1. “A man is least himself when he talks in his own person; when given a mask he will tell the truth.” Oscar Wilde

2. What Did We Learn In The Previous Lecture?
Exploratory Research
Descriptive Research
Correlational Research
Explanatory Research

3. Types of Research From the view point of Application Pure Research
Applied Research
Objectives
Exploratory Research
Descriptive Research
Correlation Research
Explanatory Research
Type of Information Sought
Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research

4. Qualitative Research

5. Qualitative Research
‘Qualitative Research…involves finding out what people think, and how they feel - or at any rate, what they say they think and how they say they feel. This kind of information is subjective. It involves feelings and impressions, rather than numbers’
(Bellenger, Bernhardt and Goldstucker, Qualitative Research in Marketing, American Marketing Association )

6. Definitions
Findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or quantification (Source: Strauss and Corbin 1990)
… qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of or interpret phenomenon in terms of the meanings people bring to them. (Source: Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, p.3)

7. The qualitative researcher is interested in illumination and understanding NOT causal determination or prediction.
They look beyond the façade, the superficial, to search for purpose, meaning and context.
Phenomena have meaning in a context and their meaning differs in different contexts. Helps us capture the ways in which people interpret events, experiences and relationships (lived experiences).

8. Purpose of Qualitative Research
Why do people do the things they do?
What makes an organization functional or dysfunctional?
What effects behavior, systems and relationships over time?

9. Why Qualitative Approaches?
“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts” (Albert Einstein)
“Welcome aboard, BOB, your job is to figure out what the hell happened here…………………….”

10. Example: Smoking And Lung Cancer
Research has established the association b/t smoking and lung cancer
Qualitative methodology helps to explain:
The power of tobacco companies and advertising
Reasons why people continue to smoke despite the evidence
Social meaning of smoking (e.g among women and the youth)

11. Limitations of Qualitative Research
It is anecdotal (stories told for dramatic quality without critical evaluation)
Unscientific
Producing findings that are not generalisable
Impressionistic
Subjective

12. Methodologies Of Qualitative Research

14. What Is A Methodology? ‘Logos’ in Greek means ‘knowledge of’.
Methodology can be described as the knowledge of methods.
In science and technology there is not a single method that leads to the solution of a problem.
Methodology can properly refer to the theoretical analysis of the methods appropriate to a field of study or to the body of methods and principles particular to a branch of knowledge.

15. What is a Method then? Method Methodology
A way of doing something, especially a systematic way; implies an orderly logical arrangement (usually in steps)
Methodology
The branch of philosophy that analyzes the principles and procedures of inquiry in a particular discipline
The system of methods followed in a particular discipline

16. Some Possible Methodologies
Ethnography
Phenomenology
Ethnology
Biography etc
Experimental
Quasi experimental
Action Research
Case Study
Surveys

17. Possible Methods Observation Interviews Focus groups Questionnaires
Surveys
Structured
Time lapsed
Frequencies etc
Diaries
Scales & Tests
Documentation
Video and audio
Recording, etc

18. Methodologies Of Qualitative Research
Action Research
Case Study
Ethnography
Grounded Theory
Phenomenology

19. Action Research

20. History of development within social psychology
Places researchers in a ’helping-role’
Diagnosing a problem, action planning, action taking implementing and evaluating outcomes. Evaluation leads to a new diagnosis…
Contribution to the practical concerns
Joint collaboration with the people experiencing the problem
Contextuality and participation

21. Case Study

22. Case studies involve in-depth examination of a single instance, event or example: a case.
A case study is an empirical inquiry that: investigates a contemporary instance or event within its real-life context, boundaries between instance, event or example and context are not clearly evident.
Methods: interview, observation, document analysis.

23. Types Of Case Study Intrinsic The case itself is of interest
Instrumental Case Study
A particular case is studied to provide insight into an issue or to refine a theory
Collective Case Study
A number of cases are studied jointly in order to investigate a phenomenon (instrumental study extended to several cases)

24. Ethnography

25. Rooted in anthropology
Also called participant observation/ naturalistic enquiry
Ethno = people
Graphy = describing something
Ethnographers are interested in how the behavior of individuals is influenced or mediated by culture in which they live.
Methods: Direct observation, Participant observation, Unstructured Interview, note taking, photo, drawings, documents.

26. Role Of The Observer Complete observer
Behind one-way mirror, invisible role
Observer as participant
Known, overt observer
Participant as observer
Pseudo-member, research role known
Complete participant
Full membership, research role not known

27. Phenomenology

28. Rooted in philosophy
Central question: what is the meaning, structure, and essence of the lived experience of this phenomenon for this person/group of people?
It focuses on individuals' interpretation of their experience and the ways in which they express them.
The researchers task is to describe phenomena as experienced and expressed by individuals.
Method: Interview

30. Grounded Theory

31. Rooted in social sciences
Emphasizes the development of theory
Which is grounded in data systematically collected and analyzed (constant comparative analysis to produce substantive theory)
Theory must be faithful to the evidence
Looks for generalisable theory - by making comparisons across situations
Focus is on patterns of action and interaction
Methods: Interview, Constant comparison, Theoretical sampling

32. Sampling In Qualitative Research

33. Considerations In Sampling
Purpose of qualitative research
Produce information-rich data
Depth rather than breadth
Insight rather than generalisation
Conceptual rather than numerical considerations
Choose information-rich sites and respondents

34. Common Sampling Approach
Purposive sampling
Deviant case sampling
Intensity sampling
Heterogeneous sampling
Homogenous samples
Typical case sampling
Snowball sampling
Opportunistic sampling

35. Considerations In Sample Size
Saturation
Redundancy
Minimum samples based on expected reasonable coverage, given the purpose of the study and constraints

36. Qualitative Data Analysis

37. Stages In Qualitative Data Analysis
Qualitative data analysis is a non-linear / iterative process
Numerous rounds of questioning, reflecting, rephrasing, analysing, theorising, verifying after each observation, interview, or Focus Group Discussion

38. During data collection
Reading – data immersion – reading and re-reading
Coding – listen to the data for emerging themes and begin to attach labels or codes to the texts that represent the themes
After data collection
Displaying – the themes (all information)
Developing hypotheses, questioning and verification
Reducing – from the displayed data identify the main points

39. Interpretation (2 levels)
At all stages – searching for core meanings of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours described
Overall interpretation
Identify how themes relate to each other
Explain how study questions are answered
Explain what the findings mean beyond the context of your study

40. Processes In Qualitative Data Analysis
Ninny Eagle, “Tell us if these berries are poisonous.”

41. Processes In Qualitative Data Analysis
Reading / Data immersion
Coding
Displaying data
Developing hypotheses, questioning and verification
Data reduction
Interpretation

42. Reading / Data Immersion
1.1. Read For Content
Are you obtaining the types of information you intended to collect
Identify emergent themes and develop tentative explanations
Note (new / surprising) topics that need to be explored in further fieldwork

43. 1.2. Read Noting The Quality Of The Data
Have you obtained superficial or rich and deep responses
How vivid and detailed are the descriptions of observations
Is there sufficient contextual detail
Problems in the quality of the data require a review of:
How you are asking questions (neutral or leading)
The venue
The composition of the groups
The style and characteristics of the interviewer
How soon after the field activity are notes recorded
Develop a system to identify problems in the data (audit trail)

44. 1.3. Read Identifying Patterns
After identifying themes, examine how these are patterned
Do the themes occur in all or some of the data
Are their relationships between themes
Are there contradictory responses
Are there gaps in understanding – these require further exploration

45. Coding No standard rules of how to code Emergent Borrowed
Record coding decisions
Record codes, definitions, and revisions
Usually - insert codes / labels into the margins
Building theme related files
Cut and paste together into one file similarly coded blocks of text
NB identifiers that help you to identify the original source
Identify sub-themes and explore them in greater depth

46. Displaying Data Capture the variation or richness of each theme
Note differences between individuals and sub-groups
Return to the data and examine evidence that supports each sub-theme

47. Developing Hypotheses, Questioning And Verification
Extract meaning from the data
Do the categories developed make sense?
What pieces of information contradict my emerging ideas?
What pieces of information are missing or underdeveloped?
What other opinions should be taken into account?
How do my own biases influence the data collection and analysis process?

48. Data Reduction
Distill the information to make visible the most essential concepts and relationships
Get an overall sense of the data
Distinguish primary/main and secondary/sub- themes
Separate essential from non-essential data
Use visual devices – e.g. matrices, diagrams

49. Interpretation
Identifying the core meaning of the data, remaining faithful to the perspectives of the study participants but with wider social and theoretical relevance
Credibility of attributed meaning
Consistent with data collected
Verified with respondents
Present multiple perspectives (convergent and divergent views)
Did you go beyond what you expected to find?