chapter 11 copyright © allyn & bacon 2008 this multimedia product and its contents are...

Chapter 11

Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:• Any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;• Preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;• Any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Three assumptions that differentiate qualitative and quantitative studies Epistemology

▪ Qualitative researchers believe there are multiple realities represented by the participants’ perspectives

▪ Quantitative researchers believe a single, objective reality exists


Three assumptions (continued) Context

▪ Qualitative researchers believe context is critical to understanding the phenomena being studied

▪ Quantitative researchers do not believe context is an important factor

Researcher bias▪ Qualitative researchers believe the researcher’s biases and

perspectives must be understood to interpret the results▪ Quantitative researchers believe researcher bias is

controlled through the control of internal validity threats


Characteristics of qualitative research Natural settings - field research

▪ Behavior is studied as it occurs naturally▪ Beliefs related to a natural setting

▪ Behavior is understood bests as it occurs without external constraints or control

▪ The situational context is very important to understanding behavior


Characteristics of qualitative research Data collection

▪ Data is collected directly from the source▪ Observations▪ Interviews▪ Document analysis

Rich narrative descriptions Process orientation

▪ How and why behaviors occurCopyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Characteristics of qualitative research Inductive data analysis Participant perspectives define what

is “real” Emerging research design

▪ The design plans change as data is collected, analyzed, and understood


An ethnography is an in-depth description and interpretation of cultural patterns and meanings within a culture or social group Culture - shared patterns of beliefs,

normative expectations, behaviors, and meanings

Shared, not individualistic


Problem statements Foreshadowed problem - a general

framework for beginning a qualitative study

Specific question - a question(s) that emerges from the interactive relationship between the problem and data▪ Often found embedded in the data analysis▪ Changing nature of questions often

necessitates changes in the design (i.e., an emergent design)


Identifying and entering the research site Access to all parts of the site

▪ Participants▪ Documents▪ Physical location

Rapport - need to be “integrated” within the site to gain the trust of the participants

Often site entry takes a long timeCopyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Selecting participants Use of purposeful sampling strategies to

select “information rich” participants Purposeful sampling strategies

▪ Maximum variation - selecting individuals or cases to represent extremes▪ Very positive or very negative attitudes▪ Highest and lowest achieving students)

▪ Snowball (i.e., network) - initially selected participants recommend others for involvement


Purposeful sampling strategies▪ Sampling by case - selecting individuals or

cases for their unique characteristics▪ Extreme▪ Typical▪ Unique▪ Reputation

▪ Key informant - selecting an individual(s) particularly knowledgeable about the setting and or topic

▪ Comprehensive - selecting all relevant individuals or cases


Three primary methods for obtaining data Observation Interview Document analysis


Observation Unstructured in nature Comprehensive - continuous and total over an extended

period of time Participant-observer role of the researcher

▪ Continuum between complete participant and complete observer▪ Passive participant▪ Moderate participant▪ Active participant▪ Complete participant

▪ Rare for an ethnographer to be a complete participant


Observation (continued) Use of field notes to record observations

▪ Two types of information▪ Descriptions of what occurred▪ Reflections of what the descriptions mean (i.e.,

speculations, emerging themes, patterns, problems)

▪ Accuracy▪ Extensive nature of notes


Interviews Unstructured in nature Begins with a general idea of what needs to be asked

and moves to specific questions based on what the respondent says

Types of interviews▪ Key informant▪ Life history▪ Focus group

Tape recording and transcribing interviews afford the opportunity to study the data carefully


Document analysis Written records

▪ Print (e.g., minutes from meetings, reports, yearbooks, articles, diaries)

▪ Non-print (e.g., recordings, videotapes, pictures) Types of sources

▪ Primary - original work▪ Secondary - secondhand interpretations of original work

Commonly used to verify other observations or interview data


Data analysis and Interpretation Observations, interviews, and document

analyses result in large quantities of narrative data

Analysis includes critically examining, summarizing, and synthesizing the data


Three stages of analysis Coding

▪ Organizing the data into reasonable, meaningful units that are coded with words or very short phrases that signify a category▪ Emic categories - information provided by the

participants in their own language and organizational units

▪ Etic categories - the researcher’s interpretation of emic data

▪ Use of major codes and sub-codes is common


Summarizing the coded data▪ Examining all similarly coded data and

summarizing it with a sentence or two that reflects its essence

▪ Computerized sorting of data is common and effective

Pattern seeking and synthesizing▪ Synthesizing identifies the relationships among

the categories and patterns that suggest generalization

▪ The researcher interprets findings inductively, synthesizes the information, and draws inferences


Pattern seeking (continued)▪ Developing patterns

▪ Begins with the researcher’s informed hunches and ideas

▪ Tentative patterns are identified and additional data collected to determine if they are consistent with those patterns

▪ Characterized by enlarging, combining, subsuming, and creating new categories that make sense


In-depth analysis of one or more events, settings, programs, groups, or other “bounded systems” Focus on one entity Defined by time and place Concern with the limited generalizability

of the findings


Types of case studies Historical organizational - focus on the

development of an organization over time

Observational - study of a single entity using participant observation

Life history (i.e., oral history) - a first-person narrative completed with one person


Types of case studies (continued) Situation analysis - a study of a specific

event from multiple perspective Multi-case - a study of several different

independent entities Multi-site - a study of many sites and

participants the main purpose of which is to develop theory


Research problem statement Focus on in-depth description and

understanding Use of a single major question and

several sub-questions Emerging nature of the problems


Identifying and entering the research site

Selecting participants Participants are usually identified as a

part of the site of the study (e.g., a classroom, teachers in a specific department, etc.)

Internal sampling - selecting specific participants, times, and documents within a site

Obtaining dataCopyright © Allyn & Bacon 2008

Data analysis Same procedures as in ethnographic data analysis Four types of data analysis

▪ Categorical aggregation - researcher codes data and collects instances from which meanings will emerge

▪ Direct interpretation - use of a single example to illustrate meaning

▪ Drawing patterns - examines the correspondence between two or more categories or codes

▪ Naturalistic generalization - suggestions as to what others can take from the research and apply to other situations


A phenomenological study describes and interprets the experiences of participants to understand their perspectives

Based on the belief that there are multiple ways of interpreting the same experience and the meaning of that experience is what constitutes reality


Research problem Focused on what is essential for the

meaning of the event, episode, or interaction

Selecting participants▪ Participants are selected because they have

lived or are living the experience being investigated

▪ Participants will share their experiences▪ Participants can articulate their feelings


Obtaining data - in-depth, semi-structured, or unstructured interviews

Data analysis Concerns that the analysis reflects the shared meanings

and consciousness of the participants Five step process

▪ A initial description of the researchers experience with the phenomena

▪ A statement how the participant’s experience with the phenomena are identified in the interview


Five step process (continued)▪ The creation of meaningful units form the

statements using participant’s verbatim language to illustrate the units

▪ Separation of what was experienced from how it was experienced

▪ The construction on an overall description of the experience


A grounded theory study discovers or generates a theory A theory is a set of propositions that pertain to a specific

experience, situation, or setting The contextual sensitivity of the theory is the basis for

suggesting the theory is “grounded” in the field data Research problems - broad general questions

that focus on what happened to people, why they believed it happened, and what it means to them


Selecting participantsObtaining data - in-depth

unstructured interviewsData analysis

Constant comparison - information from interviews is compared to emerging themes as a part of a more encompassing theory


Data analysis (continued) Four step process

▪ Form initial categories with subcategories and descriptions of extreme possibilities on a continuum

▪ Create a coding paradigm in which central tenets are described with causal conditions, resultant actions, conceptual conditions and consequences

▪ Write a story that integrates selective codes that have been established and presents conditional propositions and hypotheses

▪ Explicate the theory


Credibility is the extent to which the data, data analysis, and conclusions are believable and trustworthy

Four technical issues Triangulation - the comparison of results obtained from

different data collection methods (i.e., interviews, observations, and document analyses all lead to a similar conclusion)

Reliability - the extent to which what is recorded as data is what actually occurred in the setting (i.e., the accuracy of observations)


Four technical issues (continued) Internal validity - the match between the researcher’s

categories and interpretations and reality▪ Threats related to observer effects are of paramount concern▪ Other threats include maturation, history, selection, attrition,

and subject effects External validity – generalizability

▪ Translatability and comparability are terms used to indicate the extent to which the results can be used by other researchers in other settings

▪ Generally weak in qualitative research


Techniques to enhance credibility Triangulation Prolonged and persistent field work Copious field notes Low inference descriptors Mechanically recorded data Member checking Verbatim accounts Researcher’s role as participant observer


The researcher’s background, interests, and potential bias should be clear

Conceptual and/or theoretical frameworks for the study should be clear

The method for selecting participants should be clear

The level of the researcher’s involvement in the setting should be indicated

The researcher should be trained in data collection procedures


Credibility of the research should be addressed

Descriptive data should be separated from the interpretations of the data

The researcher should use multiple methods of data collection

The duration of the study must be long enough


chapter 11 copyright © allyn & bacon 2008 this multimedia product and its contents are...

Documents

behaviorcopyright allyn

long timecopyright allyn

copyright law

controlthe situational

research siteaccess

participantsoften site

general framework

normative expectations