Qualitative Field

Research
POLS7060 RESEARCH METHODS FOR
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PRACTITIONERS

1 Dr Yew Wei Lit

Department of Government & International Studies
Hong Kong Baptist University
2 Today’s Aims

 Introduction to the process and methods of qualitative data

collection
 Exploring the types of topics/research goals appropriate for
qualitative research
 Identifying and discussing the general concerns, strengths, and
weaknesses inherent in field research
 From local to transnational qualitative research
3 Reminder

 Presentation/Discussion Facilitation
 Upload PPT handouts to Moodle
 Email me your completed peer and self-evaluation forms, as well
as declaration on the use of generative AI tools
4 Qualitative Research

 Qualitative data: an idiographic perspective, a

deep/thorough understanding
 Description and interpretation of a phenomenon
 Knowles (2006, 395-6): “an attempt to
understand the production of white Britishness at
an everyday level through its (privileged)
relationship to Global migration; opened first by
the routes of empire and sustained through the
operation of postcolonial landscape.”
5 Qualitative Research

 “The research is designed around the collection of migration

stories that reveal the circumstances of migration…and some
of the social processes by which (white) British lifestyle
migrants navigate new settlement on a culturally unfamiliar
landscapes. The research design involves a three-stage
process. In biographical interviews I gather information about
informants’ circumstances of migration to Hong Kong: arrival
and departure stories. This is followed by another round of
interviews centred on informants’ lives in Hong Kong in which
I map their use of the city. I want to know whether they have
particular, expatriate geographies, a particular relationship
with the city and with ‘Chineseness’. The third stage follows
from the identification of places in the city that are significant
for informants and this involved a kind of interviewing ‘on the
hoof’ as we ‘walked’ these places and routes together. The
intention was that specific places would reveal peoples’
connections with and feelings about Hong Kong more
generally and this worked quite well.”
6 Field Research

 Going to where the action is and observing

it as complete as possible
 As opposed to “artificial settings” that come
with surveys and experiments
 Observations, interviews (focus group/one-
on-one), immersion, potentially surveys too
 When kinds of topics would be well-suited
to field research?
7 Field Research

 Social processes and mechanisms over time and

space
 Attitudes and behaviours best understood within
their natural setting
 Lan (251-252): “naturally occurring descriptions”:
qualitative data
 Facets of social life that are not obvious or
measurable
8 Field Research

 Practices, episodes, encounters, social

roles, social and personal
relationships, groups/cliques,
organisations, small communities,
subcultures/lifestyles
 Li & Walker (2021)?
 Lan Pei-Chia (2006)?
9 Field Research

 “By focusing on encounters between migrant

domestic workers and Taiwanese employers, this
book examines how people identify themselves
vis-à-vis ‘others’ across national and social
divides.” (10)
 “When examining the articulation of class, gender,
and racialized boundaries, we not only explore
the complex identity politics in the age of
migration but also demonstrate how global
inequalities are sustained and contested through
the production of local boundaries.” (21)
10 Interview

 Key method to conduct active

inquiry, usually by asking open-
ended questions (an iterative
process of think, listen, talk)
 Miner or traveller?
 Interview questions should link
back to the research questions or
the themes of the research
 Building rapport, but how?
11 Interview

 Snowball and purposive

sampling
 Always beware of selection bias:
extreme or middle-range cases
 Do you reveal everything about
your research when approaching
potential interviewees?
12 Interview

 “I later ‘upgraded’ my topic by

presenting my concerns as ‘foreign
labor policy’ or ‘policy solution to
childcare and eldercare,’ so some
interviewees would feel that talking to
me was not a waste of time but
something of public value.” (22)
13 Types of Interviews
Structured Semi-structured Unstructured
Interview Interview Interview
Level of Structure Formally structured More or less Completely
structured unstructured

Nature of Questions Standardised Main questions are No standardised set

questions; similar to a more or less questions;
survey interview standardised conversational

Level of None allowed; stick to The language, Maximal flexibility:

Improvisation the script wording, and order of questions can differ
questions are flexible; according to situation
probes can be
improvised on
14 Recording Qualitative Data

 How do you “record” the data?

 Trade-offs?
15 Focus Group

 Data is based on
interactions, cross-
conversation, negotiation,
confrontation, and collective
decision processes
 What’s suitable for focus
group interviews?
16 Focus Group

 Explore views about issues,

events, and ideas
 Study attitudes, preferences
and priorities, and beliefs
 Not ideal for gathering data
on events or private feelings
 Trade-offs?
17 Focus Group

 Groupthink
 Moderator’s skills: too
hands-off or over-directing
 Assembling appropriate
groups
 Cost and speed
18 Going Online

 Trade-offs?
 Cost, time, and travel
 Easy conversion of interview data and
good for follow-ups

 Not suited for technologically-averse

interviewees and sensitive topics
 Access to the internet/devices
 Hard to read body language
19 Risks and Concerns

 What could lead to biases (“errors”)?

 Reactivity: how might you affect what
you study?
 How you interact with the subjects
 Interview process and setting,
wording and language of questions,
appearances
20 Risks and Concerns

 How you relate to the subjects and how

to maintain objectivity
 Subject position: people make sense of
who they are by locating themselves
within a particular socio-cultural system
 Status and power in the relationship
 Losing objectivity
21 Strengths and Limitations

 Key strengths?
 Insightful and in-depth understanding
 Flexibility
 Costs
 Hypothesis-building/exploratory
22 Strengths and Limitations

 Key weaknesses?
 Generalisability
 Prediction
 Hypothesis-testing/confirmatory

 More valid but less reliable than quantitative research?

23 Strengths and Limitations

 Field research =/= participant observation or ethnography

 Hide your role of researcher?
 Participate in what you’re studying?
24 Wrap-up

 Qualitative field research: investigating social life in its natural

setting, particularly social processes and mechanisms
 Questions you want to answer determines the methods you use
 No clear guidelines on research design— use your own good
judgment of the situation
 Awareness of risks and tradeoffs—and how to manage them
 Ethnography - continuation of discussions on qualitative field
research: What are its strengths and weaknesses? How do we
conduct participation observation? Do different qualitative
methods generate different conclusions?
25 Observer Exercise

 Spend 10 minutes in a public place (e.g. parks, HKBU, malls,

bus/train stations) and just observe (and take brief notes)
 What social behaviour/interactions are taking place? Anything
interesting happening? Can you make sense of what’s going on?
 Alternatively, observe online posts and interactions in a virtual
space (e.g. WeChat/Whatsapp groups, Youtube videos,
Twitter/Weibo posts, Reddit forum) that take place over a span of
24 hours
 Share your observations on Moodle