Chapter 5

1. Chapter 5 Five Different Qualitative Studies Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

2. Key Questions • What is of central interest in the narrative study, the phenomenology, the grounded theory study, the ethnography, and the case study? • How do the five approaches differ? • How does a researcher choose from among the five approaches? Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

3. Narrative: Angrosino (1994) • Overview of the study • The story of Vonnie, a 29-year-old mentally ill man whom the author met at Opportunity House • Vonnie Lee talks openly about his life but his descriptions of his life centered on a bus route • The author took a bus trip with Vonnie Lee to his work place • The bus held special meaning for Lee and on the bus he supplied the researcher with details about the people, places, and events of the journey Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

4. Narrative: Angrosino (1994) • Researcher conclusions • The bus gave meaning to Vonnie Lee’s life through escape and empowerment • This meaning explained why he told his life stories in the form of bus routes • Vonnie Lee’s stable self-image, the bus trip, helped him survive the problems in his life • The researcher reflected on the use of metaphor as a framework for analyzing stories of participants in life history projects at the end of the study Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

5. Narrative: Angrosino (1994) • Overview of the methodology • The study fits well within the cultural interpretations of anthropological life history research • The central focus of the study was the story of an individual • The researcher collected stories and reconstructed life experiences through researcher participant observation • The individual recalled a special event in his life, an epiphany (a bus ride) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

6. Angrosino (1994) • Overview of the methodology • The author reported detailed information about the setting or historical context of the bus trip, which situated the epiphany within a social context • The author reflected on his own experiences and acknowledged that the study was his interpretation of Vonnie Lee’s life Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

7. Phenomenology: Anderson & Spencer (2002) • Overview of the Study • The study focused on the cognitive representations that AIDS patients held about their disease • The authors advanced the Self-Regulation Model of Illness Representation that suggested that patients were active problem solvers whose behavior was a product of their cognitive and emotional responses to AIDS • The study described how patients represented AIDS in images had not been studied Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

8. Anderson & Spencer (2002) • Overview of methodology: Data collection • The study involved conducting interviews for over 18 months with 58 men and women with a diagnosis of AIDS • The interview questions reflected a phenomenological framework • What is your experience with AIDS? • Do you have a mental image of HIV/AIDS? • What feelings come to mind? • What does it mean to have it in your life? • The participants were also asked to draw pictures of their disease • Only 8 participants drew pictures • Authors integrated these pictures into their data analysis Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

9. Anderson & Spencer (2002) • Overview of methodology: Data analysis • The transcripts were read several times • The significant phrases or sentences were identified • The meanings were clustered into themes (175 significant statements and 11 major themes) • The results were integrated into an in-depth exhaustive description of the phenomenon • The findings were validated using member checking and their remarks were included into the final description • The study concluded with the essence (the exhaustive description of the patient’s experiences and coping strategies) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

10. Anderson & Spencer (2002) • Features of a phenomenological study • The study used systematic data analysis procedures of significant statements, meanings and themes, and an essence • The study included tables illustrating significant statements, meanings, and theme clusters • The study included a central phenomenon that was appropriate for phenomenology • The study involved rigorous data collection with 58 participants • The study ended by describing the essence of the experience Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

11. Grounded Theory: Morrow & Smith (1995) • Overview of the study • The study focused on the survival and coping strategies of 11 women that experienced childhood sexual abuse • The study included an extensive passage on data coding of information and memoing • The authors developed a visual model of the process that was focused around the central category of threatening or dangerous feelings along with helplessness, powerlessness, and lack of control Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

12. Morrow & Smith (1995) • Overview of the methodology • The authors collected data from personal interviews, focus groups, and participant observation • The authors coded the data and formed categories of data (Open Coding) • The data was reassembled into a visual model that consisted of a central phenomenon (central category), causes, contexts, intervening conditions, strategies, and consequences (outcomes) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

13. Morrow & Smith (1995) • Features of grounded theory • The authors mentioned that their purpose was to generate a theory using a construct-oriented approach • The grounded theory procedure was discussed and used the framework of systematic grounded theory • The study included a visual model of the theory • The language of the article was scientific and objective while at the same time it addressed a sensitive topic with emotion Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

14. Ethnography: Haenfler (2004) • Overview of the study • The study described the core values of the straight edge (sXe) movement that emerged on the east coast of the US in the early 1980’s from the punk subculture • The study involved White middle-class males from ages 15-25 • The movement was linked with the punk music genre • The sXers made a large X on each hand before they entered punk concerts • The sXers adopted a clean living ideology • The ethnography examined how subculture group members expressed opposition individually and as a reaction to other subcultures Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

15. Haenfler (2004) • Overview of the methodology • The author participated in the movement for 14 years and attended more than 250 concerts • The data consisted of 28 interviews with men and women, newspaper stories, music lyrics, web pages, and sXe magazines • The author provided a detailed description of the subculture • T-shirt slogans • Song lyrics • Use of the symbol X Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

16. Haenfler (2004) • Overview of the findings: • The author described the cultural group • The author identified five themes • Positivity/clean living • Reserving sex for caring relationships • Self-realization • Spreading the message • Involvement in progressive causes • The author concluded the article with a broad understanding of the sXers’ values Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

17. Haenfler (2004) • Features of ethnography • The study focused on a culture-sharing group and their core values • The author first described the group and themes about the group, and ended with a suggestion of how the subculture worked • The author positioned himself by describing his involvement in the subculture and his role of the group for many years • The author used a critical ethnographic perspective to examine the issue of resistance to opposition • The author concluded with comment about how the subculture resisted the dominant culture Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

18. Case Study: Asmussen & Creswell (1995) • Overview of the study • The study described a campus reaction to a gunman incident on a midwestern university campus • The study began with a detailed description of the incident including a description of the city, campus, and the incident • The study used multiple sources of data Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

19. Asmussen & Creswell (1995) • Overview of the study • Five themes emerged: denial, fear, safety, retriggering, and campus planning • The themes were narrowed to two overarching perspectives, an organizational and social-psychological response • A suggestion was made that campuses need to develop a plan to respond to campus violence Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

20. Asmussen & Creswell (1995) • Overview of methodology • The problem appropriate for case study (description of a campus response to a gunman incident) • The data was collected through multiple sources • Interviews • Observations • Documents • Audio-visual materials Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

21. Asmussen & Creswell (1995) • Overview of methodology • The data was analyzed for codes and themes • The themes were used to form overarching perspectives that were also related to the literature • The case study structure was followed – the problem, the context, the issues, and lessons learned • The study included practical and useful implications • The authors were reflective about their prior experiences related to the problem (epilogue) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

22. Asmussen & Creswell (1995) • Features of case study • The authors identified a case for study • The authors chose an instrumental case to illustrate the problem of potential campus violence • The case was a bounded system • The authors used extensive multiple sources of data to provide a detailed picture of the incident and campus response • The authors spent considerable time describing the context for the case Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

23. Differences Among the Five Approaches (Figure 5.1) A Portrait A Case A Culture-Sharing Group An Individual Case Study Ethnography Narrative Study A Theory Phenomenology A Phenomenon Grounded Theory Creswell qualitative Inquiry 2e 5.23

24. Differences Among the Approaches • Narrative – focuses on the life of an individual • Phenomenology – focuses on a phenomenon and the essence of the lived experiences of persons about that phenomenon • Grounded Theory – focuses on developing a theory about a process • Ethnography – focuses on a description and interpretation of a culture-sharing group • Case Study – focuses on an in-depth understanding of a case Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

25. Key Questions in Choosing an Approach • What is the approach attempting to accomplish? • What approach is frequently used by gatekeepers in the field or the audience for the study? (e.g., advisors, editors) Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

26. Key Questions in Choosing an Approach • What research skills/experiences are need to conduct research using the approach? • What type of qualitative study is needed most to contribute to the scholarly literature in the field? • What approach are you, as a researcher, most comfortable with? Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e

27. Chapter 5 Five Different Qualitative Studies Creswell Qualitative Inquiry 2e