1. Qualitative Methods Beth Bonham, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC
Associate Professor of Nursing, University of Southern Indiana
Mikel W Hand, EdD, RN, OCN, NE-BC, NEA-BC
Assistant Professor of Nursing, University of Southern Indiana

2. Our Goal for Today
Identify and provide an overview of qualitative research methods addressing the following:
What is qualitative research?
Why is qualitative research perfect for nurses?
Why does the research question matter?
What are some common qualitative methods and what are they used for?
What about sampling in qualitative research?
What about data collection and analysis in qualitative research?
What about rigor in qualitative research?
Conclusion and Wrap Up

3. What is Qualitative Research?
Systematic approach to understanding the experiences of others
Use of language, concepts, words, and text, rather than numbers
Naturalistic
Constructivist or Constructionism
People construct reality in the form of meaning and interpretation as they understand or perceive reality

4. Why is Qualitative Research Perfect for Nurses?
Useful to examine processes, experiences, and practices
A means to answer questions about the above
It answers questions (pilot study) which then can be used to design the next study which may be quantitative

5. Research Methodology Quantitative Qualitative Evidence directs study
Instruments
Empirical evidence
Reliability and validity
Sampling procedure & number
Generalizability
Experience drives study
PI is instrument
Data are words, observations, interpretation
Sample saturation & number
Rigor & trustworthiness
Findings

6. Why does the research question matter?
Essential to selecting the appropriate qualitative method
Thinking about qualitative research thus far, what is an experience that you have had with patients that you would like to know more about?

7. Examples of clinical questions that can be answered qualitatively
What is the experience of mothers who are helping young adult survivors of severe traumatic brain injury? (Descriptive Phenomenology)
How do patients with late-stage cancer describe their experience of medication management? What meanings do they attribute to that experience? (Interpretive Phenomenology)
What is common in stories of persons with serious disease who have less than a 10% chance of survival and have a good quality of life at the time of first interview? (Grounded Theory)
How do characteristics of the work environment context and culture influence nurses’ research utilization behaviors?(Ethnography)
How have thriving female adult survivors of child abuse been able to achieve success in their lives? (Narrative Analysis)

8. What are some common qualitative approaches and what are they used for?
Phenomenology
Ethnography
Grounded Theory
Narrative Analysis
Case Study

9. Phenomenology (Husserl, 1931; Heidegger, 1926)
Rooted in philosophy and psychology
Both a philosophy and a research method
Directed toward examination and understanding of human experience
Two major schools or types of phenomenology
Descriptive (Edmund Husserl)---Describing human experience in the purest form possible
Interpretive (Martin Heidegger)----Moving beyond description in order to go deeper and reveal the essence of meaning in that experience

10. Ethnography Participant Observation or co-participation
Roots lie in sociology and anthropology (Tedlock, 2000)
Can be described as the science of describing a group of people and their culture
Goal is to obtain an emic (insider) perspective

11. Grounded Theory
Roots lie in symbolic interaction theory (Mead, 1934) – how one views self from interactions with others
Inductive process (Glaser & Strauss, 1967)
Data describes participant experience & interpreted abstractly to a substantive theory

12. Narrative Analysis
Roots in naturalistic inquiry – study people & situations in their own states (Sandelowski, 2000)
Data explicated for themes, patterns

13. Case Study Roots in understanding phenomenon or issue (Yin, 1989)
Types of case studies (Stake, 2000)
Intrinsic – want better understanding of particular case
Instrumental – provide insight into issue or redraw a generalization
Collective – investigate number of cases to study phenomenon, population, or general condition

14. How do we accomplish sampling in qualitative research?
Purposeful
Criteria of informant most likely to illuminate research question
Illuminate research question, recruit, invite to participate
Stratified Purposive
Stratifying or sampling by particular units of experiences of a phenomenon
Snowball
Participants identify others that they know will meet the sampling criteria

15. What about data collection and analysis in qualitative research?
Data collection strategies
Interviews
Focus groups
Web based questionnaires (limited toward basic descriptive work)
Data Analysis
Constant comparative method (Key to Grounded Theory)
Bracketing (Descriptive Phenomenology)
Immersion, reduction, writing, and rewriting (Interpretive phenomenology)
***Computer software is available to support data analysis
CAVEAT: There are limitations

16. What about rigor in qualitative research
What about rigor in qualitative research? (Lincoln & Guba, 1986; Thomas & Magilvey, 2011)
Trustworthiness - Ways to establish trust or confidence in the findings or results of a research study
How the researcher can persuade his/her audience that the findings are worth paying attention to
Credibility
Transferability
Dependability
Confirmability

17. Rigor in Qualitative Research
Credibility
How congruent are the findings with actual reality?
Checking for representativeness of the data
Review individual transcripts for similarities within and across study participants
Peer consultation with experts to discuss the coding process
Member checking or Informant feedback:
Return data and interpretations to the persons from whom the data were generated.
Ensure that the interpretations of the researcher are recognized by the participant as accurate representation of their experience.

18. Rigor in Qualitative Research
Transferability
The ability to transfer research findings or methods from one group to another
How one determines the ability of findings of a particular study to have application in other contexts
Determined by consumer of the research, but researchers have a significant role to play
Authenticity to our research methodology
Richness of our description
Addressing other aspects of rigor

19. Rigor in Qualitative Research
Dependability
Occurs when another researcher can follow the decision (Audit) trail used by the researcher
Describing the specific purpose of the study
Discussing how and why participants were selected
Describing how data were collected and over what period of time
Explaining how data were reduced and transformed for analysis
Discussing the interpretation and presentation of the research findings
Communicating the specific techniques used to determine the credibility of the data

20. Rigor in Qualitative Research
Confirmability
Occurs when credibility, transferability, and dependability have been established.
It is key for the researcher to maintain a sense of awareness and openness or mindfulness to the study and unfolding results
Self scrutiny or critical reflection is essential
Consider researcher insights, biases, and assumptions
The study participant leads the interview. The researcher role is to follow.

21. Questions From the Audience
What is an experience that you have had with patients that you would like to know more about?
What questions do you have?

22. Conclusion and Wrap Up

23. Presenter Contact Information
Beth Bonham, PhD, RN, PMHCNS-BC Phone: Mikel W Hand, EdD, RN, OCN, NE-BC, NEA-BC Phone:

24. References
Glaser, B.G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. New York, NY: Aldine. Heidegger, M. (1926-Reprint 1962). Being and Time. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Husserl, E. (1931-Reprint 2002). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology. New York, NY: Routledge. Lincoln, Y.S., & Guba, E.G. (1986). Naturalistic Inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Mead, G.M. (1934). Mind, self, and society. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Sandelowski, M. (2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Research in Nursing & Health, 23, Stake, R.E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd ed. (pp Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. Tedlock, B. (2000). Ethnography and ethnographic representation. In N.K. Denzin & Y.S. Lincoln (Eds.) Handbook of Qualitative Research, 2nd ed. (pp ). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc. Thomas, E., & Magilvy, J.K. (2011). Qualitative rigor or research validity in qualitative research. Journal for Specialists in Pediatric Nursing, 16(2011),