Types of Qualitative Methods When a qualitative approach seems to make the most sense, the task becomes one of selecting the qualitative method or methods to be used. A number of different ways of framing qualitative methods exist. Lee, Mitchell, and Sablynski (1999) use purposes (e.g., theory generation, theory elaboration, theory testing, or critical theory), research design (e.g., case study, ethnography, and in-depth interviews), and analytic data techniques (e.g., grounded theory approaches, pattern matching in case study research, and hermeneutic techniques as a way of categorizing types of qualitative research. Creswell (1998) speaks of the following “five traditions” of qualitative inquiry: biography, phenomenological study, grounded theory study, ethnography, and case study. Merriam (2002b) is the most comprehensive in her discussion of types of qualitative research, suggesting that the following eight approaches are the most common: A basic interpretative qualitative study is used when the goal of the researcher is to understand how participants make meaning of a situation or a phenomenon. The researcher serves as the filter for the meaning, using inductive strategies with a descriptive outcome. Phenomenology. The phenomenological inquiry is suitable to focus on meanings and perspectives of research participants. The key concern of phenomenological analysis is to understand how the daily, inter-subjective world is formed from the participants ' viewpoint. Inner experiences are compared and analyzed to identify the essences of the phenomenon being studied. In one sense all qualitative research is phenomenological in nature but because of its focus on experience and understanding, phenomenology stands on its own as a type (Schwandt, 2000). Points of Consideration for this Qualitative
The aim of the research is outlined as an attempt to understand the phenomenology of
The author could have employed other methods of qualitative research such as, narrative analysis, grounded theory, discourse analysis, data display and analysis, content analysis and quantifying qualitative data and computer assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAPDAS) (Saunders et al., 2016). Nevertheless, these approaches seem cumbersome sometimes and take a long time to complete (Willig, 1999; Braun and Clarke, 2006 and Smith and Bekker,
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry appropriated in many different academic disciplines, traditionally in the social sciences, but also in market research and further contexts (Denzin, Norman, Lincoln & Yvonna . 2005).
A scholarly exploration involves the employment of a research approach. In the qualitative side of the research method spectrum, there exists a multitude of approaches (Willig, 2008). From this pool of choices, I decided that for my research project, I will employ Jonathan Smith’s Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (abbreviated as IPA). As an approach, IPA aims to produce an understanding of the sensemaking involved in people’s lived experiences (Birkbeck University of London, 2015; Smith & Osborn, 2008). Through the employment of IPA as the research approach, I expect that a thorough understanding of the defeminization phenomenon will be achieved.
Various information gathering techniques can be utilized, as the specialist and the examination subjects cooperate in this collaborative dialogic relationship (Moen, 2006). Data can be as field notes; journal records; interview transcripts; one's own particular and other's perceptions; narrating; interview transcripts; personal written work; reports, for example, school and class arrangements, bulletins, and different writings, for example, standards and principles; and pictures (Moen, 2006). According to Moen (2006), the narrative methodology is arranged inside of the qualitative or interpretive examination method. A subjective way to deal with the field of examination implies that analysts study things in their characteristic settings, attempting to understand and translate phenomena as far as the significance individuals bring to them (Moen, 2006). Throughout the many disciplines that utilized narrative inquiry, certain theoretically oriented narratives help researchers to listen and understand the stories of individuals and to become advocates for them (Sheperis, Young & Daniels, 2010). As with all methods, caution must be used. For instance, narrative researchers have to interrogate and allow their presence in all phases of the investigative process (Sheperis, Young & Daniels,
The unstructured interview approach, is an excellent way of creating multiple realities by giving the control of the interview over to the participants being interviewed and inviting them to tell their stories peaked by only an open-ended question. This method requires an environment in which the participants readily open up (Hill, 2001). To the credit of the current study, the interviewees did provide detailed accounts when interviewed. Additionally, as the stories are elicited by the participants own volition, they can cover a broad range of topics allows for unplanned comments and topics to come up that may have otherwise been left untouched in a more structured methodology (Kvale, 1983). However, because the responses are so gloriously open ended they are difficult to compare across different cases, and large amounts of irrelevant data must be sifted through in a time consuming manner. The benefit of qualitative phenomenological research is that while most scientific methods focus on what can be physically observed and quantitatively measured, this leaves a gapping hole in our ability to evaluate the human condition as most of what we do is determined by unseen forces in our psyches (Kvale, 1983). Therefore, open-ended phenomenology allows researchers to break the restrictive mold and attempt to discover insights into lived experience that would normally remain invisible to more traditional scientific study (Dale,
The main focus is to gather all the individuals experience and analyze the consensus. Phenomenology due to its complexity it is considered both qualitative and quantitative. It is best used when the author wants to gather data to understand the emotions behind individual’s experiences. This type of research is excellent to try and understand a group. This type of research benefits groups of teachers, health care workers, therapist and government in charge of writing polices.
focused on the key qualitative research methods. For each article review, a brief description, guided by Myers (2013), and a critique, guided Pratt (2009), is provided. A summary of the five articles identifying the research method, data collection technique, data analysis approach and critique is provided in Table 1. The narrative review of each article coupled with figures and tables to organize and visualize thoughts (Pratt, 2009) follows the summary table.
Truly, qualitative methods offer us valuable information, as we are able to understand the context where participants operate. We learn to apprehend the variables ...
Chapter four and five in Creswell (2013) helped me realize how important it is to focus on one type of qualitative research. This leads to writing a coherent paper in the approach chosen. It was also interesting to learn that because subjective and objective experiences, phenomenology lies somewhere in between both qualitative and quantitative research.
...s over an extended period of time (Smith and Davis, 2010); (4) phenomenological research, involves understanding the lived experiences by studying a small number of subjects through extensive and prolonged engagement to develop pattern and relationships of meaning; (5) narrative research, in which the researcher studies the lives of individuals through stories about their lives (Creswell, 2009); and (6) participatory action research, in which the goal of the researcher is to evaluate and understand the impact of some social program on the community (Smith and Davis, 2010).
Qualitative research was designed as a way to be directly connected with the subjects researched. Participant researchers may choose to merely observe and collect data or to be an active participant. Covert participation has the advantage of reducing the “reactive effects” of the social setting or group (Bachman & Schutt, 2012). Most researchers who use the participation method of research will often strike a balance between participation and observation. Through participation, an observer may gain the trust of the research subjects which can provide more fruitful results. Some research may however be unethical or a violation of law. A good researcher should use prudence beforehand when crafting their research design.
Stejskal, S.M. (2010) Quatiative and Qualitative Research Methods are not and should not be Mutually Exclusive, Grinn Verlag.
...chniques and procedures among those associated with quantitative or qualitative research. A literature review, which included document analysis, was used to answer sub-questions one, two and three. A model building approach was suggested to answer sub-question four. In addition, the study uses a case study as a proof-of-concept. The use of a case study is a qualitative empirical study to strengthen the research validity. Since the research methods directly responding to the research questions (Literature review and Model building) make use of textual data, we classified this study as a qualitative study. Table 3.1 below summarises the classification of this study in terms of the dimensions discussed above.