Introducing and Focusing the Study Chapter 6 Introducing and Focusing the Study Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e Key Questions How can the problem statement be best written to reflect one of the approaches to qualitative research? How can the purpose statement be best written to convey the orientation of an approach in qualitative research? How can a central research question be written so that it encodes the approach to qualitative research to be used? How can a central research question be written to reflect the issues being explored in one of the qualitative approaches? Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e The Research Problem The first few paragraphs of the study state the research problem The research problem states the issue leading to a need for the study The need for the study is framed within the existing literature and can foreshadow the qualitative approach that will be used The purpose of the introduction is to present an overall rationale for studying the problem Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e The Need for the Study When writing about the problem, need for the study often relates to the qualitative approach: Need in narrative: to hear the stories of individuals Need in phenomenology: need to learn about common experiences toward phenomenon Need in grounded theory: need for a theoretical understanding Need in ethnography: need for understanding a culture-sharing group Need in case study: need for in-depth analysis of a case that is unique or illuminates a problem or issue Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

The Purpose Statement: General Guidelines The purpose statement provides the major objective or the intent to the study The elements of a purpose statement It identifies the qualitative approach to be used It encodes the passage with words that indicate the action of the researcher and the focus of the approach to research Understand – Narrative studies Describe – Case study, ethnography, phenomenology See (Table 6.1) for other suggestions Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

The Purpose Statement: General Guidelines The elements of a purpose statement (cont.) It includes the central phenomenon (i.e., central concept being explored) It foreshadows the participants and the site for the study It includes a general definition for the central phenomenon Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Purpose Statement Script The purpose of this ____________ (narrative, phenomenological, grounded theory, ethnographic, case) study is (was? will be?) to _________ (understand? describe? develop? discover?) the __________(central phenomenon of the study) for ____________ (the participants) at ________ (the research site). At this stage in the research, the ___________ (central phenomenon) will be generally defined as _____________ (provide a tentative, preliminary definition of the central concept). Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Words to Use in Encoding the Purpose Statement Narrative Phenomenology Grounded Theory Ethnography Case Study Narrative study Stories Epiphanies Lived experiences Chronology Phenomenological study Describe Experiences Meaning Essence theory Generate Develop Propositions Process Substantive Culture-sharing group Cultural behavior and language Cultural portrait themes Case study Bounded Single or collective case Event, process, program Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e 6.8

The Purpose Statement: A Narrative Example In my research, which has involved collecting women’s accounts of their experiences of becoming mothers, I am seeking to understand how women make sense of events throughout the process of childbearing, and constructing these events into episodes thereby (apparently) maintaining unity within their lives. (Miller, 2000, p. 309) Elements of Narrative Participant accounts Purpose to understand Reconstruction of accounts women’s accounts understand constructing these events into episodes Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

The Purpose Statement: A Phenomenological Example Given the intricacies of power and gender in the academy, what are doctoral advisement relationships between women advisors and women advisees really like? Because there were few studies exploring women doctoral students’ experiences in the literature, a phenomenological study devoted to understanding women’s lived experiences as advisees best lent itself to examining this question. (Heinrich, 1995, p. 449) what are doctoral what are doctoral Elements of Phenomenology Description Lived Experience advisement relationships between women advisors and women advisees really like? lived experiences Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

The Purpose Statement: A Grounded Theory Example Elements of Grounded Theory Develop a theory Describe a process Theory is based on the data from participants The primary purpose of this article is to present a grounded theory of academic change that is based upon research guided by two major research questions: What are the major sources of academic change? What are the major processes through which academic change occurs? For purposes of this paper, grounded theory is defined as theory generated from data systematically obtained and analyzed through the constant comparative method. (Conrad, 1978, p. 101) grounded theory processes theory generated from data Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

The Purpose Statement: An Ethnographic Example This article examines how the work and the talk of stadium employees reinforce certain meanings of baseball in society, and it reveals how this work and talk create and maintain ballpark culture. (Trujillo, 1992, p. 351) Elements of Ethnography Culture-sharing group Language and Cultural Behavior Cultural beliefs work and the talk stadium employees meanings of baseball ballpark culture Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

The Purpose Statement: A Case Study Example Although scholars have shown that sport is fundamental in constituting and reproducing gender inequalities, little attention has been paid to sport and gender relations in later life. In this article we demonstrate how men exploit women’s labor in the sport of lawn bowls, which is played predominately by older people. (Boyle & McKay, 1995, p. 556) Elements of Case Study Description Specific Case Bounded System demonstrate how men exploit women’s labor in the sport of lawn bowls, predominately by older people Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Qualitative Research Questions The four types of questions (Marshall & Rossman, 1999) Exploratory: to investigate phenomenon little understood Explanatory: to explain patterns of behavior related to phenomenon Descriptive: to describe a phenomenon Emancipatory: to engage in social action about the phenomenon The questions are open-ended and non- directional Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Qualitative Research Questions The questions frequently start with words such as what or how rather than why The researcher usually only needs 5-7 questions Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e The Central Question General guidelines Pose an overarching question followed by several subquestions Pose the broadest question that can be posed about the research problem Encode the question with language from one of the five approaches to inquiry A narrative example (Angrosino, 1994) No central question was posed in the article A possible central question: What story does Vonnie Lee have to tell? The central question implies an individual has a story to tell The central question implies that there will be some critical point of interest Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e The Central Question A phenomenological example (Anderson & Spencer, 2002) No central question was posed in the article A possible central question: What meaning do the 41 men and 17 women with a diagnosis of AIDS ascribe to their illness? The central question implies that the participants have a common lived experience that provides meaning for their lives Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e The Central Question A grounded theory example (Morrow & Smith, 1995) No central question was posed in the article The study posed broad questions that guided their interviews The questions focused on understanding the women’s experiences and shaping them into coping strategies used to survive their abuse as part of a theory of the process Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e The Central Question An ethnography example (Haenfler, 2004) No central question was posed in the article A possible central question: What are the core values of the straight edge movement, and how do members construct and understand their subjective experiences of being a part of the subculture? The central question identifies a culture-sharing group The central question begins by asking for a description of core values The central question uses the description of the core values to build an understanding of the experiences that are presented as themes in the study Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e The Central Question A case study example (Asmussen & Creswell, 1995) The authors posed five central guiding questions in the article What happened? Who was involved in response to the incident? What themes emerged during the eight-month period that followed this incident? What theoretical constructs helped us to understand the campus response? The questions focused the development of a description of the incident, the emergence of themes, and finally theoretical constructs Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

The Subquestions: Types of Subquestions Issue-oriented subquestions These questions address the major concerns and complexities to be resolved These questions take the phenomenon in the central research question and break it down into subtopics Procedural subquestions These questions cover the anticipated needs for information (e.g., information needed for the description of a case) These questions cover procedural steps in the process of research associated with one of the approaches Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Examples From the Five Approaches: Narrative Issue subquestions - These questions deal with areas of the stories (e.g., emotion, how an individual felt, how an individual live an experience something) Examples of procedural subquestions What are the object experiences in this individual’s life? What are the stories that can be told from these experiences? What are the turning points in the stories? What are some theories that relate to this individual’s life? Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Examples From the Five Approaches: Phenomenololgy Issue subquestions Ask general questions about the experiences of the participants regarding the central phenomenon (what they do, what they don’t do, contexts, etc.) Ask specific questions about their understanding of the central phenomenon (definitions, characteristics, behaviors, experiences that they have had) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Examples From the Five Approaches: Phenomenololgy Procedural subquestions Questions that include the structural meanings of the experiences Questions that include the underlying themes and contexts that account for the participant’s feelings and thoughts about the central phenomenon Questions that include invariant structural themes that facilitate a description of the central phenomenon as it is experienced by the participants Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Examples From the Five Approaches: Grounded Theory Examples of issue subquestions What process is being described by the participants? What theory emerges that describes the process Procedural subquestions Could be posed as aspects of the axial coding process and could deal with the following The categories that emerge The causes, contexts, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences (outcomes) that resulted Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Examples From the Five Approaches: Ethnography Issue subquestions Questions that center on a description of the culture sharing group Questions that deal with the major beliefs, values, and behaviors of this group that help us understand their culture and how it is maintained Procedural subquestions A description of the context of the culture An analysis of the dominant cultural themes An interpretation of cultural behavior Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Examples From the Five Approaches: Case Study Issue subquestions Questions regarding the context of the case and how it contributes to your understanding of the central phenomenon Questions regarding the major perspectives or issues related to the central phenomenon Questions regarding he theoretical constructs that help you to understand the central phenomenon Questions regarding the practical implications of what was learned Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Examples From the Five Approaches: Case Study Examples of procedural subquestions How can the events be described? What are the major themes that emerged? What assertions emerge from the description and themes? Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

Introducing and Focusing the Study Chapter 6 Introducing and Focusing the Study Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e