1. Deciding to Do a Qualitative Study
Chapter One
Deciding to Do a Qualitative Study

2. Definitions of Qualitative Research
“Any kind of research that produces findings that are not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of quantification”
“A research paradigm which emphasizes inductive, interpretive methods applied to the everyday world which is seen as subjective and socially created”
“Research procedures which produce descriptive data: people’s own written or spoken words and observable behavior. [It] directs itself at settings and the individuals within those settings holistically; that is, the subject of the study, be it an organization or an individual, is not reduced to an isolated variable or to an hypothesis, but is viewed as part of a whole”

3. Foundations
Using qualitative studies in an educational environment relatively recent development
Rich history in anthropology and sociology
Ethnographies described “primitive” cultures
Described in terms of deficiencies in relation to Western culture and norms
Late 1800s: Franz Boas one of the first to attempt to understand culture inductively
Object of study is to describe the knowledge that members use to make sense within their own culture

4. Foundations: The “Traditional Period”
1900-World War II
Model of the “lone ethnographer”
Spending extended periods of time doing participant observations among natives in a distant land
Utilized participant observation, interviewing, and artifact gathering
Malinowski, Margaret Mead, Radcliffe-Brown
“Chicago sociology”
University of Chicago
Utilized their city as a social laboratory
For three decades produced urban ethnographies that captured human life in the city
Slice-of-life approach
Used ordinary language of participants (working-class and poor migrants)
Capture their point-of-view
Criticized as romanticizing the participant and amount of social change

5. Foundations: The “Modernist Phase”
Post World War II-mid 1970s
Methods became more formalized, scholars became more self-conscious about research approaches
Balance between positivist expectations for validity, reliability, and generalizability and constructivist models of doing research
New theories associated with using qualitative research with education, ethnomethodology, phenomenology, critical theory, and feminism began to be recognized

6. Foundations: The “Moment of Blurred Genres”
1970s-early 1980s
Wide range of paradigms, methods, and strategies
Boundaries between the social sciences and humanities were becoming blurred
Interpretive methods such as semiotics and hermeneutics that were developed in the humanities began being adapted for use in qualitative analyses
Qualitative work became legitimate form of educational research

7. The “Crisis of Representation”
(publication of Denzin and Lincoln’s essay)
Critical anthropologists challenged norms of classic ethnography
Argued traditional methods and writings product texts that do not and cannot represent lived experience
Understandings of experiences processed through language, language is inherently unstable
Accused of “creating culture” rather than representing reality
Paradigm shift: new ways of thinking about what constitutes “Truth”

8. Present
Development of new perspectives and methods has not meant abandonment of perspectives and methods that came before
Deconstructivist and poststructuralist perspectives are being taken seriously
Critical, feminist, and other transformative epistemologies are having a major impact as well
There are still researchers who continue to do work classified as “traditional” or “modernist”

9. Characteristics of Qualitative Research
Natural Settings
Participant Perspectives
Researcher as Data Gathering Instrument
Extended Firsthand Engagement
Centrality of Meaning
Wholeness and Complexity
Subjectivity
Emergent Design
Inductive Data Analysis
Reflexivity

10. Natural Settings
Seek to understand how individuals make sense of their everyday lives
When research settings are controlled or manipulated…
They tell us little more than how individuals act in narrowly defined and inherently artificial contexts

11. Participant Perspectives
Individuals act on the world based not on some supposed objective reality…
But on perceptions of the realities that surround them

12. Researcher as Data Gathering Instrument
Qualitative data includes:
Field notes from participant observation,
Notes from or transcriptions of interviews with informants, and
Unobtrusive data such as artifacts from the research site or records related to the social phenomena under investigation
Data take on no significance until they are processed using the human intelligence of the researcher
Human capacities necessary to participate in social life are the same capacities that enable qualitative researchers to make sense of the actions, intentions, and understandings of those being studied

13. Extended Firsthand Engagement
Spend enough time with those participants in those contexts to feel confident that they are capturing what they claim
One of the hallmarks of high-quality qualitative work
“Blitzkrieg Ethnography”
Spending far too little time in research settings
Serious flaw in qualitative work

14. Centrality of Meaning
Describing the meanings individuals use to understand social circumstances rather than trying to identify the “social facts” that comprise a positivist social theory
Max Weber: “interpretive sociology”
Stressed the importance of verstehen (understanding)
Blumer: symbolic interactionist theory
Human beings act toward things on the basis of the meaning that the things have for them
The meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with one’s fellows
These meanings are handled in, and sometimes modified through an interpretive process used by individuals in dealing with the things they encounter

15. Wholeness and Complexity
Assumption that social settings are unique, dynamic, and complex
Contexts can be systematically examined as whole, without breaking them down into isolated, incomplete, and disconnected variables
Qual. data are objects, pictures, or detailed descriptions that cannot be reduced to numbers without distorting the essence of the social meaning they represent
Including enough detail and actual data to take the reader inside the social situation under examination

16. Subjectivity
Required as researchers move from description toward interpretation
Instead of pretending to be objective…
Concentrate on reflexivity by applying their own subjectivities in ways that make possible to understand the tacit motives and assumptions of their participants

17. Emergent Design Studies change as they are being implemented
Research questions, methods, and other elements of design are altered as studies unfold

18. Inductive Data Analysis
Moving from specifics to generalizations
Bogdan & Biklen (1992): “You are not putting together a puzzle, whose picture you already know. You are constructing a picture that takes shape as you collect and examine the parts”
Qual. researchers do not begin with a null hypothesis to retain or reject

19. Reflexivity
To keep track of one’s influence on a setting, to bracket one’s biases, and to monitor one’s emotional responses
Goodall (2000): “The process of personally and academically reflecting on lived experiences in ways that reveal deep connections between the writer and his or her subject”

20. Research Paradigms Positivist Postpositivist Constructivist
Critical/Feminist
Poststructuralist

21. Analyzing Research Paradigms
Ontological
What is the nature of reality?
Epistemological
What can be known, and what is the relationship of the knower to the known?
Methodological
How is knowledge gained?
Products

22. Positivist Paradigm Ontology Epistemology
Realists who believe in an objective universe that has order independent of human perceptions
Reality driven by universal, natural laws
Epistemology
Claim to be objective in search for immutable truth
Researchers and the objects of their study are assumed to be mutually independent

23. Positivist (Cont.) Methodology Products
Careful measurement, manipulation, and control
Experiments, quasiexperiments, correlational studies and surveys
Products
Knowledge equals accumulated “facts” that have been scientifically verified and generalizations, theories, and laws based on those facts
Cause-and effect-dimension

24. Postpositivist Paradigm
Ontology
Reality exists but…
Because of the limitations of human inquiry, the inherent order of the universe can never be known completely
Epistemology
Researchers see themselves as data collection instruments
Use disciplined research techniques to ensure that empirical data, and not their impressions, drive their findings

25. Postpositivist (Cont.)
Methodology
Qualitative methods that capture participant perspectives but in rigorously disciplined ways
Low inference, systematic procedures dominate data analysis processes, and frequency counts and low- level statistics used
Products
Analytic generalizations, descriptions, patterns and grounded theory
Generalizations are induced from systematic analyses of data that take the form of searches for patterns
Deductive processes are used to verify the strength of those patterns

26. Constructivist Paradigm
Ontology
Universal, absolute realities are unknowable, and the objects of inquiry are individual perspectives or constructions of reality
Multiple realities exist that are inherently unique because they are constructed by individuals
Epistemology
Individual constructions of reality
Researchers and the participants in their studies are joined together in the process of coconstruction
Impossible and undesirable for the researchers to be distant and objective

27. Constructivist (Cont.)
Methodology
Naturalistic qualitative methods
Interviewing participants and observing them in their natural settings
Products
Case studies or rich narratives that describe the interpretations constructed as part of the research process
Readers can place themselves in the shoes of the participants

28. Critical/Feminist Paradigm
Ontology
The material world is made up of historically situated structures that have a real impact on the life chances of individuals
Structures perceived as real
Leads to differential treatment of individuals based on race, gender, and social class
Epistemology
Knowledge is subjective and inherently political
Guba & Lincoln (1994): “The investigator and investigated object are assumed to be interactively linked, with the values of the investigator inevitably influencing the inquiry”
Knowledge mediated through the political beliefs and opinions of the researcher

29. Critical/Feminist (Cont.)
Methodology
Raise consciousness for those being oppressed, leading to social change
Methods called “transformative”
Require dialogue between researchers and participants
Data collection and emphasis similar to constuctivist research except
Critical: improve life chances for individuals at the bottom of the social hierarchy
Feminist: making conditions better for women
Products
Critiques of the perceived material world

30. Poststructuralist Paradigm
Ontology
“Antiparadigm”
Deconstruct aforementioned paradigms
Order is created in the minds of individuals in an attempt to give meaning to events that have no “intrinsic or immanent relations”
Multiple realities, each with its own claim to coherence, and none can be privileged over another
Realities local, subjective, and in flux
Epistemology
Deconstructing the notion of universal Truth
Grand narratives are constructed in particular social-historical circumstances to serve the purposes of those in power
Alternative forms of inquiry such as: queer theory, performance theory, postcolonial theory, critical race theory, and cultural studies

31. Poststructuralist (Cont.)
Methodology
Focus on understanding data as texts that represent one of many stories that could be told
Deconstructivists
Use deconstruction as a tool to examine representations of the world, searching for aporia, inconsistencies, or gaps where the internal logic of the text unravels
Genealogists
Revealing “the ways in which the practice was historically justified, the discourses that were used for justification, and the assumptions underlying forms of representation that are part of the practices”
Poststructuralists doing data-based research
Products
Analyses that reveal the internal incongruities of discourses and expose the consequences of actions taken based on the assumed Truthfulness of those discourses

32. Kinds of Qualitative Research List
Ethnographies
Microethnographies
Ethnomethodology
Participant Observation Research
Interview Studies
Focus Group Studies
Artifact Analysis
Historical Studies and Historiography

33. Kinds of Research List (Cont.)
Grounded Theory Studies
Naturalistic Inquiries
Symbolic Interactionist Studies
Narrative Studies
Educational Criticism
Phenomenological Studies
Case Studies
Action Research Projects
Collaborative Studies

34. Ethnographies & Microethnographies
Describe culture or parts of culture from the point of view of cultural insiders
Make sense of everyday experiences
Developed by anthropologists
Involves participant observation, informant interviewing, and artifact collection
Used within postpostivist paradigm
Microethnographies
Sociolinguists or others interested in verbal and nonverbal communication
Analyses of face-to-face interactions within specific social contexts
Used with postpostivist paradigm

35. Ethnomethodology & Participant Observation Studies
Studies the methods that people use to navigate their everyday lives
Interested in assessing an individual’s stock of knowledge
Use observation and interview techniques
Rigorous discourse analysis procedures to produce generalizations and theories
Used within postpositivist paradigm
Participant Observation Studies
Interviewing, artifact collection, and especially direct observation
Not ethnographies because they are much narrower in scope and involve less time in the field
Researchers enter with specific interests and/or specific questions
Used within any paradigm

36. Interview Studies & Focus Group Studies
Create special kind of speech event during which they ask open-ended questions, encourage informants to explain their unique perspectives, and listen intently for special language
Enter with questions in mind but will generate questions during the interview
Used within any paradigm except positivist
Focus Group Studies
Sets of individuals with similar characteristics or having shared experiences who sit down with a moderator to discuss a topic
Used to supplement other qualitative data
Used within any paradigm

37. Artifact Analysis & Historical Studies and Historiography
Unusual for artifacts to be primary data source
Advantage: does not influence the social setting being examined
Disadvantage: Interpreting the meaning and significance of objects without social context is difficult
Used within postpositivist paradigm
Historical Studies and Historiography
Involve the collection and analysis of data for the purpose of reconstructing events or combinations of events that happened in the past
Primary sources: oral or written testimony, original documents, photographs, diaries, journals, drawings, mementos, or other original artifacts
Secondary sources: elements created by others that relate to the event (i.e. textbooks, journal articles, etc)
Used within several research paradigms

38. Grounded Theory Studies & Naturalistic Inquiries
Constant comparison
Researchers engage in detailed analytic processes that require repeated confirmations of potential explanatory patterns discovered in the data
Used within postpositivist paradigm
Naturalistic Inquiries
The goal of capturing naturally occurring activity in natural settings
Used within constuctivist paradigm

39. Symbolic Interactionist Studies & Narrative Studies
Comprised of “exploration” (i.e., collecting observations, interviews, life histories, letters, diaries, public records, and group discussions) and “inspection” (discriminating analytic elements and isolating relations between elements)
Used within postpostivist paradigm
Narrative Studies
Include life histories, life story research, biography, personal experience methods, oral history, and narrative inquiry
Used within constructivist and critical/feminist paradigm

40. Educational Criticism & Phenomenological Studies
Observe, interview, and collect artifacts and documents like other qualitative researchers
From this, researchers construct stories or portraits of what they experienced and understood in the settings explored
Findings look more like the essays of art critics than the “objective” reports found in positivist journals
Used within constructivist paradigm
Phenomenological Studies
Combines both interpretive/hermeneutic methods and descriptive/phenomenological methods
Phenomenology: how one orients to lived experience
Hermeneutics: how one interprets the ‘texts’ of life
Attempt to keep biases and preconceptions in check by exploring own experiences and understandings
Methods: Protocol writing, interviewing, observing, studying experiential descriptions of literature and art and examining diaries, journals, and logs

41. Case Studies & Action Research Projects
A special kind of qualitative work that investigates a contextualized contemporary (as opposed to historical) phenomenon within specified boundaries
Defining the boundaries, or specifying the unit of analysis is the key point in case study design
Used within several paradigms
Action Research Projects
Concerned with activity and change
Identifying a problem through careful observation, reflecting on the dimensions of the problem, designing a change that addresses the problem, implementing the change, and assessing its effectiveness through careful observation
Used within critical/feminist paradigm

42. Collaborative Studies
Work that is distinguished from action research because its principal aims are the generation of knowledge and understanding
Research participants as full partners in the research process
Used within constructivist paradigm

43. Hatch Recommends…
Research questions central to the inquiry process; but they ought not be the starting point
Essential steps to qualitative research
Recognize and accept one’s ontological and epistemological beliefs
Find a place among the qualitative paradigms
Ask research questions
Choose a method based on what you want to find out