Qualitative Research Design and Sampling Techniques

MELCs:
1. chooses appropriate qualitative research design
2. describes sampling procedure and sample
Types of Qualitative Research Design
Ethnographical Research. Ethnographic research is probably the most
popular and applicable type of qualitative research. In ethnography, you
engage yourself in the target participants' environment to understand the
behavior, cultures, challenges, motivations, and themes that occur.
Ethnography has its roots in cultural anthropology where researchers engage
themselves within a culture, often for years rather than relying on interviews
or surveys; experience the environment first hand; and sometimes as a
“participant observer”. The goal of the standard ethnography qualitative
method is to “learn about a culture from the people who actually live in that
culture” (Pleong, 1999).
Purpose: To describe a culture's character
Outcome: Description of culture
Case Study. Case study involves an in-depth examination of a single
person or single individual or single institution/organization. The goal of a
case study is to provide an accurate and complete description of the case; the
principal benefit of a case study is that it can expand our knowledge about the
human behavior or attitude. It is also useful when the case is too complex and
need special attention. Case study often includes in-depth interviews with
participant, review of his/her previous record, and observation. It provides an
opportunity for the intensive analysis of many specific details, which are often
overlooked by other methods. A case study involves a deep understanding
through multiple types of data sources. Case studies can be explanatory,
exploratory, or descriptive.
Purpose: To give an in-depth description of the experience of one
person, family, group, community, or institution
Outcome: In-depth description of the experience

Phenomenological Research. When you want to describe an event,

activity, or phenomenon, the phenomenological study is an appropriate
qualitative method. In a phenomenological study, you use a combination of
methods, such as conducting interviews, reading documents, watching videos,
or visiting places and events, to understand the meaning that participants
place on whatever is being examined. You rely on the participants’ own
perspectives to provide insight into their motivations. Phenomenology is useful
for learning about “a phenomenon that has little research by exploring the
experiences of people in their natural environment rather than confirming or
denying a preconceived theory” (Powell, Gray, & Reese, 2013).
Purpose: To describe experiences as people lived (e.g., examines
uniqueness of individual’s lived situations)
Outcomes: Findings described from subject’s point-of-view Researcher
identifies themes.
Structural explanation of findings is developed.

Grounded Theory. While a phenomenological study looks to describe the

essence of an activity or event, grounded theory looks to provide an
explanation or theory behind the events. According to Ralph, Birks, and
Chapman (2015), grounded theory is “methodologically dynamic” which
provides a means of constructing methods to better understand situations that
humans find themselves in. This means that you primarily use interviews and
existing documents to build a theory based on the data.
Purpose: To develop a theory
Outcome: Theory supported by examples from data

Narrative/Historical Research Design. A synonym of the term

‘narrative’ is ‘story’ or ‘history’ (Kramp, 2004). Narratives are related with life
stories. Moen (2006) defined it as “a story that tells a sequence of events that
is significant for the narrator or audience or her/his audience”. This means
that the narrative approach weaves together a sequence of events, usually
from just one or two individuals to form a cohesive story. You conduct in-
depth interviews, read documents, and look for themes; in other words, how
does an individual story illustrate the larger life influences that created it.
Often interviews are conducted over weeks, months, or even years, but the
final narrative doesn't need to be in chronological order. Rather, it can be
presented as a story (or narrative) with themes, and it can reconcile conflicting
stories and highlight tensions and challenges which can be opportunities for
innovation.
Purpose: To describe and examine events of the past to understand
the present and anticipate potential future effects
 Outcomes: Select means of presentation—biography, chronology,
issue paper

Sampling Techniques

The primary purpose of sampling is the selection of suitable

participants to enable the focus of the study to be appropriately researched.
As with all types of research, effective sample selection is a vital part of
the research design process. Inappropriate sampling approaches may
seriously affect the findings and outcomes of a study. There are a number of
types of sampling procedures that can be adopted and the choice of the
qualitative research design will often guide that process.
Types of Sampling
Sampling in qualitative research is termed non-probability sampling. Unlike
probability sampling used in quantitative research, non-probability sampling
does not involve randomization. This means that members of a qualitative
study population do not have an equal chance of being selected. Instead, they
are often ‘specifically’ picked by the researchers. Whitehead and Whitehead
(2016) identified four main types of sampling of nonprobability sampling, as
follows:

1. Convenience Sampling
This is the most common form of qualitative sampling, and it occurs
when people are invited to participate in the study because they are
conveniently (opportunistically) available with regard to access, location,
time, and willingness. Convenience sampling is a relatively fast and easy
way to achieve the sample size needed for the study. While it may be the
most common form of sampling in qualitative research, the main
limitation of using convenience sampling is that it could suffer from
either under-representation or over-representation of particular groups
within the population.

2. Purposive Sampling
Purposive sampling is a popular approach in qualitative research.
Participants are recruited according to pre-selected criteria relevant to
the research aims/questions of a given study. Purposive sampling is
designed to provide information-rich cases as participants are those who
 have the required status, experience, or knowledge of interest to the
researcher.
Two further types of sampling sit under the umbrella of purposive
sampling; quota sampling and maximum variation sampling. In quota
sampling, the researcher decides on both the number of participants
required and the characteristics of interest. These may be age, gender,
profession, diagnosis, ethnicity, and so forth. The population is
segmented into the groups of interest, for example, men under the age
of 45 years and men >45 years. The researcher would then select men
from each group to represent the proportion of each group in the wider
population. If the desired sample size was 20 men and the proportion of
men >45 years in the population was 75%, then the sample would
consist of 5 men under 45 years and 15 men >45 years. Quota sampling
is therefore more specific with respect to representing proportions of the
sub-samples of interest in a given research study. Maximum phenomena
variation sampling is an approach used to ensure that the full range and
extent of the phenomena are represented—such as ensuring people who
are experiencing mild symptoms in relation to a particular condition are
included as well as those experiencing severe symptoms (and all those
in-between).

3. Snowball Sampling
Also known as ‘chain referral’ or ‘networking’ sampling, snowball
sampling occurs when the researcher starts gathering information from
one or a small number of people and then requests to put the researcher
in touch with others who may be friends, relatives, colleagues, or other
significant contacts. This type of sampling is especially useful in
recruiting ‘hidden populations’, for example, marginalized or stigmatized
individuals, where those individuals are not easily accessible to
researchers, such as drugusers, prostitutes, or those not registered with
a medical practice (Babbie 2014).
Some limitations of snowball sampling are that the researcher
needs to rely on referrals from initial contacts to generate additional
participants. The participants, therefore, are often not considered to be
representative of the overall population being studied.

4. Theoretical Sampling
This form of sampling is mostly used in grounded theory studies but is
increasingly being used to gather data for the purpose of theory
generation. The research starts from a homogeneous (small) sample and
moves to a heterogeneous (larger) sample (Babbie 2014). Sampling
occurs sequentially and alongside data analysis. Analyzed data guides
the areas to be explored further in the next round of data collection and
the focus of the sample in order to achieve this. The initial participants
are usually purposively chosen or conveniently available.