Items Description of Module

Subject Name Management

Paper Name Research Methodology
Module Title Qualitative Research Process
Module ID Module 22
Pre-Requisites Understanding the nature of qualitative research
Objectives To study the process of qualitative research
Keywords Qualitative research process, Ground Theory Research
Role Name Affiliation
Prof.Ipshita Bansal Department of Management
Principal Investigator Studies, BPSMV, Khanpur
Kalan, Sonipat

Co-Principal Investigator

Prof. S.P.Singh Department of Management

Paper Coordinator Studies, GKV, Haridwar

Prof. S.P.Singh Department of Management

Content Writer (CW) Studies, GKV, Haridwar

Content Reviewer (CR)

Language Editor (LE)

QUADRANT –I

1. Module 22 : Qualitative Research Process

2. Learning Outcome
3. Introduction
4. Research as linear process
5. Process in Grounded theory research
6. Linearity and Circularity of the process
7. Theories in the Research process
8. The qualitative research process
Summary

1. Module 22: Qualitative Research Process

2. Learning outcome
After you have finished this module, you shall be able to:
 Understand research as linear process
 Know the process in ground theory research
 Comprehend the linearity and circularity of the process
 Know the theories in the research process
 Understand the qualitative research process.
3. Introduction
The choice of certain methods over and above others cannot characterize qualitative research.
Qualitative and quantitative research are able to coexist and can be combined. However,
qualitative research assumes beforehand a different understanding of research in general, which
goes beyond the decision to use a narrow interview or a questionnaire. Qualitative research
comprises a specific understanding of the relation between issue and method (Becker, 1996). In
qualitative research, the process of research can be arranged in a linear sequence of conceptual,
methodological, and empirical steps. The steps can be dealt with one after the other and apart.
There is mutual interdependence of the single stages of the research process. Glaser and Strauss
(1967) developed this idea of the research process in their approach of grounded theory.

4. Research as Linear Process

Figure 1Linear process of qualitative research

(Adapted from designresearch.wordpress.com)

The customary version of quantitative social sciences begins with structuring a model before the
study is undertaken in the field. The researchers construct a model of the presumed conditions
and relationships. The theoretical knowledge drawn from the literature or previous empirical
research is the starting point of researches. From the review of literature, hypotheses are derived,
which are operationalized and tested against empirical conditions. The purpose is to ensure that
the study is representative in its data and findings. Further, the complex relations are broken
down into distinct variables, which permit the researchers to separate them and evaluate their
effects. Theories and methods acquire places before the objectives of research. Theories are tested
and perhaps falsified on the way. If they are enlarged, it is through additional hypotheses, which
are again tested empirically and so on.

5. Process in Grounded theory Research

The grounded theory accords priority to the data and the field being studied over theoretical
assumptions of theory controlled and linear model of the process of research.
 Figure 2Process in Grounded Theory (Adapted from slideshare.net.)

Flick observed that theories should not be applied to the subject under study but is realized and
formulated in working with the field and the empirical data to be looked in to it. People to be
studied are selected according to their relevance to the research topic and are not chosen for
selecting a representative sample. The purpose is not to lower down complexity by separating
into variables but rather to enhance complexity by allowing context. Methods too have to be
suitable to the issue being studied and have to be accordingly selected.
The theory has relation to empirical work in qualitative research.
The theoretical construction of the issue under study is postponed for the time the individuals
being studied structured the issue sees the light of the say, is the principle of openness.
(Hoffmann-Riem, 1980).
The postponement in structuring has the implication of giving up of the ex ante formulation of
hypotheses. However, the elaboration does not result in to the hypothesis. This knowledge of
qualitative research suggests that the researcher should accept an attitude of flatly suspended
attention. Applied to qualitative research, this means that researchers –partly because of their own
theoretical assumptions and structures, which bring the concrete aspects into notice, but also
because of their own apprehensions-might remain unaware to the structures in the field or persons
under study. This makes them and their research loses the discovery of real ‘new’.
The model of the process in grounded theory research primarily comprises the theoretical
sampling, grounded theory coding, and writing the theory. This approach vehemently
concentrates on the interpretation of data without any respect to their method of collection. It is
immaterial which method is used for data collection. Decisions on data to be integrated and
 methods to be used for this are based on the state of the developing theory after analyzing the data
already to hand at that moment.
Various aspects of the model have become relevant for methodological discussions and
qualitative research practice. Theoretical sampling in particular, as a strategy of defining a sample
gradually is also applied in research where methods of interpretation are utilized. Grounded
theory coding as a method of analyzing texts has also gained relevance. The idea of developing
theories by analyzing texts has also become essential to the discussion of qualitative research,
quite independently from using the methods if the approach at the same time.
Theoretical sampling actually is only feasible as a strategy if the consequence appreciated that not
all interviews are completed in the first stage and the interpretation of data starts only after some
interviewing is done. It is rather the immediate interpretation of collected data which serves as the
basis for sampling decisions. These decisions are not confined to selection of case, but also apply
to the decisions concerning the type of data to integrate at the approaching stage and –in extreme
cases- about adopting another method.

6. Linearity and Circularity of the Process

The circularity of the parts of the research process in the model of grounded theory research is a
pivotal feature of the approach. It was the force behind several of approaches beginning from case
analyses (Ragin and Becker, 1992). However, this circularity causes problems where the general
linear model of research (theory, hypotheses, operationalize , sampling, collecting data,
interpreting data, validation) is applied to evaluate research. Usually, this occurs in proposing a
research project or in applying for a grant and in the evaluation of this research and its results by
the use of applying customary quality indicators.

Figure 3 Circularity of the research process (Adapted from slideshare.net)

But this circularity is the character of being positive of the approach, because the researcher at
frequent intervals ponder on the complete research process and on particular stages in
 deliberation of the other steps- at least where it is applied in a consistent manner. The strong
connection between collection and interpretation of data and the choice of empirical material is
different from traditional linear method of proceeding. This permits the researcher not only to ask
such questions as the extent to which the methods, categories, and theories used are justifiable to
the subject and the data but also to answer it:

7. Theories in the Research Process

The function of theories in a research process can be explained with the help of two starting
points. The first is Goodman’s (1978) concept that theories like other forms of revealing
empirical relations- are descriptions of the world. These versions pass through a regular act of
revision, assessment, construction, and reformulation. In this way, theories do not represent facts,
but are versions or perspectives through which the world is seen. By the formulation of a version
and by the perspective on the world hidden in it, the perception of the world is established that it
provides information about the result into the social making of this perspective, and the
surrounding world. Thus, theories as versions of the world become preliminary and relative.
Further developing the version takes to an enhanced empirical grounding in the object being
studied. But here the research approach, too, does not start as a tabula rasa. The starting point is
rather a pre-knowledge of the subject being studied.
Another issue of reference for defining the role of theories in the model of grounded theory
research is the first rule that Kleining (1982) formulated for qualitative research: The primary
comprehension of the facts being studied should be considered as preliminary and followed with
new, non-agreeing information. Theoretical assumptions become relevant as basic variants of the
understanding and the opinion on the object under study, are reformulated and further elaborated
in the process of research. These revisions of these versions based on empirical material push
further the construction of the study subject. The researcher’s methodological decisions, as
designed in the model of Glaser and Strauss, contribute to this construction.
The agreement between the qualitative research and the traditional, linear logic of research is to a
limited extent. However, the circuitous interconnection of empirical stages vindicates the nature
of discovery in qualitative research. The context of this model of the research process need be
referred to when single parts, like theoretical sampling, are taken from it and used separately.
This process oriented knowledge allows the researcher to realize the principle with a greater
degree of sensitivity than in linear designs. The pertinence of theories as versions of the object to
be reformulated considers the structuring of reality in the research process more sincerely. The
central part kept for the interpretation of data considers the fact that text is the actual empirical
material and the ultimate ground for developing the theory.

8. The Qualitative Research Process

The role of qualitative researcher differs from the role of quantitative researcher. The process of
qualitative research can be divided into seven explicit stages consisting of thematizing, designing
research, conducting interviews, transcription, analysis of data, verification and reporting.
However, this does not mean that researchers ought to work in this orderly progressing manner.
 Thematizing

Reporting Designing

Verification Interviewing

Analyzing Transcribing

Figure 4Process of Qualitative Research

8.1 Thematizing

Thematizing means answering the questions of:

What is going to be studied?
Why this is going to be studied? and
How this is going to be studied?
The answer to these questions furnishes the background for going further with fieldwork, analysis
of data and reporting of findings.
Conducting qualitative personal or group interviews reply to the question of how to collect data.
The major techniques for data collection consist of participant observation, analysis of text,
discourse analysis and other techniques applicable in anthropological and ethnographic research
(BURGESS 1984, SANDAY 1979). The interview is also regarded as method for data collection,
because it is the most popular technique. The qualitative research interview is stated as an
interview whose purpose is to get description of the life world of the interviewee with respect to
interpreting the meaning of the described phenomena. (KVALE 1996)
KVALE (1996) gives an explanation of using interviewing as a dominant research technique.
Since conversation is the usual technique we all learn about phenomena in this world, this
technique could evidently be applied for research purposes.

8.2 Designing
 Designing the research constitutes the stage where a procedure with a system of methods is
arranged and planned. It decides the time schedule and builds the reciprocal relations of different
stages. If the technique selected for research is interview, designing the research project will
determine the sort of interviews to be conducted—personal, collective (focus group), expert,
etc.—and determines the number of interviews to be performed.
The persons, performing as respondents, are selected in accordance with the criteria drawn from
the research objectives. The demographic variables could be the basis of such criteria but they
also be based on thin criteria such as features of life style or proximity to particular context.

Sometimes the similarity among respondents and sometimes the diversity among respondents
may be the objective of the research. Snowball sampling is an example of a techniques used to
draw the respondents. In place of determining beforehand who is to be interview, the researcher
selects respondents in a moving manner by requesting the first respondent to refer next to be
interview, and thereafter asking the second respondent to select the third and the process goes on.
Since the data collected is in-depth information, it is asserted that simply a restricted number of
respondents will e required for the interview. In truth, the respondents on a great scale may be
expected to cause hurdles to the in the ability of the research to get in-depth information and
loose the favorable occasion of acquiring a good understanding of every respondent individually.
However, the subject investigated will correctly determine the exact number of respondents.
KVALE (1996) advised the qualitative researcher to conduct interview of as many respondents as
were necessary to obtain required understanding.

8.3 Interviewing

Figure 5 Intervie wing (Adapted from videomaker.com)

 The structure of the interview has to be in consonance with an interview guide prepared by the
researcher providing outline of themes to be covered in the interview. The manner of accurately
structuring the questions is mentioned in the interview guide. In order to inspire confidence in the
respondents and obtain long elaborative answers, the questions will be open-ended. Recording of
interviews is usually done on tape or video. Usually interviews are recorded on tape or video. The
videotaping enables the capturing of the visual aspects and make a valuable representation of the
interview situation. (KVALE 1996).Some researcher would prefer to have field notes as an
addition to recordings. However, their importance varies among researchers. Some researchers
would like to type these handwritten notes, while others would prefer to keep them in handwritten
form. It is crucial to mention that an interview is also recalled. The research recollects the bodily
gestures of the respondent, remembers the interaction between interviewer and respondents
captures the situation in the interview, etc., Recalling has benefits for obtaining non-verbal
information (KVALE 1996). The advantage of using the interview as a research technique is that
the interviewer meets personally with the respondents.

8.4 Transcribing

Figure 6 Transcribing (Adapted from jewishmuseummd.org)

The transcription of recordings is often carried out by assisting personnel. The research might
issue several instructions to the assistants. The standard of transcription can be gauged on a
continuum which range from transcription of each and every sound to transcript only relevant
 answers relating to specific research question. However, transcripts are not real representations of
originality but are interpretative constructions useful for certain purposes. Transcripts are de-
contextualized conversations and abstractions (KVALE 1996). Therefore, transcripts are not
similar to survey data in a quantitative research.
Usually the interviewer recognizes the value of the interview transcript only after some
interpretative work has not performed. A multi-faceted recollection of the interview situation will
be kindled by the specific comments in the transcript which will be absent when a hired
interviewer performs the interview.

8.5 Analyzing
The term coding is often applied to refer to the first part of the analysis that relates to the naming
and giving categories to phenomena. (STRAUSS & CORBIN 1990) The computer-based analysis
program packages can be used for coding of data. However, this all depends upon the researcher
determines and names the categories of data. After the coding, the researcher advances to the
analysis process where the codes must be clubbed in one overall analysis. The analysis is the
progression from the specific to the general (McCRACKEN 1988), since the purpose is to know
the overall narrative. The results of the analysis should connect codes to each other and create a
web of meanings. The researcher decodes the strings constituting this web (STRAUSS &
CORBIN 1990) the structure of meaning logical and coherent.
The researcher utilizes his personal understanding and experiences as instruments to turn the
material meaningful in coding and analyzing the data (McCRACKEN 1988).

8.6 Verification
The generalization, the reliability, and the validity of findings relate to the verification of data.
Generalization of findings implies that the findings drawn from the analysis of sample data can be
applied to the universe. Reliability denotes the consistency of results. Validity relates to if the
study in fact investigates as was planned.
Though verification is relevant during the process, yet verification at this stage is difficult to
escape before reporting of findings. However, tests of generalization, reliability or validity at
varying phases of the research process have to be conducted.

8.7 Reporting
 Figure 7 Reporting (Adapted from integratedportfoliosoltion.com.au)

Reporting refers to that stage of the research process where the researcher writes a report to
present his findings. The report is not, as KVALE pointed out, to be regarded as mere a
representation of data supplemented with the researcher's comments and interpretations. The
interview report itself is to be seen as a social construction wherein the author chooses the style of
writing and literary means to provide a specific view of the world in which the subjects lived. The
influence of the researcher is also not be ignored (ALVESSON & SKÖLDBERG 2000). The
researcher judges the way a specific respondent is to be given voice and the remarks of a
respondent will be linked to his understanding of the context. The researcher will also decide the
extent of context present in connection with particular respondents or situations.

Summary
The choice of certain methods over and above others cannot characterize qualitative research.
Qualitative and quantitative research are able to coexist and can be combined. However,
qualitative research assumes beforehand a different understanding of research in general, which
goes beyond the decision to use a narrow interview or a questionnaire. Qualitative research
comprises a specific understanding of the relation between issue and method.
The customary version of quantitative social sciences begins with structuring a model before the
study is undertaken in the field.
The grounded theory accords priority to the data and the field being studied over theoretical
assumptions of theory controlled and linear model of the process of research. The circularity of
the parts of the research process in the model of grounded theory research is a pivotal feature of
the approach. The first is the Goodman’ s concept and the second the Kleining’s rule. The
process of qualitative research can be divided into seven explicit stages consisting of thematizing,
designing research, conducting interviews, transcription, analysis of data, verification and
reporting.