Qualitative Research

1. Qualitative Research

2. Overview

3. Case Study • Definition - An in-depth detailed analysis of a single person, group, or event with the purpose of exploring and/or describing. • Pros - Better understanding of a complex issue - Better understanding of holistic/gestalt - Provides contextual analysis • Cons • Construct Validity – Depends on usage • External Validity – Limited to no external validity because of limited sample size • Bias – Potential experimenter bias if part of study • Error – Potential measurement error in self-report

4. Case Study • Choose “Case Study” if… • interested in unique/novel cases or individuals • because of uniqueness, not necessarily interested in generalizing to population • want to explore in depth/breadth the entire range of descriptive potential • more interested in depth/breadth than reducing error from experimenter bias

5. Phenomenology • Definition - A branch of philosophy that seeks to understand how each individual creates his/her own reality by investigating individual’s interpretation of their reality and conscious awareness/experience of life. • Pros • Detailed understanding of individual • Detailed understanding of constructed reality • Cons • Same as with Case Study… Plus: • Double error from participant interpreting reality, and then experimenter interpreting the interpretation

6. Phenomenology • Choose “Phenomenology” if… • Same as with Case Study Plus: • want to understand the individual’s perception of reality from the first-person point of view • want to understand the nature of consciousness and awareness • want to understand the nature of “being” (ala “ontology”)

7. Ethnography • Definition - Detailed study of culture(s) traditionally used in anthropology and sociology to understand how people are influenced by culture and influence culture. • Pros • Difficult to access cultures • Cultural processes and change across time • Cons • Same as with Case Study Except: • these “cons” exist to a smaller degree because Ethnography typically employs larger samples, more measures, sometimes quantitative measurement, etc.

8. Ethnography • Choose “Ethnography” if… • interested in cultural influence, local beliefs and perceptions, etc. • want to understand the entire “system” • interested in how particular cultures change over time (via using longitudinal research) • want to know how different portions of the culture perceive issues (via interviewing of array of “informants”)

9. Historical • Definition - Analysis of archival research from a qualitative perspective (as contrasted with quantitative archival research that transforms data to numbers) to understand historical problems, cultural trends, origins and growth of topic • Pros • No longer restricted only to present-day people and events so access to larger sets of data • Can use historical information to inform about current events and future possibilities • Cons • Construct – Depends on usage • External – Typically good external validity because larger data sets, but depends on external validity of included works • Bias – Inclusion/Exclusion bias • Errors – Inclusion/Exclusion error (FYI – the “cons” from previous qualitative methods no longer apply because not self-report, not experimenter immersion, no longer small samples)

10. Historical • Choose “Historical” if… • interested in origins and growth • interested in particular historical events • no current data on point so look to past data • want to “generalize” from past events to current or future events

11. Literature Review • Definition - Analyzing previously published works by summarizing and interpreting (as contrasted with quantitative meta-analysis that transforms data to numbers) to understand the quality of the research • Pros • Can identify the quality of individual studies to arrive at interpretation of entire body of work • Can provide insights into past, present and future of topic • Cons • Construct – Depends on usage • External – Depends on external validity of included works • Bias – Inclusion/Exclusion bias, Interpretation bias • Error – Inclusion/Exclusion error (FYI – If have previously published works, then why not take next step of coding for meta-analysis to provide statistical support for arguments)

12. Literature Review • Choose “Literature Review” if… • have an argument that can be supported by published research • interested in “summarizing” the literature for a variety of reasons • interested in “interpreting” the literature, for a variety of reasons • Interested in communicating the “quality” of the literature, for a variety of reasons

13. Literature Review • What are those “reasons”? • No one has previously summarized and/or interpreted the primary articles • The literature has grown to the point that it necessitates guidance or direction • There is a new topic that cross-cuts many previous literatures so new Literature Review needed to synthesize disparate literature relevant to new topic • There are controversies or disagreements that need resolution or support from summarizing/interpreting the literature

14. Advanced Source • Qualitative Methods in Psychology, by Banister et al, from McGraw-Hill, 1997.