Chapter VI: Research Strategies

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Overview
The ideal strategy to adopt in conducting your research is one of the important challenges you
must address early on in your dissertation writing process. That is, how do you plan to address
the research topics you wish to look into? Determining your research approach entails
determining whether you want to do primary research or stick to current material.
A research strategy introduces the research issue and emphasis, the research perspective, the
research design, and the research methodology. It explains how you intend to answer to the
research questions and how you intend to carry out your strategy.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this study guide, you should be able to:

General Goals: To have a grasp of what Research Strategies are and its importance in the research
writing process.

Specific Goals:

• Identify the different types of research strategies.

• Differentiate different research strategies.

Eight Main Types of Research Strategies___________________

The step-by-step plan of action that directs the researcher's cognitive process is referred to as a
research strategy. It allows a researcher to perform research in a methodical and timely
manner. The primary goal is to present the study's essential components, such as the research
subject, areas of attention, research design, and research methodologies.
Here are the eight main types of research strategies:
1. Case Studies- a research study that examines phenomena within its context.
2. Experiments/Experimental Research Strategy- used to show cause and effect
correlations among variables.

1|Page
 3. Ethnography- a qualitative approach in which researchers watch and/or engage with
participants in a study's real-world setting.
4. Phenomenology- a kind of qualitative research that focuses on the shared experiences
of a group of people.
5. Ground Theory- aims to uncover or develop theory using evidence that has been
collected in a systematic manner and studied through comparative analysis.
6. Action Research- a collaborative approach that combines theory and practice, action
and contemplation together.
7. Mixed-Methods- refers to an emerging research paradigm that promotes the systematic
integration, or "mixing," of quantitative and qualitative data within a single study or
long-term research program.
8. Longitudinal- a form of correlational research study in which variables are examined
over a long period of time.

ETHNOGRAPHY___ ____________________________________

Ethnography is a type of qualitative research that involves immersing yourself in a particular

community or organization to observe their behavior and interactions up close. The word
“ethnography” also refers to the written report of the research that the ethnographer produces
afterwards.

Ethnography is a flexible research method that allows you to gain a deep understanding of a
group’s shared culture, conventions, and social dynamics. However, it also involves some
practical and ethical challenges.

What is ethnography used for?

Ethnographic research originated in the field of anthropology, and it often involved an anthropologist
living with an isolated tribal community for an extended period of time in order to understand their
culture.

2|Page
This type of research could sometimes last for years. For example, Colin M. Turnbull lived with the Mbuti
people for three years in order to write the classic ethnography The Forest People.

Today, ethnography is a common approach in various social science fields, not just anthropology. It is
used not only to study distant or unfamiliar cultures, but also to study specific communities within the
researcher’s own society.

For example, ethnographic research (sometimes called participant observation) has been used to
investigate gangs, football fans, call center workers, and police officers.

Advantages of ethnography
The main advantage of ethnography is that it gives the researcher direct access to the culture and
practices of a group. It is a useful approach for learning first-hand about the behavior and interactions of
people within a particular context.

By becoming immersed in a social environment, you may have access to more authentic information
and spontaneously observe dynamics that you could not have found out about simply by asking.

Ethnography is also an open and flexible method. Rather than aiming to verify a general theory or test a
hypothesis, it aims to offer a rich narrative account of a specific culture, allowing you to explore many
different aspects of the group and setting.

Disadvantages of ethnography
Ethnography is a time-consuming method. In order to embed yourself in the setting and gather enough
observations to build up a representative picture, you can expect to spend at least a few weeks, but
more likely several months. This long-term immersion can be challenging, and requires careful planning.

Ethnographic research can run the risk of researcher bias. Writing an ethnography involves subjective
interpretation, and it can be difficult to maintain the necessary distance to analyze a group that you are
embedded in.

There are often also ethical considerations to take into account: for example, about how your role is
disclosed to members of the group, or about observing and reporting sensitive information.

Should you use ethnography in your research?

If you’re a student who wants to use ethnographic research in your thesis or dissertation, it’s worth
asking yourself whether it’s the right approach:

• Could the information you need be collected in another way (e.g. a survey, interviews)?
• How difficult will it be to gain access to the community you want to study?
• How exactly will you conduct your research, and over what timespan?
• What ethical issues might arise?

If you do decide to do ethnography, it’s generally best to choose a relatively small and easily accessible
group, to ensure that the research is feasible within a limited timeframe.

3|Page
 PHENOMENOLOGY_______________________________________

Phenomenology is an approach to qualitative research that focuses on the commonality of a lived

experience within a particular group. The fundamental goal of the approach is to arrive at a description
of the nature of the particular phenomenon (Creswell, 2013). Typically, interviews are conducted with a
group of individuals who have first-hand knowledge of an event, situation or experience. The
interview(s) attempts to answer two broad questions (Moustakas, 1994): What have you experienced in
terms of the phenomenon? What contexts or situation have typically influenced your experiences of the
phenomenon (Creswell, 2013)? Other forms of data such as documents, observations and art may also
be used. The data is then read and reread and culled for like phrases and themes that are then grouped
to form clusters of meaning (Creswell, 2013). Through this process the researcher may construct the
universal meaning of the event, situation or experience and arrive at a more profound understanding of
the phenomenon.

The purpose of the phenomenological approach is to illuminate the specific, to identify phenomena
through how they are perceived by the actors in a situation. In the human sphere this normally
translates into gathering ‘deep’ information and perceptions through inductive, qualitative methods
such as interviews, discussions and participant observation, and representing it from the perspective of
the research participant(s). Phenomenology is concerned with the study of experience from the
perspective of the individual, ‘bracketing’ taken-for-granted assumptions and usual ways of perceiving.
Epistemologically, phenomenological approaches are based in a paradigm of personal knowledge and
subjectivity, and emphasise the importance of personal perspective and interpretation. As such they are
powerful for understanding subjective experience, gaining insights into people’s motivations and
actions, and cutting through the clutter of taken-for-granted assumptions and conventional wisdom.
Phenomenological research has overlaps with other essentially qualitative approaches including
ethnography, hermeneutics and symbolic interactionism. Pure phenomenological research seeks
essentially to describe rather than explain, and to start from a perspective free from hypotheses or
preconceptions (Husserl 1970). More recent humanist and feminist researchers refute the possibility of
starting without preconceptions or bias, and emphasise the importance of making clear how
interpretations and meanings have been placed on findings, as well as making the researcher visible in
the ‘frame’ of the research as an interested and subjective actor rather than a detached and impartial
observer (e.g. see Plummer 1983, Stanley & Wise 1993). Phenomenological methods are particularly
effective at bringing to the fore the experiences and perceptions of individuals from their own
perspectives, and therefore at challenging structural or normative assumptions. Adding an interpretive
dimension to phenomenological research, enabling it to be used as the basis for practical theory, allows
it to inform, support or challenge policy and action.

4|Page
Methods

Phenomenological and associated approaches can be applied to single cases or to serendipitous or

deliberately selected samples. While single-case studies are able to identify issues which illustrate
discrepancies and system failures - and to illuminate or draw attention to ‘different’ situations - positive
inferences are less easy to make without a small sample of participants. In multipleparticipant research,
the strength of inference which can be made increases rapidly once factors start to recur with more
than one participant. In this respect it is important to distinguish between statistical and qualitative
validity: phenomenological research can be robust in indicating the presence of factors and their effects
in individual cases, but must be tentative in suggesting their extent in relation to the population from
which the participants or cases were drawn. 2 A variety of methods can be used in phenomenologically-
based research, including interviews, conversations, participant observation, action research, focus
meetings and analysis of personal texts. If there is a general principle involved it is that of minimum
structure and maximum depth, in practice constrained by time and opportunities to strike a balance
between keeping a focus on the research issues and avoiding undue influence by the researcher. The
establishment of a good level of rapport and empathy is critical to gaining depth of information,
particularly where investigating issues where the participant has a strong personal stake. Interview
methods and issues are discussed in Gorden (1969), Measor (1985), Oakley (1981), Plummer (1983) and
Spradley (1979) among others.

GROUNDED THEORY______________________________________

Grounded theory is a qualitative method that enables you to study a particular phenomenon or
process and discover new theories that are based on the collection and analysis of real world
data.

Unlike traditional hypothesis-deductive approaches of research, where you come up with a

hypothesis and then try to prove/disprove it, grounded theory is an inductive approach where
new theories are derived from the data.

5|Page
The process of data collection, data analysis, and theory development happen in an iterative
process. Iterative data collection and analysis occurs until you reach theoretical saturation, the
point at which additional data adds no additional insight into your new theory.

When should you use grounded theory?

You should consider using grounded theory when there is no existing theory that offers an
explanation for a phenomenon that you are studying. It can also be used if there is an existing
theory, but it is potentially incomplete as the data used to derive that theory wasn’t collected
from the group of participants that you plan on researching.

BENEFITS OF USING GROUNDED THEORY

Findings accurately represent real world settings

The theories you develop using grounded theory are derived directly from real world
participants in real world settings using methods like in depth interviews and observation, so
your findings will more accurately represent the real world. This is in contrast to other
research approaches that occur in less natural settings like research labs or focus group
tables.

Findings are tightly connected to the data

Because grounded theory primarily relies on collected data to determine the final outcome,
the findings are tightly connected to that data. This is in contrast to other research
approaches that rely more heavily on external research frameworks or theories that are
further removed from the data.

Great for new discoveries

Grounded theory is a strong, inductive research method for discovering new theories. You
don’t go in with any preconceived hypothesis about the outcome, and are not concerned with
validation or description. Instead, you allow the data you collect to guide your analysis and
theory creation, leading to novel discoveries.

6|Page
Offers strategies for analysis

The process of grounded theory describes specific strategies for analysis that can be
incredibly helpful. While grounded theory is a very open ended methodology, the analysis
strategies enable you to stay structured and analytical in your discovery process.

Data collection and analysis are streamlined

Data collection and analysis are tightly interwoven. As you collect data, you analyze it, and as
you learn from analysis, you continue to collect more data. This helps ensure that the data
you collect is sufficient enough to explain the findings that arise from analysis.

Buffers against confirmation bias

Because data collection and analysis are tightly interwoven, you are truly following what is
emerging from the data itself. This provides a great buffer against confirming preconceived
beliefs about your topic.

LIMITATIONS OF GROUNDED THEORY

Difficulty recruiting

Grounded theory relies on an iterative recruiting process called theoretical sampling where
you continuously recruit and conduct new rounds of interviews with new participants and
previous participants while you analyze data. The recruiting criteria also evolves and changes
based on what you learn. Because the recruiting is not predefined, it can be challenging to
continuously find the right participants for your study.

Time consuming to collect data

There is no way to know ahead of time how much data you will need to collect, so you need
to be flexible with your time. With grounded theory, you continuously collect and analyze
data until you reach theoretical saturation, which is the point at which new data does not
contribute new insight to your evolving theory. This means that you are likely to conduct
many rounds of data collection before your theory is complete.

7|Page
Challenges in analysis

Data analysis occurs on a rolling basis and involves making constant comparisons between
different excerpts of data. It can be challenging to keep track of your comparisons and
findings as you go. It can be helpful to use a qualitative data analysis software like Delve to
help you stay organized during your analysis.

References:________________________________________________
Online Sources:

• https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/com9640epstein/?p=543&fbclid=IwAR1qaWaD5IqV4-
pkdw3Yj_gv_Rdx8kbgTqIZlpcyDtET3cIKSMgAVhpExgw
• https://delvetool.com/groundedtheory?fbclid=IwAR1cGY1LcfJNZJmggGdZvyiSv17zIDnxZ
rTMLT0E925XFGtjSKijRp7KP1w
• methodology/ethnography/?fbclid=IwAR1Ai7OkqbGFA89ynFLZolYpmLATIPKvKhZGKiEVz
Y7V40J2dDlY_0QVKmw
• https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/architecturebodyp
erformance/1065.html#:~:text=Phenomenology%20is%20a%20philosophy%20of%20ex
perience.&text=The%20task%20of%20the%20philosopher,subject%20in%20society%20
and%20history.
• https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/
•
• Video Sources:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ectS1ote8uA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqkVStFLzL4
Prepared by: Rovi Shenna C. Manuel

8|Page