whether the findings of the study apply to other people or settings.

The Critique of Qualitative Research 1. Qualitative research is too subjective. a) Qualitative findings rely on the researcher’s unsystematic views about what is important close persolan relationships between the researcher and the people studied b) Qualitative research begins in an open- ended way and gradually narrows down, so few clues are given as to why one area was the chosen area

2. It is difficult to replicate It is almost impossible to conduct a true replication—there is no standard procedure The investigator is the main instrument of data collection—what is observed or heard is the product of his/her preference The researcher chooses what to focus The responses may be affected by the characteristics of the researcher (personality, age, gender, etc)

3. Problems of generalization Scope of the findings is restricted—in observation and interviews with small number of people, the findings can’t be generalized to other settings. Normally the findings of qualitative research are to generalize to theory rather than to populations—it is the quality of theoretical inferences that are made out of qualitative data that is crucial to the assessment of generalization.

However, there are some opposing views about generalization—There may be some moderatum generalizations Aspects of focus of inquiry (e.g. a group of demotivated students) can be seen to be instances of a broader set of recognizable features. The researcher can draw comparisons with findings by other researchers relating to similar or contradictory groups.

Moderatum generalizations are always limited and somewhat more tentative than statistical generalizations. But, they do permit a little generalization and help to oppose the view that generalization beyond the immediate evidence and the case is impossible in qualitative research.

4. Lack of transparency It is sometimes difficult to establish from qualitative research what the researcher actually did and how he or she arrived at the study’s conclusions. (E.g., qualitative research reports are sometimes unclear-- how people were chosen for observation or İnterview). Process of qualitative data analysis may be unclear. (e.g. how the analysis was conducted, what the researcher was actually doing when the data were analysed, how the study’s conclusions were arrived at) However, outlining in some detail the ways in which research participants are selected, how the data was analyzed, etc. may help this problem