1. Qualitative Research Paper 3

2. Qualitative Research: Theory & Practice

3. The debate in relation to epistemology Epistemology: The study of knowledge and justified belief ▫How can we know about the world? Ontology: Looking at if social reality exist independently of human perceptions and interpretations Ritchie & Lewis (2003) created 3 questions in the debate in relation to epistemology ▫Helps understand the difference between research in the natural sciences (biology, anatomy, etc.) and the social sciences (psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc.) ▫Social Sciences uses quantitative (e.g. surveys) as well as qualitative methods and they should not be viewed as competing but complementary to research questions

4. Three Questions 1.What is the relationship between the researcher and the researched? Researched should not be impacted by the researcher Not objective and value-free…assumptions can influence analysis Researcher should use reflexivity 2.What can be held as truth? Natural Sciences  correspondence theory of truth Social Sciences  coherenece theory of truth 3.How is knowledge gathered? Natural Sciences  Deductive process (cause-and-effect relationships, generalization, and prediction) Social Sciences  Inductive process (collected evidence reaches a conclusion)

5. Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research QualitativeQuantitative Text data (transcripts or field notes) Open-ended and flexible (open for interpretation) “Rich data” (plenty of details about people, places, conversations, etc.) Not easy to analyze Can use a theory or create a theory Numerical data Uses statistical tests Meant to be used for generalization beyond the sample which was used

6. Strengths & Weaknesses of Qualitative Research StrengthsWeaknesses Provides rich data Investigate complex issues Explain a phenomena Identify and evaluate factors that help solve problems Generate new ideas for theories Own environment  validity Time consuming No clear strategy for analysis Interpretation of data may be subjective ▫Reflexivity can help reduce this

7. Generalization Results are relevant to situations outside the original study Representational: ▫Applied to populations outside the population of the study Inferential: ▫Applied to settings outside the setting of the study ▫Transferability or external validity Theoretical: ▫Theoretical concepts derived from study can be used to further develop theory

8. Ethical Considerations Informed consent Protection of participants Anonymity & confidentiality *We’ve already covered this info, revisit it!

9. Sampling Techniques ProbabilityNon-probability Related to statistical probability and representativeness Random selection Does not use random selection

10. Sampling Techniques Purposive Sampling Snowball Sampling Convenience Sampling

11. Qualititative Research: Interviews

12. Qualitative Research: Interviews Semi-structured interviews Focus groups Narrative interviews

13. Considerations before the interview Consider relevant sampling methods (purposive) Training the interviewer to reduce interviewer effects ▫ effects caused by the presence of an interviewer Reading non-verbal signs Choice of interviewer ▫gender, age, ethnicity Create an interview guide ▫script based on previous literature Ethical considerations Flexibility and open-ended questions Practice questions, difficult words (equipment too)

14. Type of Questions Descriptive ▫“What happened?” “What does it feel like to…” Structural ▫“What does it mean to your life to suffer from cancer?” Contrast ▫“Did you prefer being in that school or the other one?” Evaluative ▫Did you feel afraid when you went through chemo?”

15. Considerations during the interview Data recording ▫notes, recorder, video taping ▫Permission for recordings Eye-contact Prepare notes/questions in front of interviewee Establish rapport (trust) Active listening technique: repeating thoughts/answers back to interviewee

16. Considerations after the interview Transcription of the data ▫Changing it into a written and useful text in preparation for analysis Verbatim vs. postmodern transcripts ▫Word for word or included all pauses, false starts, laughter/sobs Informed consent and briefing must take place ▫Allow them to read over notes/listen to recording

17. Data Analysis: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) Used to identify key themes, concepts, & categories Includes Grounded Theory: Used to study social processes in sociology which involves coding (finding specific categories in the data material) Identifies & integrates categories of meaning from the data Aim: Generating a new theory based on the data

18. Coding Process Higher-level categories emerge while the lower-level categories are integrated into meaningful units Low-level categories emerge; coding process continues Descriptive labels are given to discrete instances of phenomena

19. Thoughts According to Willig (2001) Grounded Theory enables the researcher to study social processes but IPA allows the researcher to gain an insider’s view of how individual participants make sense of the world IPA uses hierarchal organization just like grounded theory Goal of IPA: gain insight into how an individual perceives & explains a phenomenon ▫Uses semi-structured interviews, focus groups, diaries, or narrative interviews ▫Data collection is not based on prior assumptions or existing theories

20. Analysis Based on Interpretation Analysis is based on interpretation of participant’s experience which is derived from paying attention to the presented phenomenon rather than including one from the outside Diversity is key; looks for divergence and convergence in the themes Looks at the interpretation of texts to gain insight of the lived experience of the participants but this does not reflect the actual lived experience

21. Process for Rich-thick Descriptions Systematic search for themes First reading Connect themes in meaningful ways to establish more themes Subsequent readings Researcher will use elicited themes to draw conclusions Research report Supported by verbatim extracts

22. Analytic Strategy in IPA 1.Reading and rereading the transcripts 2.Identification of emergent themes 3.Structuring emergent themes 4.Summary table of the structured themes and relevant quotations that illustrate each theme 5.Data saturation: analyzing data until no new information can be extracted