Summary Qualitative Research Methods (QUALRM) 2024
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Course
Qualitative Research Methods
Institution
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU)
Summary for premaster course Qualitative Research Methods ().
Consists of the lecture slides and assigned literature combined:
What is qualitative research?
Research design
Research design approaches (case study, ethnography, grounded)
Observation methods
Qualitative interviewing
Data ana...
What is qualitative research?
● Qualitative research:
○ Systematic, empirical, critical, iterative
○ RQ > LR > RD > DC > DA > R
○ Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world
● What is knowable:
○ Interpretivist: participants data collection, expressed in language, subjective,
linked to context, seeking evidence of meaning.
○ Positivist: real world data collection, numbers, objective, generalizable,
seeking evidence of frequency.
● Data methods:
○ Qual - Gathering interpretations: interviews, ethnographic, case studies,
document analysis (emic perspective, intuition is asset).
○ Quan - Gathering frequency: surveys, polls, questionnaires, content
analysis (etic, researcher’s influence should be minimized).
● How to arrive at knowledge:
○ Induction: observation > pattern > tentative hypothesis > theory
○ Deduction: theory > hypothesis > observation > confirmation
● Research: Investigating something in a systematic manner
○ Basic: motivated by an intellectual interest in a phenomenon to extent
knowledge
○ Applied: is undertaken to improve the quality of practice
■ Evaluation studies: to establish a basis for decision-making based on
the value of something
■ Action research: goal to assess a problem in a specific setting
Philosophical perspectives:
● A positive orientation: Assumes that reality exists “out there” and it is observable,
stable and measurable. Predict, control, generalize.
● Interpretive research: There are multiple realities, or interpretations, of a single
event. Describe, understand, interpret.
● Critical research: Change, emancipate, empower.
● A postmodern world: There are multiple truths. Deconstruct, problematize,
question, interrupt.
Desirable competencies:
● A questioning stance with regard to you work and life context
● High tolerance for ambiguity
● Being a careful observer
● Asking good questions
● Thinking inductively
● Comfort with writing
,How to get data:
● To the “the field”: institution, subculture, group, etc.
● Looking for “participants”: people whom you can talk to and observe
○ A “gatekeeper” – person responsible for authorizing your research
● Your role as a researcher? Peripheral, active, or complete member
● Access increases over time
● Different levels of access is good
● Consider their point of view
How to ask for data:
● Explain what exactly you need access to
● Follow-up, questions, confidentiality
Gaining access (Elites):
● Top-down approach
● Do your homework for establishing respect
● Set boundaries, provide clarity on the value
● You get useful data if you know others they respect
● Mutual respect: you as a researcher also has other things to do
● Establishing relationships
● Nonverbal strategies work best: claim some of it as your own (sitting on the table of
the elite person), using placement of tape recorder to make the decision about where
to sit, make entrance as if you are going to work (so need to do the interviewees), not
engage too much in gratitudes
● Maintaining control over interview
● Checklist of issues to be covered rather than a logical progression of fixed questions
● Periodic time checks to ensure everything is covered
● Three strategies of hard questions
○ Learning their language
○ Stretching the bounds of etiquette and defining the interview situation as
different from normal daily social intercourse
○ Basing difficult questions on particular situations known
, Research design
Definition research design: In qualitative
research, the research design should be a
reflective process that operates throughout the
project. Tasks like collecting and analyzing
data, developing theories, adjusting research
questions, and addressing validity concerns
happen simultaneously, each affecting the
others. This process doesn't follow a fixed
order, challenging linear models of research
design.
Elements of research design:
● Goals: What are you trying to achieve? E.g. understand; advise; discover, solve…
● Conceptual Framework: What concepts will you start with? E.g. culture, efficiency,
identity
● Research Question: What exactly do you want to find out? E.g. how, why
● Methods: What will you do to answer your research question? E.g. ethnography,
interviews
● Validity: On what basis will you be able to defend your findings? E.g. sampling
strategy, triangulation, transparency, rigorous coding, sense checks, including
quotes in write up, etc.
Qualitative sampling terminology (qual. vs. quan.):
● Population: Largest set about which we want to make some claim (small vs. large)
● Sample: a subset in a specific context of inquiry (In-depth understanding vs.
empirical generalization)
● Sampling: is your rationale for who/what individual ‘case’ you select to study and
collect information about within your target population (Purposeful vs. Random)
○ Purposeful: information-rich
○ Random: representativeness
Sampling strategies:
● Convenience: Chosen because cases are close at hand rather than being randomly
selected. Not a very credible approach.
● Snowball: You initially contact a few potential respondents and then ask them
whether they know of anybody with the same characteristics that you are looking for
in your research.
● Typical case sampling: Illustrates or highlights what is typical, normal, average. The
case is specifically selected because it is not in any way atypical, extreme, deviant or
intensely unusual.
● Extreme: Learning from highly unusual manifestations of the phenomenon of
interest, such as outstanding success/notable failures, top of the class/dropouts,
exotic events, crises.
● Theoretical: The process of data collection for generating theory whereby the
analyst jointly collects, codes, and analyzes [their] data and decides what data to
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