TYPES OF QUALITATIVE

RESEARCH

Katrina Ellis

6 Types of Qualitative Research to be Discussed

Basic Phenomenology Grounded Theory Ethnography Narrative Analysis Critical

Basic Qualitative Research the researcher is interested in

understanding the meaning a phenomenon has for those involved

The Basic Qualitative Researcher

would be interested in…○ How people interpret their experiences○ How people construct their world○ What meaning people attribute to their

experience

The overall purpose is to understand how people make sense of their lives and their experiences

Summary of Basic Qualitative Research Basic qualitative research can be found

throughout the other types of qualitative research

The focus of all qualitative research is on how meaning is constructed, how people make sense of their lives and their worldsThe goal of Basic Qualitative research is to

uncover and interpret the meanings

Phenomenology

The researcher is interested in the lived experience and the everyday life and social actions of people

Phenomenology is based on…

The assumption that there is an essence or essences to shared experience. These essences are the core meanings mutually understood through a phenomenon commonly experienced. The experiences of different people are bracketed, analyzed, and compared to identify the essences of the phenomenon, for example, the essence of loneliness, the essence of being a mother, or the essence of being a participant in a particular program. The assumption of essence, like the ethnographer’s that culture exists and is important, becomes the defining characteristic of a purely phenomenological study. (Patton. 2002.pg 106)

The Phenomenological Researcher’s Task …• Depict the essence or basic structure of

experience - including experiences such as love, anger,

betrayal, etc. Prior to interviewing, those who have had

experience with the phenomenon usually explores his/her own experiences in order to examine the dimensions of the phenomenon and to be aware of one’s own personal prejudices, viewpoints and assumptions (in order to set them aside)

Phenomenologist's Task Continued… Phenomenological reduction= continually

returning to the essence of the experience to derive the inner meaning or structure

Horizontalization= laying out all the data for examination and treating the data as having equal weight (all data have equal value)

Imaginative Variation= viewing the data from various perspectives (seeing different things from different angles)

Phenomenology Results… A composite description that presents

the essence of the phenomenon (essential, invariant structure)

The researcher should come away from the experience thinking ‘I understand better what it is like for someone to experience that’

Ethnography

Research focuses on human society and culture (referring to beliefs, values, and attitudes that structure the behavior patterns of a specific group of people)

The Ethnographic Researcher…

Must understand the culture (in order to do that one must spend time in the group being studied)

Must immerse one’s self the group/culture being studiedInterviews, analysis of documents, records,

and artifacts, fieldwork diary entries, ideas, impressions, and insights in regard to those events

The Ethnographic Researcher Continued…• Must include “thick description”

○ Making note of the emic perspective (perception of the insider to the culture) vs. etic (perception of the outsider/researcher)

It is not enough to only describe the cultural practices; the researcher must also depict his/her understanding of the cultural meaning in the phenomenon.

Grounded Theory…

Focus is on building theoryGrounded theory is particularly useful for

addressing process about how things change over time○ Data comes from interviews, observations,

and a wide variety of documentary materials

Grounded Theory Researcher… First data collected through theoretical sampling

Collects and analyzes data, then decides what data to collect next in order to develop theory as it emerges

Second data are analyzed using the constant comparative methodInvolves comparing one piece of data with another to

determine similarities and differences and then categorizing the information accordingly

Third identification of a core category (main conceptual element through which all other categories are connected)

Grounded Theory Researcher Continued… The theory that is developed from the

previously stated method is substantiveMeaning it is a theory that applies to the

everyday world○ Examples: coping mechanisms of returning

adult students, reading programs that work in low-income children, etc.

Narrative Analysis

Use of stories as data, and more specifically first-person accounts of experience told in story form having a beginning, middle and endOther terms for these “stories”= biographies,

life history, oral history, autoethnography, and autobiography

First-person accounts of experiences constitute the narrative “text” which is then analyzd for the meaning by the author

Narrative Analysis

Hermeneutic philosophy (the study of written texts) is often cited as informing narrative analysis.Focuses on the interpretation/meaning in

stories, and other texts. In order to make sense and interpret the text.○ Important in gathering the meaning intended

to be communicated by the author (allows the text/document to be placed in an accurate historical/cultural reference)

The Narrative Analysis Researcher… Must examine how the story is constructed (use

of linguistic tools, analyze cultural context of the story)Biographical, psychological, and linguistic

approaches are the most common○ Biographical= analyzed in terms of importance of

gender and race, family origin, life events, and turning point experiences

○ Psychological= analyze in terms of personal thought and motivations

○ Linguistic= analyze in terms of language of the story or spoken text (take into account intonation, pitch, and pauses)

The Narrative Analysis Researcher Continued… Must be able to decipher how best to tell

an individual’s story Must be able to process the

trustworthiness and reliability of these storiesKeep in mind, “We do not find stories; we

make stories.” (Mishler. 1995 pg 117)

Critical Research…

The goal is to critique and challenge, to transform and to empower.Patton states, “ critical [research] is that it

seeks not just to study and understand society but rather to critique and change society.”

The Critical Researcher…

Must raise the question about how power relations advance the interests of one group while oppressing those of other groups; and the nature of truth and construction of knowledge

Must not just seek to understand what is going on, but also to critique the way things are in order to bring about social change towards a more just society

The Critical Researcher Continued… PAR= Participatory Action Research (lens in

which Critical Research can be accomplished) Central focus is on the political empowerment of

people through their involvement in the design and implementation of a research projectCrucial component- engage in research in order to

better understand the covert and overt manifestations of oppression, understanding then leads to more control of life through collective action○ Theory and action are united in this type of Critical

Research

Summary…

Basic (most common)= understanding how people make sense of their experiences (data collected through interviews, observations, and documents-analyzed to address question posed)

All other types of qualitative research have the same characteristics. However, each has an added dimension.

Summary Continued…

Phenomenology= interested in the essence or underlying structure of a phenomenon

Ethnography= focus on sociocultural interpretation

Grounded Theory= build substantive theory grounded in data collected

Narrative Analysis= use stories to understand experience

Critical Research= seeks to uncover oppression and to empower

Figure 2.1 pg 38