Thesis Proposal

Chapter 9: Qualitative Methods

This chapter presents essential steps in designing a qualitative methods section for a research proposal. The processes are similar to those used in quantitative methods. However, qualitative methods rely on text and image data, have unique steps in data analysis, and drawn diverse designs.

Chapter 9 begins with a discussion of the components of qualitative methods and characteristics of qualitative research. The chapter also advances a general guideline for procedures. This includes a discussion about the general characteristics qualitative research. The guideline recommends discussing the research design; the exploration of processes, activities, and events; and the examination of broad culture-sharing behavior of individuals or groups. The chapter discusses the importance of presenting and defending choice of the design.

Qualitative Methods

The Characteristics of Qualitative Research

It is important to:

· Review the needs of potential audiences for the proposal

· If there is some question about their knowledge, present the basic characteristics of qualitative research in the proposal and possibly discuss a recent qualitative research Journal article to use as an example

· If you present the basic characteristics you should mention:

· Natural setting

· Research is key instrument

· Multiple sources of data

· Inductive and deductive data analysis

· Participants’ meaning

· Emerging design

· Reflexivity

· Holistic account

Qualitative Designs

· Identify the specific design that you will be using and provide references to the literature

· Designs include procedures for data collection, analysis, and writing

· Designs – narrative, phenomenology, ethnography, case study, grounded theory

· Based on the design, researchers:

· Study individuals in narrative, phenomenology

· Explore processes, activities, and events in case study, grounded theory

· Learn about broad culture-sharing behavior of individuals or groups in ethnography

The Researcher’s Role and Reflexivity

· Include statements about past experiences with the research problem or with the participants

· Be explicit about how these experiences may potentially shape interpretations the researchers make during the study

· Comments on connections between the researcher and the participants in on the research sites that may influence the researcher’s interpretations

· Indicate steps taken to obtain permission from the IRB

· Researchers use memos to reflect on developing codes and themes

· Discuss steps taken to gain entry to the setting and to secure permissions to study the participants, often through gatekeepers; proposals to gatekeepers address:

· Why the site was chosen for the study

· What activities will occur at the site during the research study

· Will the study be disruptive

· How the results will be reported

· What will the gatekeeper gain from the study

· Discuss ethical issues that may arise

Data Collection Procedures

· Identify the purposefully selected sites or individuals for the proposed study; a discussion about participants insight might include:

· The setting

· The actors

· The events

· The process

· Discuss the number of sites and participants to be involved in your study; a small number characterizes qualitative research; however, sample size depends on the qualitative design being used; another approach to determine the sample size is the use of the ideas saturation

· Saturation is the point at which fresh data no longer sparks new insights or reveals new properties

· Indicate the types of data to be collected. There are four basic types of collection procedures:

· Qualitative observation – the researcher takes field notes on the behavior and activities of individuals at the research site

· Qualitative interviews – the researcher conducts face-to-face interviews with participants, telephone interviews, or engages in focus group interviews

· Qualitative documents – these may be public documents such as newspapers minutes of meetings for official reports for private documents

· Qualitative audio and visual materials – this may include photographs, art objects, videotapes, etc.

· Include data collection types they go beyond typical observations and interviews

Data Recording Procedures

· Plan to develop and use an observational protocol for recording observations in a qualitative study; it includes descriptive notes, reflexive notes, demographic information, and the setting

· Plan to develop and use an interview protocol for asking questions and recording answers during a qualitative interview; the interview protocol needs to include the following components:

· Heading including date, place, interviewer, interviewee

· Instructions for the interviewer to follow so that standard procedures are used from one interview to another

· Perhaps 5–10 questions and probes for the questions

· Closing instructions

· It is helpful for the interviewer to memorize questions

Data Analysis Procedures

A methods discussion in a qualitative proposal needs to specify the steps in analyzing the various forms qualitative data.

· The researcher segments the data and takes it apart and puts it back together

· Data analysis and qualitative research will proceed hand-in-hand with the other parts of developing a qualitative study; for example, while interviews are going on researchers may be collected earlier

· Because text and image data are so dense and rich, not all of the information can be used in a qualitative study; researchers need to go through a process of winnowing the data

· Specify whether you will use a qualitative computer data analysis program to assist you in analyzing the data or whether you will and hand code the data

· Steps for the data analysis process include:

· Organize and prepare the data for analysis; this may include transcribing interviews or scanning material or typing field notes

· Read or look at all the data to gain a general sense of the information

· Start coding all of the data; coding is a process of organizing the data by bracketing chunks and writing a word representing a category

· Generate description of the setting or people as well as themes or categories for analysis

· Advance how the description and themes will be represented in the qualitative narrative; some use visuals, figures, or tables

· Give some attention to the types of codes to develop when analyzing text manuscript; codes fall into three basic categories:

· Codes on topics that readers would expect to find based on the past literature and common sense

· Codes that are surprising; that are not anticipated at the beginning of the study

· Codes that are unusual and of conceptual interest to readers

· An issue is whether to use only codes that emerge, only predetermined codes, or some combination

· Researchers are more frequently using visual images, which can also be coded

· Further data analysis may occur by type of approach; analysis will proceed in two layers: (a) more general procedures and (b) more advanced layer of analysis embedded within specific qualitative designs

Interpretation

· Interpretation in qualitative research involves several procedures:

· Summarizing the overall findings

· Comparing the findings to the literature

· Discussing a personal view of the findings

· Suggesting limitations and future research

Validity and Reliability

· Qualitative validity means that the researcher checks for the accuracy of the findings by employing certain procedures

· Qualitative reliability indicates that the researchers approach is consistent across different researchers and different projects

· The researcher actively incorporates validity strategies into their proposal.

· Triangulate different data sources of information by examining evidence from the sources; use it to build a coherent justification for themes

· Use member checking is to determine the accuracy of the qualitative findings; the researcher takes back parts of the polished or semi-polished product to determine if participants feel they are accurate

· Use a rich, thick description to convey findings

· Clarify the bias the researcher brings to the study

· Present negative or discrepant information that runs counter to the themes

· Spend prolonged time in the field; the more time the researcher has with the participants in their settings, the more accurate the findings will be

· Use peer debriefing to enhance the accuracy of the account

· Use an external auditor to review the entire project

· Gibbs (2007) suggested several qualitative reliability procedures:

· Check transcripts to make sure that they do not contain obvious mistakes made during transcription

· Make sure that there is not a shift in the meaning of the codes during the process of coding

· For team research, coordinate the communication among the coders; have regular documented meetings; share in the analysis

· Cross-check codes developed by different researchers by comparing results that are independently derived (inter coder agreement)

· Qualitative generalization is a term used in a limited way because the intent is not to generalize findings; case study researchers may generalize to broader theory or other cases

Writing the Qualitative Report

· The qualitative methods planned should in with some comments about the narrative that will emerge from the data analysis

· The basic procedure is to develop descriptions and themes from the data and present these descriptions and themes in a way that conveys the multiple perspectives from participants and detailed descriptions of the setting or individuals