Five Approaches: Problem, Purpose, and Questions

Running Head: Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design 1

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design 6

Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design

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Analysis of the Five Approaches by Creswell

Phenomenology

The first main approach to qualitative research that may be used in this research is phenomenology. This is descriptive understanding and study of how people experience a certain phenomenon. The foundational question on phenomenology in any research would be; what is the structure, meaning and reason for the lived experience of the individual’s phenomenon by several individuals or a single individual (Holstein & Gubrium, 2010). As the researcher one will try to gain access to the life of the individual or the group through carrying out a series of interviews. The researchers can look for invariant structure of the people’s experiences which in most cases is also referred to as essences of their experience. Usually in a research of this nature, I would go out and look at the commonalities that exist between the people. It will not concentrate on a single individual character but will go out to develop the idea of common features in a group. In this research, the research question that may go with this research is; what could be the essence of a people experience of death of a beloved one, or what will be the feeling if the dead would have been cured had it not been for the uncaring nurse.

In a phenomenological research study, this would be an example of who exactly a caring nurse can be. In any caring interaction, the existence and the presence of the nurse is seen or is perceived or seen as being more than the physical presence (Holstein & Gubrium, 2010). We ought to look at the nurse giving out herself to the client through creating responses to the client if they have certain requests, usually it will be expected to be a voluntary role that the client ought not to solicit for. The nurse responsiveness looks at the ability to sit down and listen to the client, and the mental state of the client and the physical state of the individual is as a direct result of the nurse extends of listening to the client.

Grounded Theory

The second approach that can be applied in the research in this final paper would be grounded theory. This has been described as the creation and development of inductive theory which is grounded or built on the empirical data (Agar, 2010). It takes the bottom up approach. As a researcher there must be a foundational question that will guide the research, and for the sake of this final paper the question would look like; what explanation will emerge from any analysis of the data collected on a certain phenomenon? This is usually involved to create a theory, the theory will tell the how and the why of how certain thing operates as it operates. Usually the theories provide explanations. This theory usually will be used to elaborate or rather test upon the previously created theory as long as the study continues to be continuously grounding on any changes on data.

The most important questions that are used in such a research would be those that are concerned on areas of; Control which will involve the questions such as, can this theory be utilized in making and producing the real life results? In looking at the concept of understanding, the question that would have been used would be, is the theory understandable and clear? There is also a concept of fit, and the question that arises is does the theory act in line with the real life data? And the last concept in this area is the concept of generality, and the question that arises is whether the theory is more abstract to go beyond the specifics in the real research study?

Case study and Ethnography

When we are dealing with the third and fourth concept, we look at the concept of ethnography and case study which in this final paper will be used as the main research methods.

According to Holstein, & Gubrium, (2010) there are several approaches to qualitative research plan, in this work; there is the presentation of the research questions and the best qualitative research approach that fits these questions. The approaches in qualitative research are; case study, phenomenology, grounded theory, narrative, ethnography. In my research the approach that best suits the questions is case study research. This is a detailed account and a thorough analysis of one or more cases (Agar, 2010). The second next best approach is ethnography which is description and discovery of a group of people’s culture.

In any research that is based on case study research, the foundational question is not known as much. In this research, the foundation question that will build my research is; what are the various characteristics of the case or rather the comparison cases? For the sake of this research it will be important since it offers different analogies that would include; Intrinsic case study where the question will lead to understanding of particulars of issues, it also has instrumental case study that tries to look at something more general, there is also collective case study where as the researcher I can be able to compare several cases in this single research (Coyle, 2011). The reason, as to why ethnography has been viewed as a better replacement to the case study, is that it asks questions on what cultural characteristics of the group of people or the people at the scene. This also comes with two additional areas that can be studied which are ethnology (the study of cultural groups comparatively), and ethnohistory (which is the study and understanding of the past culture of the people).

The following are the concepts that will be used in any research that ends up using the ethnography concept. We can look at ethnocentrism which is the judgment of a people through one’s cultural standards. There is also the emic perspective which is based on what the insiders think. There can also be emic terms which are specialty or specialized words. Holism is understood to be the greater sum of the parts, and involves describing units as whole. Lastly though the research can look to develop the etic perspective which is the social science view or rather the external environment view (Coyle, 2011).

In order to understand the use of case study in this research, we look at the concept that was developed by Creswell who stated that case study research is a methodology; and a design that is applicable in qualitative research which may be an object of study as well as an object of study. It can as well be a result of an inquiry. The most critical element of case study that we ought to rely on is the fact that it can be bounded or described through certain parameters, which would include specific time and place.

Narrative

The last concept is narrative which in contrast to the other approaches, it can be a research method or an area of research study on itself. The narrative concept has been described as a study of experience, which is expressed through the stories of certain individuals. It is an approach that basically arose from storytelling and traditions that are used in social science. In any biographical study, the type of questions that are asked would be like, who are you? What have you found interesting throughout the career? There can also be auto ethnography where the writing is done by the subject of study that can involve journal and articles. There are also life history, and oral history and reflections.

In conclusion we take a look at the differences and the relationships that exists between the five approaches. This is what basically can be referred to as a comparison of the concepts. The difference will exist on the type of data that the researcher would collect and rely upon on analysis. In the study of an individual we can recommend the use of narrative rather than ethnography due to the nature which is broader and we can also make use of case study when it comes to multiple cases of analysis (Coyle, 2011). In terms of considering differences, we look at the research methods as they accomplish divergent goals, and have different sources and make use of distinct methods of data analysis.

References

Agar, M.,(2010). Ethnographic Evidence; Urban Life, Vol. 12 No. 10, pp. 32-48

Coyle, I.T. (2011). Sampling in qualitative research, purposeful and theoretical sampling; merging or clear boundaries?”, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 623-30.

Holstein, J. & Gubrium, J., (2010). Phenomenology, ethnography and interpretative practice, in Denzin, N. and Lincoln, Y. (Eds),Handbook of Qualitative Research, Sage, Beverly Hills,

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