Qualitative Research Methods: An Introduction

Elizabeth Boyd, Ph.D.

EPI 240

May 30, 2006

Course Outline

Introduction and Overview Doing Qualitative Research: study design,

sampling, data collection Interviews and Focus Groups Doing Fieldwork I: Basics of ethnographic

research Doing Fieldwork II: Analyzing ethnographic

data Using audio- and video-recorded data

Course description

Introductory lectures Discussion of assigned reading Collective data analysis

Assignments: practical applications of concepts

Outline

What is qualitative research? Historical roots and theoretical assumptions Qualitative vs. quantitative research Types of qualitative methodologies Implications for health services and clinical

research

What is qualitative data?

Verbal Interviews Focus groups Speeches Interactions -- examining room; ED; M&M; telephone

Written Diaries Letters Case notes/charts Text -- any written documents, including email; chat rooms;

blogs

What is qualitative research?

Collection and analysis of non-numerical information via formal research methods

Qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world, … studying things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000)

What is qualitative analysis?

Systematic extraction, coding, and definition of conceptual themes and categories

Description of relationships, range of factors, norms and extreme or deviant cases/behaviors

Theory-building and elaboration

Why use qualitative methods?

Complex situations Experiences Members’ meanings

The importance of meaning

“Consider 2 boys rapidly contracting the eyelids of their right eyes. In one, this is an involuntary twitch; in the other, a conspiratorial wink. The two movements, as movements, are identical; … from observation alone, one could not tell which was twitch and which was wink, or indeed whether both or either was twitch or wink. Yet the difference, however unphotographable, between a twitch and a wink is vast; as anyone unfortunate enough to have had the first taken for the second knows.” Clifford Geertz, 1973, The Interpretation of Cultures.

What to ask?

“The thing to ask about a burlesqued wink or a mock sheep raid is not what their ontological status is. It is the same as that of rocks on the one hand and dreams on the other -- they are things of this world. The thing to ask is what their import is: what it is, ridicule or challenge, irony or anger, snobbery or pride, that, in their occurrence and through their agency, is getting said.” Clifford Geertz, 1973, The Interpretation of Cultures.

Historical roots

Cultural and social anthropology Malinowski (1916); Geertz (1970s); Clifford and Marcus

(1980s)

Sociology Chicago School (1930s); Goffman (1960s); Garfinkel

(1960s); Strauss and Glaser (1970s)

Theoretical assumptions I

Symbolic interactionism (Blumer 1938) Humans act toward things on the basis of the

meanings that things have for them; this meaning is derived from, or arises out of, social interactions; meanings are handled in, and modified through, an interpretive process.

The meanings that people invest in objects, events, experiences, actions is the starting point for research.

Theoretical assumptions II

Ethnomethodology (Garfinkel 1968) Members’ methods for producing social realities;

commensense knowledge; practical sociological reasoning; taken-for-grantedness of social life.

Social interaction is produced through structures of social action; context is produced in and through interaction; no detail is a priori disorderly, accidental, or irrelevant.

Research focus on routine activities of everyday life -- production of social realities

Theoretical assumptions III

Structuralism and poststructuralism (Derrida 1976) Cultural systems of meaning frame perceptions

and the making of social reality Texts are not objective representations of the

world but result from the interests and perceptions of the producers of the text and those who read it.

Social reality is not fixed but constructed thorough cultural, historical, personal lenses

Research focuses on reflexive relationships

Theoretical assumptions IV

Central role of the researcher in qualitative approaches: Interpreter Participant-observer Reflexive involvement

Epistemologies

Positivistic Objective reality Measurable Testable (hypothesis testing) Predictive

Interpretative Reality socially constructed Access through shared understandings Descriptive

Qualitative vs. Quantitative?

Different research questions require different approaches and methodologies

Choose the methods that will give you the types of results needed to answer the research question

Methods as tools:

When are qualitative methods most useful?

When the research topic is: Concerned with interaction or process Complex Not quantifiable Sensitive

When are qualitative methods most useful?

When the research objective is: To interpret, illuminate, illustrate To understand how or why To describe previously unstudied processes or

situations To learn about subjects who are few or hard to

reach To brainstorm ideas

Qualitative vs. Quantitative questions

Qualitative questions: Why? How? When? Who?

Quantitative questions: What? How many? How often or how

frequently?

Strengths of each approach

Qualitative strengths: Depth and detail Openness and flexibilty Subjects’ views central Takes into account

deviant cases, extreme cases, range of experiences

Small N

Quantitative strengths: Breadth Predictive Protocol fixed,

reproducible Instrument is explicit Categories, variables

pre-specified Large N

Qualitative AND Quantitative!

Different foci Complementary Compatible

Exploratory study to develop hypotheses, then test using quantitative methods

Qualitative study with simple (descriptive) statistical evidence

Types of qualitative methods

Individual interviews Group interviews Focus groups Case studies Ethnographic observation Participant-observation Archival or documentary research Audio/video analysis

Implications for health services and clinical research

Qualitative studies not the norm but increasingly visible in generalist and specialty journals

Key to quality is rigor of methods, as in any research design

Questions and methodologies must be appropriate

Time consuming; write-up a challenge

Research design

What are your goals or objectives? What are your research questions?

Specific or general Rarely have luxury of purely unmotivated looking

How will you answer your questions? Data, methods, analysis