Qualitative Research

M.Phil Education
Minhaj University Lahore
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Qualitative Research
Assumptions
Knowledge exists within the meaning
people make of them
Knowledge is gained through conversation
Knowledge is laced with personal bias
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Qualitative Research
Qualitative Researchers
Ask open-ended questions
Want to listen to their subjects
Try to explore
They interview
Observe
Examine documents
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Common Traditions
Five approaches:
Biographical/Historical
Ethnographical
Phenomenological
Grounded Theory
Case Studies
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Biographical/Historical
Studies the life of an individual or institution
The central focus is the story of an individual or
an institution
Data are collected through conversations,
stories, and events and studied in a broader
context
The search is for defining moments or special
events (epiphanies), or turning points in the life
of the individual or in the journey of the
institution
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Biographical/Historical
Types of Biographical/Historical Research
Autobiography
Story of ones life written by the author
Life History
Reports how story of ones life reflects
personal, institutional, or societal themes
Oral History
Gathers personal recollections of events, their
causes, and their effects
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Biographical/Historical
Sources of Data
Interviews, mostly open-ended
Archives
Subject Journals
Casual discussions
Challenges
Permission/access to person or archives
Authenticity of stories and documents
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Biographical/Historical
Analysis
Identify stories, critical incidences, epiphanies
and historical contents, and turning points
Search for patterns of meaning
Progressive-regressive method
Take a key event and move forward and
backwards in time
Chronological
Start from birth and report chronology of life

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Ethnographical
Studies cultural behavior of groups or
individuals
Involves prolonged observation of groups or
individuals
Researcher is immersed in the day-to-day lives
of subjects
Focus is on the meaning of behavior, language,
and the interaction of the subjects
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Ethnographical
Sources of Data
Fieldnotes/Video tapes
Immersed participant observation
Observation
Interviews
Key informants
Artifacts
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Ethnographical
Challenges
Access and permission
Key informants and gatekeepers
Prolonged observation and fieldwork
Going native!
Analysis
Description of learned cultural behaviors
Patterns of themes and regularities
Developing a holistic cultural portrait
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Phenomenological
Understanding of the essence of experiences
about a commonly shared phenomenon
Looks for a group who have a shared
experience of a phenomenon and studies their
experiences
Searches for the meaning of a lived experience
Explores the intentionality of consciousness
(reality of an object is inextricably related to
ones consciousness of it)
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Phenomenological
Sources of Data
Long interviews, ideally with up to 10 people
Records of self-reflections/diaries
Artistic and other forms of expressions
Challenges
Subject selection
Bracketing personal experiences
Requires a great deal of expertise
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Phenomenological
Analysis
Reduction (searching for all possible themes
and meanings)
Horizonalization (individual statements lead to
the creation of meaning units followed by
clustering the meanings
Textural description (what was experienced)
Structural descriptions (how it was
experienced)
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Grounded Theory
Is used to develop a theory, or a theoretical
model
Generates a theory closely related to the context
of a phenomenon
The theory is developed grounded in data
collected from the field
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Grounded Theory
Sources of Data
Interviews (ideally, 20-30 people)
Observations
Documents
Repeated data collection to achieve saturation
(when additional information doesnt add any
new meaning)
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Grounded Theory
Challenges
Must follow prescribed categories of
information in theory building (Central
phenomenon, causal condition, strategies,
conditions and context, and consequence)
Determining when saturation is achieved
A theory-based homogeneous sample
Inductive nature of the analysis
Trust and openness of subjects
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Grounded Theory
Analysis
Constant Comparative (Data collection and
comparing new data to emerging categories)
Open Coding
Forms initial categories
Looks for new subcategories or properties
Selective Coding
Coding scheme is designed such that they can be
integrated into a story line

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Grounded Theory
Axial Coding
Starts with open coding and assembles the data
in new ways such that:
Data consistent with a central phenomenon
Data consistent with a causal condition
Strategies (resulting actions and interactions from
the central phenomenon
Data that identifies context and intervening
conditions
Data that identifies the outcomes of the strategies
(consequences)
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Case Studies
An in-depth study of a case or cases
Involves a system bounded by time and place
such as a process, activity, event, program or
multiple individuals
May involve a unique situation (intrinsic case
study), a case used to illustrate an issue
(instrumental case study) or a study of several
cases (collective case study)
Identifies issues within a vignette, studies the
issues, and describes the results
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Case Study
Sources of Data
Requires multiple sources of data
Interviews
Archives
Fieldnotes
Source documents
Observations
Artifacts
Artistic and other forms of expression
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Case Studies
Challenges
Purposive sampling (finding the right case)
Requires multiple cases for generalizability
Exhaustive data collection through multiple
sources
Gaining access and trust of participants
Developing boundaries for the case

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Case Studies
Analysis
Holistic (the entire case) or Embedded (one
aspect of the case)
Look for themes and assertions
Establish patterns of categories
Aggregate categories into broader analysis
Dealing with more than one case requires
within-case and cross-case analysis
Identify and describe lessons learned