Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative research is a methodological approach with particular theoretical concerns and a range of methods, often exploratory in nature.

While often defined in opposition to quantitative research, this is not a simple binary relationship; in fact, mixed methods approaches often yield rich and complex information about their subjects. The following are some key characteristics of each approach:

qualitative research

• inductive, emergent approach with a flexible style, seeking to represent the complexities of a social problem or phenomenon through individual contextualized experience, with attention to researcher subjectivity and reflexivity
• often draws from multiple naturalistic sources, including methods such as interviews, observations, document and artifact analysis, usually in the participant's environment
• seeks a holistic account of an issue through multiple perspectives, with an emphasis on participants' own meaning of experiences

quantitative research

• deductive approach with a rigid style, testing theories developed about relationships between variables, seeking to eliminate bias and control for external factors
• typically represents relationships in terms of measurements with a numerical focus, with statistical analysis performed
• focuses on reliability and generalizability

mixed methods research

• applying both quantitative and qualitative approaches to an investigation, in a way that applies the philosophies of each working in concert for the examination of a social issue or phenomenon

Qualitative approaches tend to ask more “how” questions, seeking to understand the entire scope of a phenomenon or situation and how those involved perceive their own experiences.

Different types of approaches have different focuses:

• basic qualitative study -- how people interpret their experiences, both attributing meaning to those experiences and constructing their personal and social worlds
• phenomenological study -- the “essence” of a particular phenomenon, in terms of how people experience it
• ethnography -- the culture of a group, and how individuals interact within and with this culture
• grounded theory -- building a theory about a particular phenomenon, process, orinteraction, based on the experiences of participants
• narrative -- the stories that people tell about their experiences, and the meanings these stories contain
• case study -- a specific event, program, activity, etc. that is delineated in some clear way, examined in-depth (Merriam 2009)

Asking qualitative research questions:
Creswell (2008) recommends the following approach:

1. come up with one or two central, broad questions
2. generate several subquestions (five to seven) related to that broad theme

Components to consider in design:

Maxwell’s (2013) model has five components:

1. goals -- why are you doing this? what do you hope to learn? what do you want to accomplish?
2. conceptual framework -- what do you think is happening? what theories or prior findings might apply to your problem?
3. research questions -- what are you investigating? what is the problem? what areas or aspects do you want to know more about? how do these questions connect to each other?
4. methods -- how are you collecting your information? what approaches are you employing? how are you relating to participants? where are you doing this? when? how are you analyzing your results?
5. validity-- what biases or gaps are in your approach? what are alternative explanations? how can you address these? how might your findings support or unsettle your conceptual framework?