PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1

A Qualitative Research
Designing your Paper
The refers to the overall
strategy that you choose to integrate the
different components of the study in a
coherent and logical way, thereby, ensuring
you will effectively address the research
problem; it constitutes the blueprint for the
collection, measurement, and analysis of
data. Note that your research problem
determines the type of design you can use, not
the other way around!
The function of a research design is to ensure
that the evidence obtained enables you to
effectively address the research problem as
unambiguously as possible. In social sciences
research, obtaining evidence relevant to the
research problem generally entails specifying
the type of evidence needed to test a theory,
to evaluate a program, or to accurately
describe a phenomenon.
However, researchers can often begin their
investigations far too early, before they have
thought critically about what information is
required to answer the study's research
questions. Without attending to these design
issues beforehand, the conclusions drawn risk
being weak and unconvincing and,
consequently, will fail to adequate address the
overall research problem.
Given this, the length and complexity of
research designs can vary considerably, but
any sound design will do the following things:
✓ Identify the research problem clearly and
justify its selection,
✓ Review previously published literature
associated with the problem area,
✓ Clearly and explicitly specify hypotheses [i.e.,
research questions] central to the problem
selected,
✓ Effectively describe the data which will be
necessary for an adequate test of the hypotheses
and explain how such data will be obtained, and
✓ Describe the methods of analysis which will be
applied to the data in determining whether or
not the hypotheses are true or false.
uses several techniques
including interviews,
focus groups, and
observation.
Interviews may be unstructured, with
open-ended questions on a topic and the
interviewer adapts to the responses.
Structured interviews have a predetermined
number of questions that every participant
is asked. It is usually one on one and is
appropriate for sensitive topics or topics
needing an in-depth exploration.
Focus groups are often held with 8-12
target participants and are used when
group dynamics and collective views on
a topic are desired. Researchers can be
a participant-observer to share the
experiences of the subject or a non-
participant or detached observer.
Researchers can be a
participant-observer to share
the experiences of the subject
or a non-participant or detached
observer.
Five Major Research Designs

Ethnographic Approach
Phenomenology
Grounded Theory
Historical Approach
Case Study
The ethnographic approach to qualitative
research comes largely from the field of
anthropology. The emphasis in an ethnography is on
studying an entire culture. Originally, the idea of a
culture was tied to the notion of ethnicity and
geographic location (e.g.,culture of Panay Islands),
but it has been broadened to include virtually any
group or organization. That is, we can study the
“culture” of a business or defined group (e.g.,a
Rotary club). (Trochim, 2006)
 ETHNOGRAPHY

Purpose- to describe a culture’

characteristics
Method
❑ Identify culture, variables for study, and
review literature
❑ Data collection-gain entrance to culture;
immerse self in culture; acquire informants;
gather data through direct observation and
interaction with subjects
 ETHNOGRAPHY

Key Stages of Ethnographic Research

❑ Stage One: Research Question
❑ Stage Two: Participant Observation
❑ Stage Three: Making Field Notes
❑ Stage Four: Reflection and the Writing Up of
Field Notes
 ETHNOGRAPHY

Key Stages of Ethnographic Research

❑ Stage Five: Interviewing
❑ Stage Six: Interpretation of Interviews
❑ Stage Seven: Writing Up the Ethnographic
Research
 ETHNOGRAPHY

Advantages of • Validity
Ethnographic
Research • Contrast and
• Direct Observation Comparison
• Links with Theory • Actor’s Perceptions
• Detailed Data • Self Awareness
• Holistic • Ecological
 ETHNOGRAPHY

Disadvantages of
Ethnographic • Safety
Research
• Time Recruitment
• Invasion of Privacy
• Presentation of • Scale
Results
• Reliability
• Ethics
• Interviewer Effect • Access
• Inhibitions • Other Concerns
 ETHNOGRAPHY

Analysis- describe characteristics

of culture

Outcome-description of culture
 comes from
academic disciplines of philosophy and
psychology, and it is based upon the
work of the 20th-century philosopher
Edmund Husserl, which was then later
developed by Heidegger. (Van Manen,
1990)
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Purpose - to describe the experiences

as they are lived

❑ examines the uniqueness of

individual’s lived situations
❑ each person has own reality, reality
is subjective
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Research Question Development

❑ What does the existence of feeling or
experience indicate concerning the
phenomenon to be explored?
❑ What are necessary and sufficient
constituents of feeling or experience?
❑ What is the nature of the human being?
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Method
• No clearly defined steps to avoid limiting creativity of
researcher
• Sampling and data collection
➢ Seek persons who understand study and are willing to
express inner feelings and experiences
➢ Describe experiences of phenomenon
➢ Direct observation
➢ Audio or videotape
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Methodology of Phenomenology
. -process of identifying and holding in
abeyance any preconceived beliefs and opinions that one
may have about phenomenon that is being researched
. -occurs wen the researcher remains open to
the meaning attributed to the phenomenology those who
have experienced it.
. -involves process such as coding (open, axial,
and selective), categorizing and making sense of the
essential meanings of the phenomenon
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Advantages of Phenomenology
Phenomenology provides for:
• in depth understanding of
individual phenomena
• rich data from the experiences of
individuals. (Van Manen, 1990)
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Disadvantages of Phenomenology
• The subjectivity of the data leads to
difficulties in establishing reliability and
validity of approaches and information.
• It is difficult to detect or to prevent
researcher induced bias.
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Disadvantages of Phenomenology
• There can be difficulty in ensuring pure bracketing –
this can lead to interference in the interpretation of
the data.
• The presentation of results-the highly qualitative
nature of results can make them difficult to present
in a manner that is usable by practitioners.
• Phenomenology does not produce generalizable
data.
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Disadvantages of Phenomenology
• Because the samples are generally very small,
can we ever say that the experiences are
typical?
• The original Husserlian/Heideggerian texts
were written in German, and translations of
words could lose the special meaning that was
assigned to them by Husserl and Heidegger.
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Disadvantages of Phenomenology
• On a particular note, it is important to
consider the possible difficulties of participants
expressing themselves.
• Participants need to be interested and
articulate-problems that can cause difficulties
in being able to express themselves include
foreign language, age, brain damage, and
embarrassment. (Van Manen, 1990)
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Data Analysis
• Classify and rank data
• sense of wholeness
• examine experiences beyond human
awareness or cannot be communicated
 PHENOMENOLOGY

Outcomes
• Findings described from subject’s
point-of-view
• Researcher identifies themes
• Structural explanation of findings is
developed
3. is a qualitative
research approach that was originally
developed by Glaser and Strauss in the 1960s.
The self-defined purpose of grounded theory is
to develop a theory about phenomena of
interest. But it is not just abstract theorizing
they’re talking about. Instead , the theory
needs to be grounded or rooted in observation-
hence the term. (Trochim, 2006)
 GROUNDED THEORY

Purpose - theory development

• Used in discovering what problems
exist in a social science and how
persons handle them
• Involves formulation, testing and
redevelopment of propositions until a
theory is developed
 GROUNDED THEORY

Stages of Grounded Theory

• Data collection
• Note taking
• Coding (open, axial, selective) into categories and
properties
• Memoing
• Sorting/Integration
• Writing (Glasser & Strauss, 1967)
 GROUNDED THEORY

Advantages of Grounded Theory

✓ systematic and rigorous procedure
✓ rich data from the experiences of
individuals (Glaser & Strauss, 1967)
 GROUNDED THEORY

Disadvantages of Grounded Theory

➢ The subjectivity of data leads to difficulties in
establishing reliability and validity of approaches
and information.
➢ It is difficult to detect or to prevent researcher-
induced bias.
➢ The presentation of results-the highly qualitative
nature of the results can make them difficult to
present in a manner that is usable by practitioners.
(Glaser & Strauss, 1967)
 GROUNDED THEORY

Method
❖ steps occur simultaneously; a
constant comparative process
• Data Collection - interview,
observation, record review, or
combination
 GROUNDED THEORY

Analysis
❑ Concept formation
❑ Concept development-reduction;
selective sampling of literature;
selective sampling of subjects;
emergence of core concepts
❑ Concept modification and integration
 GROUNDED THEORY

Outcome
❖theory supported by
examples from data
4. The “is
employed by researchers who are
interested in reporting events and/or
conditions that occurred in the past.
An attempt is made to establish facts
in order to arrive at conclusions
concerning past events or predict
future events.” (Key, 1997)
 HISTORICAL APPROACH

Purpose
describe and examine events of
the past to understand the
present and anticipate
potential effects
 HISTORICAL APPROACH

Method
 Formulate idea-select topic after reading related literature
 Develop research questions
 Develop an inventory of sources-archives, private libraries,
papers
 Clarify validity and reliability of data-primary sources,
authenticity, biases
 Develop research outline to organize investigative process
 Collect data
 HISTORICAL APPROACH

Analysis
 synthesis of all data; accept and reject
data; reconcile conflicting evidence
Outcomes
 select means of presentation-
biography, chronology, issue paper
 HISTORICAL APPROACH

Examples of Historical Research

1. A study of the factors leading to the historical
development and growth of cooperative learning
2. A study of the effects of the historical decisions
of the Philippine Supreme Court on Philippine
prisons
3. A study of the evolution of print journalism in
the Philippines through a study of collections of
newspapers (BCPS, 2010)
5 is an intensive
study of a specific individual or specific
context. For instance, Freud developed
case studies of several individuals as
the basis for the theory of
psychoanalysis and Piaget did case
studies of children to study
developmental phases. (Trochim, 2006)
 CASE STUDY

Purpose
 describe in-depth the experience of
one person, family, group,
community, or institution
Method
 Direct observation and interaction
with subject
 CASE STUDY

Analysis
synthesis of experience
Outcomes
in-depth description of the
experience