Research Design and Strategies

Key points
01 Introduction

02 Five Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry

Objectives

Assumptions

Principal component analysis and Common factor analysis

 Five Approaches to Qualitative Inquiry

• Narrative Research
• Phenomological Research
• Ethnography Research
• Grounded Theory
• Case Study Research
 Narrative Inquiry

"Narrative" might be the term assigned to any text or

discourse, or, it might be text used within the con-
text of a mode of inquiry in qualitative research with
a
specific focus on the stories told by individuals.
 Phenomenological Inquiry
• Phenomenologists focus on describing what all participants have
in common as they experience a phenomenon.

• The basic purpose of phenomenology is to reduce individual

experiences with a phenomenon to a description of the universal
essence.
 What is Phenomenological Research?
• It is the study of structure of consciousness as experienced from
the first – person point of view.
• It describe lives experience‘ mostly base on the person lived
experience’
• The central structure of an experience is its intentionally, its be-
ing directed toward something or as an experience of or some
object.
• In the recent philosophy of mind, the term ―phenomenology is
often restricted to the characterization of sensory qualities of
seeing, hearing.
 Main Characteristics of Phenomenological Research:
• It seeks to understand how people experience a particular situation or
phenomenon.
• It is conducted primarily through in-depth conversations and interviews;
however, some studies may collect data from diaries, drawings, or observation.
• Small samples sizes, often 10 or less participants, are common in
phenomenological studies.
• Interview questions are open-ended to allow the participants to fully describe
the experience from their own view point.
 Main Characteristics of Phenomenological Research:
• Phenomenology is centered on the participants’ experiences with no regard to
social or cultural norms, traditions, or preconceived ideas about the experience.
• It focuses on these four aspects of a lived experience: lived spaced, lived
body, lived time, and lived human relations.
• Data collected is qualitative and analysis includes an attempt to identify
themes or make generalizations regarding how a particular phenomenon is
actually perceived or experienced.
 Procedure of conducting Phenomenological Research:
• Phenomenological data analysis steps are generally similar for all
psychological phenomenologists who discuss the methods.
• These significant statements and themes are then used to write a
description of what the participants experienced (textural descrip-
tion).
• From the structural and textural descriptions, the researcher then
writes a composite description that presents the "essence" of the
phenomenon, called the essential, invariant structure (or essence).
 Challenges
• A phenomenology provides a deep understanding of a phenome-
non as experienced by several individuals. The data is subjective
and it is difficult to establish the validity of the information

• The participants in the study need to be carefully chosen to be

individuals who have all experienced the phenomenon in ques-
tion, so that the researcher, in the end, can forge a common
understanding.
 Challenges:

• An interpretive approach to phenomenology would signal this as

an impossibility for the researcher to become separated from the
text.
• The researcher needs to decide how and in what way his or her
personal understandings will be introduced into the study.
 Narrative Vs Phenomenological Research?

• Narrative deals with the experience of one person whereas Phe-

nomenology deals with the experience of many people in common.

• Reduce individual experience into universal essence.

 Ethnographical Inquiry
• An ethnographer is interested in examining the shared patterns,
and focuses on an entire cultural group.

• Granted, sometimes this cultural group may be small (a few

teachers, a few social workers), but typically it is large, involving
many people who interact over time (teachers in an entire school, a
community social work group).
 Ethnographical Inquiry
• Ethnography is a qualitative design in which the researcher de-
scribes and interprets the shared and learned patterns of values, be-
haviors,
beliefs, and language of a culture-sharing group.

• Ethnography is a way of studying a culture-sharing group as well as

the final, written product of that research.
Ethnographic Research
• The purpose of ethnography is to describe and interpret the shared and learned
patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs and language of a culture-sharing group
• Ethnography is both a process and an outcome of the research
• Ethnography involves extended observations of the group in which the
researcher is immersed in their daily lives
• Ethnography begin in the early 20th century in comparative anthropology
• Today subtypes of ethnography include structuralism and symbolic
interactionism that have different theoretical orientations and aims
 Types of Ethnographic Studies
Realist Ethnography:
• The approach is the traditional approach to ethnography
• The account of the situation is objective and written in the third
person
• The ethnographer remains in the background and reports the facts
• The details of daily life often provided
• The ethnographer produces participant views through closely edited
questions and has the final word on how culture will be interpreted
 Types of Ethnographic Studies
Critical Ethnography:
• The goal is the advocacy and the emancipation of marginal-
ized groups
• The orientation in the study is value-laden The status quo is
challenged
• The concerns of power and control are addressed
• The issues of power, empowerment, inequality, dominance,
repression, hegemony, and victimization are studied
 Procedure of conducting Ethnographical Research
• Determine if ethnography is the appropriate research design for the
problem
• Identify and locate a culture-sharing group to study
• Select cultural themes to study about the group (e.g., enculturation,
socialization, learning, domination)
• Begin by examining people in interaction in ordinary settings
• Culture is inferred by the researcher by looking at what people do and
say and the potential tensions between what they do and ought to do,
and their artifacts
 Procedure of conducting Ethnographical Research
• Determine the type of ethnography (realist or critical)
• Gather data where the group works and lives (field work)
• Gather information where the group lives and works
• Respect the individuals at the research site
• Collect many sources of data
• Analyze the data for a description of the group focusing on a single event and
then moving into overall themes
• The final produce is a wholistic portrait of the group that incorporates both the
views of the participants (emic) and the views of the researcher (etic)
Challenges of Ethnographical Research
• The researcher must be grounded in cultural anthropology and the meaning
of a social-cultural system
• The researcher needs extensive time in the field to collect data
• Extensive time in the field is needed to collect data
• A grounding in anthropology is needed
• The researcher must be aware of the danger of going native
• The researcher must be culturally sensitive to the individuals being studied
The researcher must be aware of his or her impact on the people and places
studied
 Grounded Theory

• Thus, grounded theory is a qualitative research design in which the

inquirer generates a general explanation (a theory) of a process,
action, or interaction shaped by the views of a large number of
participants.

• The purpose of grounded theory is to develop a theory for an ac-

tion or process that is “grounded” in the viewpoints of the par-
ticipants.
 Types Grounded Theory Research:

• Systematic procedure

• Constructivist approach
The Systematic Approach

The systematic design for grounded theory is widely

used in educational research. A systematic design in
grounded theory emphasizes the use of data analysis
steps of open, axial and selective coding, and the
development of a logic paradigm or a visual picture of
theory generated.
The Systematic Approach:
• The approach is systematic and is used to develop a theory that explains a
process, action, or interaction.
• The participants are chosen by theoretical sampling to help the researchers
form the best theories
• The data is collected mainly through 20- 30 interviews during multiple visits
to the field to saturate categories (happenings, events, documents)
• The data analysis consists of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding
with a visual model developed during the axial coding phase
• The theory that is developed is articulated at the end of the study in a narrative
statement, visual model, or a series of hypotheses or propositions
The Constructivist Approach:
• The approach exists within the interpretive tradition with
flexible guidelines
• The focus of the theory is based on the researcher’s
interpretation
• The focus in the approach is on learning about the
experiences within hidden networks, situations, relationships, and
making visible hidden hierarchies of power
• The emphasis in the approach is placed on views, values, be-
liefs, feelings, and ideologies of individuals
 The Constructivist Approach:
• The coding emphasizes the use of active codes such as
gerund-based phrases (e.g., “recasting life”)
• The role of the researcher is not minimized in the process
• The researcher brings personal values, experiences to the
process as well as making decisions regarding priorities
and questions to be asked of the data
• The conclusions are suggestive, incomplete, and
inconclusive
 Procedure of conducting Grounded Theory research:
• Determine if grounded theory is best suited for the research problem
• Focus research questions on understanding how individuals experience the
process and identify the steps in the process
• Conduct interviews with 20-30 participants
• Questions focus on the steps in the process
• Additional questions focus on what was central to the process, the causes of the
phenomenon, the strategies employed during the process, and the effects or
consequences that occurred
• Data collection occurs until there is saturation
 Procedure of conducting Grounded Theory research:
• Data collection proceeds in stages
• Open coding – researcher forms categories of information about the
phenomenon by segmenting the information into dimensional-zed categories
• Axial coding – categories are assembled into a visual model in which the
researcher identifies a central phenomenon (category that describes what the
process is), causes, strategies, contexts, intervening conditions, and
consequences (outcomes)
• Selective coding – a story line that connects the categories
 Procedure of conducting Grounded Theory research:

• The researcher may develop a visual model that portrays the social,
historical and economic conditions that influence the central
phenomenon

• The theory that results is a substantive- level theory that addresses a

specific problem or people
 Challenges of Grounded Theory Research:
• The researcher needs to set aside theoretical ideas or notions so that the
substantive theory can emerge

• The researcher may have difficulty in determining when categories are satu-
rated or when theory is sufficiently detailed

• The researcher has little flexibility when using the Strauss and Corbin
approach because there is little flexibility; the theory that is developed consists
of prescribed categories
What is Case Study Research?
 Case Study Inquiry
• Case study is an intensive study about a person, a group of people
or a unit, which is aimed to generalize over several units.

• A case study research involves the study of an issue explored

through one or more cases within a bounded system (i.e., a setting,
a context).
 Types of Case Study Research:
• Types of qualitative case studies are distinguished by the size of the bounded
case, such as whether the case involves one individual, several individuals, a
group, an entire program, or an activity.

• Three variations exist in terms of intent:

1. the single instrumental case study,
2. the collective or multiple case study,
3. and the intrinsic case study.
 Types of Case Studies:
• In a single instrumental case study, the researcher focuses on an issue or
concern, and then selects one bounded case to illustrate this issue.

• In a collective case study (or multiple case study), the one issue or concern is
again selected, but the inquirer selects multiple case studies to illustrate the issue.

• The final type of case study design is an intrinsic case study in which the
focus is on the case itself (e.g., evaluating a program, or studying a student having
difficulty) because the case presents an unusual or unique situation.
 Procedure of conducting Case Study:
• First, researchers determine if a case study approach is appropriate to the research
problem.
• Researchers next need to identify their case or cases. These cases may involve an
individual, several individuals, a program, an event, or an activity.
• The case can be single or collective, multi-sited or within-site, focused on a case or
on an issue.
• The data collection in case study research is typically extensive, drawing on
multiple sources of information, such as observations, interviews, documents,
and audiovisual materials.
 Procedure of conducting Case Study:
•The type of analysis of these data can be a holistic analysis of the entire case or an embedded
analysis of a specific aspect of the case.

•One analytic strategy would be to identify issues within each case and then
look for common themes that transcend the cases.

•This analysis is rich in the context of the case or setting in which the case
presents itself.

•In the final interpretive phase, the researcher reports the meaning of the case, whether that
meaning comes from learning about the issue of the case (an
instrumental case) or learning about an unusual situation (an intrinsic case).
 Challenges:
• The researcher must identify his or her case.

• The case study researcher must decide which bounded system to study,
recognizing that several might be possible candidates for this selection and
realizing that either the case itself or an issue, which a case or cases are
selected to illustrate, is worthy of study.

• The researcher must consider whether to study a single case or multiple cases.
 Challenges:
• The study of more than one case dilutes the overall analysis; the more cases an
individual studies, the less the depth in any single case.
• Selecting the case requires that the researcher establish a rationale for his or
her purposeful sampling strategy for selecting the case and for gathering
information about the case.
• Having enough information to present an in-depth picture of the case limits the
value of some case studies.
• The researcher will need to set boundaries that adequately surround the case.
 The Five Approaches Compared:

• All five approaches have in common the general process of research that
begins with a research problem and proceeds to the questions, the data, the data
analysis, and the research report.

• They also employ similar data collection processes, including, in varying

degrees, interviews, observations, documents, and audiovisual materials.
 Similarities among the designs:

• Narrative research, ethnography, and case study research may seem similar
when the unit of analysis is a single individual. One may approach the study
of a single individual from any of these three approaches.
• In narrative research, the inquirer focuses on the stories told from the
individual and arranges these stories in chronological order.
• In ethnography, the focus is on setting the individuals' stories within the
context of their culture· and culture-sharing group; in case study research, the
single case is typically selected to illustrate an issue.
 The fundamental differences among the qualitative research
designs:
• At a most fundamental level, the five differ in what they are trying to
accomplish and the primary objectives of the studies.
• The data collection varies in terms of emphasis and the extent of data
collection.
• At the data analysis stage, the differences are most pronounced. Not
only is the distinction one of specificity of the analysis phase but the
number of steps to be undertaken also varies.
 References
 Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods. Oxford university press. Chapter 16,
pp: 365
 
 Flick, U. (2018). An introduction to qualitative research. Sage Publications
Limited. Chapter 4, pp: 39
 
 Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design:
Choosing among five approaches. Sage publications. Chapter 4, pp: 53.