1. Social Research Methods
Alan Bryman
Social Research Methods
Chapter 17: The nature of qualitative research
Slides authored by Tom Owens

2. Features of qualitative research
Inductive view of relationship between theory and research
theories and concepts emerge from the data
Interpretivist epistemology
Constructionist ontology
Emphasis on words/text rather than numbers
Diversity of approaches
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3. Grounded theory
Not actually a theory in itself, it is rather an approach to generating theory from data
Data collection and analysis are done hand-in-hand, with constant checking back and forth
Useful in producing concepts
Key concept 17.2
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4. Research methods used in qualitative research
Ethnography / participation observation
prolonged immersion in the field
Qualitative interviewing
in-depth, semi- or un-structured
Focus groups
Discourse / conversation analysis
Documentary analysis
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5. The main steps of qualitative research
Figure 17.1
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6. Concepts in qualitative research
Blumer (1954) argued against the use of definitive concepts in qualitative research:
because the indicators ‘fix’ the concept,
because what phenomena have in common becomes more important than their variety.
…and in favour of sensitizing concepts:
giving a general sense of reference and guidance,
allowing discovery of varied forms of phenomena,
capable of being gradually narrowed down
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7. Approaches to reliability and validity
1. Adapting concepts from quantitative research
little change of meaning
quality, rigour and wider potential
external reliability (replication)
internal reliability (inter-observer consistency)
internal validity (good fit between data and theory)
external validity (generalization)
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8. 2. Alternative criteria (Guba & Lincoln, 1994)
Trustworthiness
Credibility (a parallel for internal validity)
Dependability (a parallel for reliability)
Transferability (a parallel for external validity)
Confirmability (a parallel for objectivity)
Authenticity
Ontological (better understanding of the social situation)
Educative (better appreciation of others’ perspectives)
Catalytic (impetus for change)
Tactical (empowerment of participants)
Does the research fairly represent different viewpoints?
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9. What is action research?
An authentic research method dealing with real problems within an organization
Designed to assist in their solution
Involving an iterative process of problem identification, planning, action and evaluation
Researcher plays an active role throughout
More common in business and management research than in other fields
Key concept 17.6
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10. 3. Midway position (Hammersley, 1992)
‘Validity’ criterion needs to be reformulated:
Empirical account must be plausible
But cannot have direct access to social worlds
Assess credibility of researcher’s truth claims
Adequacy of evidence as ‘true representation’
‘Relevance’ criterion
Contribution the study makes to the field
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11. The main preoccupations of qualitative researchers 1
Seeing through the eyes of those studied
Taking the role of the other
Understanding the meanings people attribute to their world
Unexpected findings
Description and emphasis on context
Detailed account of the social setting
‘Thick descriptions’ of what is going on
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12. The main preoccupations of qualitative researchers 2
Emphasis on social process
How patterns of events unfold over time
Social worlds characterized by change and flux
Flexibility and limited structure
No ‘prior contamination’ by rigid schedules
Sensitizing concepts
Concepts and theory grounded in the data
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13. Criticisms of qualitative research
Too subjective
Researcher decides what to focus on
Difficult to replicate
Unstructured format
Problems of generalization
Samples not ‘representative’ of all cases
Lack of transparency
Often unclear what researcher actually did
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14. Is it always like this?
Some qualitative research departs from these conventions:
Focused on a specific research problem (rather than sensitizing concepts / grounded theory)
More structured data collection (codified conversation analysis)
More structured data analysis (CAQDAS)
Greater transparency
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15. Contrasting qualitative and quantitative research
Table 17.1
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16. Similarities between quantitative and qualitative research
The concern with data reduction
The concern with answering research questions
The concern with relating data analysis to the research literature
The concern with variation
The significance of frequency as a springboard for analysis
The control of deliberate distortion
The importance of transparency
The question of error
The appropriateness of research methods to questions
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17. The feminist critique of quantitative research
It suppresses the voices of women;
Women are turned into research objects;
Controlling variables is viewed as a masculine approach;
The use of predetermined categories in quantitative research results in …‘the silencing of women's own voices’ (Maynard 1998);
Women are researched in a value-neutral way.
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18. The feminist preference for qualitative research
Women's voices can be heard
Exploitation is reduced by giving as well as receiving in the course of fieldwork
Women not treated as objects to be controlled by the researcher's technical procedures
The emancipatory goals of feminism can be realized.
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19. However…
Many of the worst excesses of discrimination against women might not have come to light were it not for the collection and analysis of statistics revealing discrimination (Maynard 1994; Oakley 1998).
It is difficult to see why feminist research that combines quantitative and qualitative research would be incompatible with the feminist cause (Jayaratne and Stewart, 1991 & Maynard, 1994, 1998).
Qualitative research is not ipso facto feminist in orientation and some writers have preferred to write about feminist research practice rather than about feminist methods (Maynard 1998).
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