Qualitative Research Dr. Constance Knapp Information Systems DCS 891A Research Seminar December 15, 2006

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

Apply this to yourself  What kinds of questions do you have that might fit the above criteria?  Qualitative research usually begins with a very general question-what’s your general question?  We describe or interpret phenomena-what are you describing or interpreting?

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

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

Methods  Case Study  Ethnography  Action Research Study  Grounded Theory Study  Content Analysis  (See Table 7.1 page 144, Leedy)

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

Grounded Theory  Developed by Glaser and Strauss, 1967  Refined by Strauss and Corbin, 1990

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

Literature Review  Pure grounded theory: literature after collecting data  I completed my literature review before  Questions that I asked in the interviews came from those suggested by the literature

Data Collection  What is the data?  Interview data Taped Transcribed  Field notes The setting The “body language”

Data Collection and Analysis  Iterative process  Collect data  Analyze  Collect more data  Analyze

Coding  Each transcribed interview was coded  All comments were grouped  Open coding: learn underlying themes  Axial coding: look for interconnections  Selective coding: form a story line  Goal: develop a theory

Theoretical Sampling  When you are no longer learning new information, you stop collecting data  At that point you have reached saturation  You can STOP collecting data

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

References  Glaser BG, Strauss A. Discovery of Grounded Theory. Strategies for Qualitative Research. Sociology Press  Strauss A, Corbin J. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Sage, 1990

Web Sources  IS World Page on Qualitative Research/ IS World Page on Qualitative Research/  Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis  Leedy Companion Website Leedy Companion Website

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!