D ESIGNING Q UALITATIVE R ESEARCH Assoc. Prof. Dr. Şehnaz Şahinkarakaş

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. A N 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. E MERGENT 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 P URPOSIVE 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. D ATA 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. E MPHASIS 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. Q UALITATIVE 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. E ARLY 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.