Educ RSCH Pp10

McMillan
Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer, 6e

2012 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.

Educational Research:
Fundamentals for the Consumer
Woolfolk / Perry
Child and Adolescent Development

Sixth Edition
McMillan

Qualitative Research Designs,
Data Collection, and Analysis
Chapter 10
McMillan

3
Qualitative Research
Three assumptions that differentiate
qualitative and quantitative studies
Epistemology
Qualitative researchers believe there are multiple
realities represented by the participants
perspectives
Quantitative researchers believe a single,
objective reality exists
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4
Three assumptions (continued)
Context
Qualitative researchers believe context is critical to
understanding the phenomena being studied
Quantitative researchers do not believe context is an
important factor
Researcher bias
Qualitative researchers believe the researchers biases
and perspectives must be understood to interpret the
results
Quantitative researchers believe researcher bias is
controlled through the control of internal validity
threats
McMillan

5
Characteristics of qualitative research
Natural settings - field research
Behavior is studied as it occurs naturally
Beliefs related to a natural setting
Behavior is understood bests as it occurs without
external constraints or control
The situational context is very important to
understanding behavior
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6
Direct Data collection
Data is collected directly from the source
Observations
Interviews
Document analysis
Rich narrative descriptions
Process orientation
How and why behaviors occur
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7
Inductive data analysis
Participant perspectives define what is
real
Socially constructed meaning
Emerging research design
The design plans change as data is collected,
analyzed, and understood
McMillan

8
Ethnography
An ethnography is an in-depth
description and interpretation of cultural
patterns and meanings within a culture
or social group
Culture - shared patterns of beliefs,
normative expectations, behaviors, and
meanings
Shared, not individualistic
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9
Ethnography
Problem statements
Foreshadowed problem - a general
framework for beginning a qualitative study
Specific question - a question(s) that
emerges from the interactive relationship
between the problem and data
Often found embedded in the data analysis
Changing nature of questions often necessitates
changes in the design (i.e., an emergent design)
McMillan

10
Case Study
In-depth analysis of one or more
events, settings, programs, groups, or
other bounded systems
Focus on one entity
Defined by time and place
Concern with the limited generalizability of
the findings
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11
Case Study
Types of case studies
Historical organizational - focus on the
development of an organization over time
Observational - study of a single entity
using participant observation
Life history (i.e., oral history) - a first-
person narrative completed with one
person
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12
Case Study
Types of case studies (continued)
Situation analysis - a study of a specific event from
multiple perspective
Multi-case - a study of several different independent
entities
Multi-site - a study of many sites and participants
the main purpose of which is to develop theory
Instrumental - study of an entity, theme, or issue
McMillan

13
Case Study
Research problem statement
Focus on in-depth description and
understanding
Use of a single major question and several
sub-questions
Emerging nature of the problems
McMillan

14
Phenomenological Designs
A phenomenological study describes
and interprets the experiences of
participants to understand their
perspectives
Based on the belief that there are
multiple ways of interpreting the same
experience and the meaning of that
experience is what constitutes reality
McMillan

15
Phenomenological Designs
Research problem
Focused on what is essential for the
meaning of the event, episode, or
interaction
Selecting participants
Participants are selected because they have lived
or are living the experience being investigated
Participants will share their experiences
Participants can articulate their feelings
McMillan

16
Grounded Theory Designs
A grounded theory study discovers or
generates a theory
A theory is a set of propositions that pertain to a
specific experience, situation, or setting
The contextual sensitivity of the theory is the basis
for suggesting the theory is grounded in the field
data
Research problems - broad general questions
that focus on what happened to people, why
they believed it happened, and what it means
to them
McMillan

17
Critical Studies
Researchers role is as an advocate to respond
to issues of marginalized individual.
Studies are focused of power and control and
inequality based on race, gender, or class.
The central issue is typically the struggle of a
targeted group to enhance their influence.
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18
Data Collection
Identifying and entering the research
site
Access to all parts of the site
Participants
Documents
Physical location
Rapport - need to be integrated within
the site to gain the trust of the participants
Often site entry takes a long time
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19
Data Collection
Selecting participants
Use of purposeful sampling strategies to
select information rich participants
Purposeful sampling strategies
Maximum variation - selecting individuals or
cases to represent extremes
Very positive or very negative attitudes
Highest and lowest achieving students)
Snowball (i.e., network) - initially selected
participants recommend others for involvement
McMillan

20
Data Collection
Purposeful sampling strategies
Sampling by case - selecting individuals or cases for
their unique characteristics
Extreme
Typical
Unique
Reputation
Key informant - selecting an individual(s) particularly
knowledgeable about the setting and or topic
Comprehensive - selecting all relevant individuals or
cases
McMillan

21
Data Collection
Three primary methods for obtaining
data
Observation
Interview
Document analysis
McMillan

22
Data Collection
Observation
Unstructured in nature
Comprehensive - continuous and total over an
extended period of time
Participant-observer role of the researcher
Continuum between complete participant and
complete observer
Passive participant
Moderate participant
Active participant
Complete participant
Rare for an ethnographer to be a complete participant
McMillan

23
Data Collection
Observation (continued)
Use of field notes to record observations
Two types of information
Descriptions of what occurred
Reflections of what the descriptions mean (i.e.,
speculations, emerging themes, patterns,
problems)
Accuracy
Extensive nature of notes
McMillan

24
Data Collection
Interviews
Unstructured in nature
Begins with a general idea of what needs to be
asked and moves to specific questions based on
what the respondent says
Types of interviews
Key informant
Life history
Focus group
Tape recording and transcribing interviews afford
the opportunity to study the data carefully
McMillan

25
Data Collection
Document analysis
Written records
Print (e.g., minutes from meetings, reports,
yearbooks, articles, diaries)
Non-print (e.g., recordings, videotapes, pictures)
Types of sources
Primary - original work
Secondary - secondhand interpretations of original
work
Commonly used to verify other observations or
interview data
McMillan

26
Data Analysis and
Interpretation
Observations, interviews, and
document analyses result in large
quantities of narrative data
Analysis includes critically examining,
summarizing, and synthesizing the
data
McMillan

27
Data Analysis and
Interpretation
Three stages of analysis
Data Organization
Organizing the data into reasonable, meaningful
units that are coded with words or very short
phrases that signify a category
Emic categories - information provided by the
participants in their own language and
organizational units
Etic categories - the researchers interpretation of
emic data
Use of major codes and sub-codes is common
McMillan

28
Data Analysis and
Interpretation
Data Summary
Examining all similarly coded data and summarizing it
with a sentence or two that reflects its essence
Computerized sorting of data is common and effective
Data Interpretation
Synthesizing identifies the relationships among the
categories and patterns that suggest generalization
The researcher interprets findings inductively,
synthesizes the information, and draws inferences
McMillan

29
Data Analysis and
Interpretation
Data Interpretation (continued)
Developing patterns
Begins with the researchers informed hunches and
ideas
Tentative patterns are identified and additional
data collected to determine if they are consistent
with those patterns
Characterized by enlarging, combining, subsuming,
and creating new categories that make sense
McMillan

30
Credibility of Qualitative
Research
Credibility is the extent to which the data,
data analysis, and conclusions are believable
and trustworthy
Eight procedures to enhance credibility
Prolonged Engagement
Member Checking
Participants review interpretations
Triangulation
Compares the findings from different techniques
McMillan

31
Credibility of Qualitative
Research
Enhancing credibility (continued)
Negative Case Analysis
Peer Debriefing
External Audit
Researcher Reflection
Thick Descriptions
McMillan

32
Generalizability
Transferability is the appropriateness of
applying the findings to other settings.
It is enhanced by thick, rich
descriptions that make it easier for
someone wanting to aplly the results to
his or her setting.
McMillan

33
Evaluating Qualitative Studies
The researchers background, interests, and
potential bias should be clear
Conceptual and/or theoretical frameworks for
the study should be clear
The method for selecting participants should
be clear
Field notes should contain detailed objective
descriptions of just about everything
The researcher should be trained in data
collection procedures
McMillan

34
Evaluating Qualitative Studies
Credibility of the research should be
addressed
Descriptive data should be separated
from the interpretations of the data
The researcher should use multiple
methods of data collection
The duration of the study must be long
enough

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McMillan

Educational Research: Fundamentals for the Consumer, 6e

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