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An Introduction to
Qualitative Research
Peter Harper
The “Moments” of
Qualitative Research
Denzin NK Lincoln YS (1999) The Handbook of Qualitative
Research. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
• “objective” colonizing accounts of field experiences that
were reflective of the positivist scientist paradigm
• The “other” who was studied was alien, foreign and
strange
• This period is dominated by the concept of ethnography
• Ethnography = “the process and product of describing
and interpreting cultural behaviour.” (Schwandt 2001)
• Ethnography is often used synonymously with “fieldwork”
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
Bronislaw Malinowski in the Trobriand Islands 1918
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
Margaret Mead in Samoa 1926
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
In the field one has to face a chaos of
facts…. In this crude form they are not
scientific facts at all; they are absolutely
elusive, and can only be fixed by
interpretation…. Only laws and
generalizations are scientific facts, and
fieldwork consists only and exclusively in
the interpretation of the chaotic social
reality, in subordinating it to general rules.
(Malinowski, 1916/1948, p.328; quoted in
Geertz 1988, p.81)
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
The emergence of sociology featured a positivist belief in a "science of
society" that, by explaining the causes of social phenomena, could
improve social conditions.
American sociologists extracted from the European intellectual
inheritance a particular nuance of positivism, the idea that quantification
tied to the formulation of sociological problems in terms of the
hypothetico-deductive model enabled causal explanations of empirical
phenomena.
This approach has stood in tension with interpretivist approaches ever
since. The field came to be marked by a bipolar opposition, with
quantitative methods associated with causal explanation of macro-social
phenomena and qualitative methods with interpretivist understandings
of micro-social phenomena.
Fielding, Nigel (2005).
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
The Chicago School is usually seen as the champion of qualitative
method during sociology's childhood.
In 1927 William OGBURN was appointed to bring in a "scientific"
sociology based on statistics and by the 1940s, with PARSONS'
rise at Harvard and Columbia's growing dominance in survey
research and opinion polling, US sociology had shifted to a
quantitative paradigm.
In the 1950s a group of quantitative sociologists came to Chicago
from Columbia and Everett HUGHES stood virtually alone as
representative of the earlier tradition.
Fielding, Nigel (2005).
The Traditional Period
the first moment - early 1900’s until second world war
Everrett HUGHES was at Chicago from 1938 to 1961. His course in
field observation methods was compulsory for students of sociology,
anthropology and social science. HUGHES was the driving force in
developing participant observation as a distinct methodology because
he and his students had to justify their procedures against constant
criticism from statisticians.
The other key Chicago figure in qualitative methodology was Herbert
BLUMER, whose symbolic interactionism was developed as an
explicit insurgency against positivist sociology.
Fielding, Nigel (2005, May). The Resurgence, Legitimation and Institutionalization of Qualitative Methods
[23 paragraphs]. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research [On-line
Journal], 6(2), Art. 32. Available at: http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-05/05-2-32-e.htm [Date
of Access: Month Day, Year].
The Modernist Phase
the second moment – post war years to 1970’s
• Traditional approaches continue and are still valued.
• During this period many writers attempt to “formalise”
qualitative research e.g. Grounded Theory (Glaser and
Strauss 1967).
• The post-positivist movement is a powerful influence
with researchers attempting to apply the principles of
reliability and validity to constructivist and interactionist
approaches.
The Modernist Phase
the second moment – post war years to 1970’s
• Modernist ethnographers and sociological participant
observers attempt rigorous study of important social
processes such as deviance and social control
• A seminal, much quoted study, from this period is “Boys
in White” (Becker et al 1961)
• This study attempted to make qualitative research as
rigorous as quantitative and used “standard statistics” to
analyse the data (later described as quasi statistics).
The Modernist Phase
the second moment – post war years to 1970’s
The Modernist phase or, “Golden Age”, is bounded by :
“Boys in White”
at the start
in 1961
and
“The Discovery of
Grounded Theory”
at the end
in 1967
Blurred Genres
the third
third moment
moment –– 1970
1970 to
to 1986
1986
the
By this stage qualitative research encompasses a
wide range of paradigms, strategies and methods:
Paradigms
Symbolic Interactionism
Naturalistic Inquiry
Positivism
Structuralism
Post-Positivism
Semiotics
Ethno-methodology
Feminism
Critical Theory (Marxist)
Constructivism
Phenomenology
Various ethnic paradigms
Blurred Genres
the third moment – 1970 to 1986
Strategies
Grounded Theory
Case Study
Historical
Biographical
Ethnographical
Action research
Clinical Research
Blurred Genres
the third moment – 1970 to 1986
Methods
Interviewing
Observation
Visual
Personal Experience
Documentary
Blurred Genres
the third moment – 1970 to 1986
• The naturalist, post positivist and constructionist
paradigms gained power in this period.
• By the end of the 1970’s several qualitative journals
were in place.
Urban Life (Now the Journal of Contemporary Ethnography)
Qualitative Sociology
Symbolic Interaction
Studies in Symbolic Interaction
Blurred Genres
the third moment – 1970 to 1986
The beginning and end of the Blurred Genres phase is
defined by two books by Geertz:
The
Interpretation
of Cultures
in 1973
and
Local
Knowledge
In 1983
Blurred Genres
the third moment – 1970 to 1986
Geertz argued that:
the old functional,
positivist, behavioral,
totalizing, approaches
to human disciplines
were giving
way to
To a more pluralistic,
interpretive, open ended perspective
Crisis of Representation
the fourth moment – the mid 1980’s to the present
A “profound rupture” occurred in the mid -1980’s with publication of:
Anthropology as Cultural Critique (Marcus & Fischer 1986)
The Anthropology of Experience (Turner & Bruner 1986)
Writing Culture (Clifford and Marcus 1986)
Works and Lives (Geertz 1988)
“These works made research and writing more reflexive, and called
into question the issues of gender, class and race. They articulated
the consequences of Geertz’s ‘blurred genres’ interpretation of the
field in the early 1980’s.”
Crisis of Representation
the fourth moment – the mid 1980’s to the present
• Issues of reliability, once thought of as settled, now
become problematic again.
• Interpretive theories are now more common than
grounded theories.
• Reflections the relationship between field work and
writing emerge
A Triple Crisis
the fifth moment – the present
Three crises emerge from the discourses of
poststructuralism and postmodernism
The Representational Crisis
The Legitimization Crisis
Praxis
A Triple Crisis
the fifth moment – the present
The Representational Crisis
• This crisis addresses the degree to which qualitative
researchers can capture lived experience.
• It is argued now that such experience is created in
the social text written by the researcher.
A Triple Crisis
the fifth moment – the present
The Legitimization Crisis
• This crisis centres on the traditional issues of
reliability, validity and generalisability.
• The central questions arising from this crisis is how
can qualitative research be evaluated.
A Triple Crisis
the fifth moment – the present
The Praxis Crisis
The crisis of representation and the crisis of
legitimisation are interrelated and produce
the third - how are the outcomes of
qualitative research to be used especially if
“society is only a text”.
The Research Process
An Analytical Framework
Ontology
The ontological orientation of the researcher, in terms of his
or her beliefs about reality, determine their epistemological
perspective on knowledge.
Epistemology
The epistemological orientation of the researcher is
determined by his or her beliefs about reality and influences
their choices of research methodology.
Methodology
The methods used by the researcher are determined by his
or her ontological and epistemological orientation
Inductive Reasoning
Inductive reasoning is based on meticulous
observation, e.g., we can observe that metal
expands when it is heated.
Non-Probability Sampling
Convenience
Samples are taken from conveniently
available people or things.
Purposive
Sample units are deliberately chosen
because they have specific attributes.
Volunteer
A self selected convenience sample.
Snowball
Used in populations of people where one
participant identifies subsequent ones.
Quota
Similar to stratified random sampling but
without randomisation.
Qualitative Data Collection
Interviewing
Traditional Types of Interview
The Structured or Closed Interview
The Semi structured Interview
The Unstructured or Open Interview
Traditional Types of Interview
The Structured or Closed Interview
• The structured interview uses closed questions, i.e.,
questions that require either a yes or know answer or require
a choice of answer to be made.
• This approach is commonly used in survey research and
hardly ever in qualitative research. It is useful for deductive
exploration of a clearly defined research question.
• The interviewer controls the process in structured interviewing
as well as the direction of the interview.
Traditional Types of Interview
The Semi-structured Interview
• The semi-structured interview may use both open and closed
questions
• This approach is commonly used in qualitative research and
sometimes in quantitative research. It is useful for deductively
exploring research questions but allows for inductively
derived new perspectives.
• The interviewer controls the process in semi-structured
interviewing and the overall direction of the interview but
allows the interviewee some control over the direction of the
interview.
Traditional Types of Interview
The Unstructured or Open Interview
• The unstructured interview uses open questions, i.e.,
questions that encourage the interviewee to offer in depth
information.
• This approach is commonly used in qualitative research and
hardly ever in quantitative research. It is useful for inductive
exploration of loosely defined research questions or even as
a means to develop research questions.
• The interviewer controls the process in unstructured
interviewing but has little control over the direction of the
interview.
Issues in Qualitative
Interviewing
There is an issue of who is in control of the process, i.e.,
• whether there is a traditional hierarchical researcher –
participant relationship or,
• whether there is a equal relationship in which both interviewer
and interviewee are both participants.
QUESTION: can there ever be a truly equal
relationship between researcher and participant?
Issues in Qualitative
Interviewing
There is a representation issue, i.e.,
• to what extent does the interviewer change or influence the
data being collected / generated through the interview,
• and therefore to what extent is interview data a true
representation of the interviewee’s experience.
QUESTION: can the interviewer ever experience
the interviewees experience?
QUESTION: what are the consequences for any
conclusions derived from the interview?
Active Interviewing
(Holstein and Gubrium)
The active interview is interactional. From a traditional interviewing
standpoint this approach is open to “bias” or “contamination” but in
Holstein and Gubrium’s words:
“This criticism only holds, however, if one takes a narrow view of
interpretive practice and meaning construction. Bias is a meaningful
concept only if the subject is a preformed, purely informational
commodity that the interview might somehow taint.”
(Holstein and Gubrium 1997, p.126)
Observation
Types of Observation
Gold (1958)
The Complete Observer
covert
The Observer as Participant
neutrality
The Participant as Observer
The Complete Participant
covert
Gold, R.L. (1958) Roles in sociological field observations. Social Forces, 36, 217-223.
Practicalities of Observation
Observation is a highly skilled activity and
attention needs to be paid to:
Determining the focus of the observation
Gaining access to the setting
What to observe
How to observe
How to record observations
The ethics of observation.
Issues in Qualitative
Observation
The two predominant issues are:
• The validity of observation
• The reliability of observation
These issues stem from a post-positivist / modernist stance.
From a post-modernist stance, traditional reliability and validity are
not an issue.
Observation is considered particularly strong when used in
combination with other methods.
The Principles of
Qualitative Interpretation
Qualitative Analysis
Qualitative data usually consists of the words or actions of
research participants, gained through interviews,
observation, documents or diaries.
Qualitative analysis involves bringing order, structure and
meaning to this mass of information so that conclusions
can be made and communicated.
Qualitative Analysis
There are as many different approaches to qualitative
analysis as there are qualitative researchers (Tesch 1990)
Tesch described three main types depending on their
focus.
• Characteristics of language e.g. content analysis
• Discovery of regularities e.g. grounded theory
• Comprehension of meaning e.g. phenomenology
Qualitative Analysis
Crabtree and Miller (1999) describe the interpretation of
qualitative data as a “complex and dynamic craft” and
compare it to a “dance”:
“Interpretation is like a night at the big dance. The dance
begins with an invitation to attend. These invitations state
the intent, establish the context, determine the guests,
suggest what to bring and wear, and propose boundaries
for what to expect. It’s a senior high school prom or a
community contra dance. This is the initial describing
phase of interpretation.……..”
Qualitative Analysis
“…..Once at the dance and with the fun under way, however,
the dance often changes. New partners appear, the music
shifts, the unexpected happens, you and some of your closest
friends change, and new relationships form. You must keep
re-describing and adjusting, gathering new information; this is
the iteration between data collection and interpretation. There
is an opening dance that sets the tone for the evening, much
as the initial organizing style frames the interpretive
possibilities. The big dance event ends with a closing dance
that, one hopes, resolves the evenings tensions.”
Qualitative Analysis
The process of qualitative interpretation is described by
Crabtree and Miller as having five phases “through which
one iteratively spirals and shifts”. The five phases are:
Describing
Organizing
Connecting
Corroborating and Legitimating
Representing the Account
These five phases should not be seen as linear or sequential but
rather as parallel, overlapping and interweaving processes.
Qualitative Analysis
Describing
The describing phase is characterised by self examination; an
examination of the context in which the interpretation is
occurring in terms of both the past and the future.
During the describing phase researchers reflect on their
preconceptions and what part these preconceptions play in the
interpretive process; on what they have learned form collecting
new data; and on the direction the research should take from
this point.
Qualitative Analysis
Describing
“A common error in clinical qualitative research is switching
from a critical or constructivist paradigm back to a
materialistic, positivist paradigm part of the way through the
research process, most often at the interpretive moment”. The
cultural forces pushing and pulling towards universal, reliable,
and valid truths with generalizable, predictable, and
controllable outcomes is subtle, persistent, and powerful.”
(Crabtree and Miller 1999)
Qualitative Analysis
Describing
On a more pragmatic level, the describing phase is a time for
asking questions about the nature, appropriateness, and
quality of the data collected in terms of the research questions
being explored.
What are the boundaries of the research? What additional
data needs to be collected to legitimise, or test, emerging
conclusions?
Qualitative Analysis
Organizing and Connecting
Crabtree and Miller use the term organizing to describe “how
one enters the data and reorganizes it in a way that helps
answer the research question”.
The process of connecting, Crabtree and Millers third stage, is
closely related to organizing and mutually interdependent.
Qualitative Analysis
Organizing and Connecting
Crabtree and Miller describe 3 organizing styles:
The Editing Style
The Template Style
The Immersion and Crystallization Style
Qualitative Analysis
The Editing Style
The editing style describes the interpreter entering the text
“much like an editor searching for meaningful segments,
cutting, pasting and rearranging until the reduced summary
reveals a helpful interpretation.”
The interpreter does not use a template but searches for
“meaningful units or segments” in the text which are coded
and categorised and, during the connecting phase, organised
into explanatory patterns or themes. Grounded theory is an
example of an editing organizational style
The Editing Style
analysis begins at the same time as data collection
reflecting
interpreting
verifying
interviewing
observing
transcribing
describing
recording
coding
writing
categorising
clustering
theorising
CODING
Suspension
“Cheeking Teacher”
Absenteeism
Telling Parents
Essay
Smoking
“Messing about”
Caning
CATEGORISING
CRIMES
PUNISHMENTS
“Cheeking Teacher”
Suspension
Absenteeism
Essay
Smoking
Telling Parents
“Messing about”
Caning
CLUSTERING
TEACHERS
HOUSES
Mr Pennington
Southwark
Mr Goddard
Clifton
Mr Lloyd
Lancaster
Mr “Wilkinson”
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
“Cheeking Teacher”
Suspension
Absenteeism
Essay
Smoking
Telling Parents
“Messing about”
Caning
THEORISING
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
“Cheeking Teacher”
Suspension
Absenteeism
Essay
Smoking
Telling Parents
“Messing about”
Caning
Is there a hierarchy of punishment?
Is there a hierarchy of crimes?
Is there a relationship between these hierarchies?
Qualitative Analysis
The Template Style
The template style uses a template derived from theory,
research tradition, pre-existing knowledge, and/or a summary
reading of the text; templates can be predetermined or created
after data collection. Units are often behavioural and are
refined iteratively during the connecting phase into an
explanatory framework.
The Template Style
analysis begins at the same time as data collection
reflecting
interpreting
interviewing
observing
transcribing
describing
recording
coding
using a pre-determined template
writing
verifying
categorising
clustering
theorising
CODING Template
Predetermined Codes
Misdemeanors
Good Behaviour
Punishments
Rewards
Relationships with Teachers
Relationships with other Pupils
Compliance with rules
Organisational Structure
New Codes
Related Quotations
Qualitative Analysis
The Immersion and Crystallization Style
The immersion / crystallization style makes the most demands
of the three styles on the interpreter and is difficult to describe
precisely. In broad terms Crabtree and Miller define it as
“prolonged immersion into and experience of the text and then
emergence, after concerned reflection, with an intuitive
crystallization of the data.”
Borkan (1999) acknowledges the difficulty in providing a
“cookbook” step by step description of the immersion /
crystallization style suggesting that “its successful execution
may be more akin to artistic expression”
Immersion and Crystallization Style
analysis begins at the same time as data collection
reflecting
interpreting
verifying
interviewing
observing
transcribing
describing
recording
immersion
writing
crystallization
theorising
Qualitative Analysis
Corroborating and Legitimating
The corroborating and legitimating phase is concerned with the
validity of the interpretation in the sense of its trustworthiness
and credibility. Crabtree and Miller propose that together, the
organizing, connecting and corroborating and legitimating
phases comprise the core of the interpretive process.
Qualitative Analysis
Corroborating and Legitimating
There are numerous approaches to corroborating and legitimating
qualitative interpretation. Two strategies frequently used are:
• verification of the interpretation by participants who have
provided the original data and;
• the utilisation of multiple perspectives, i.e., having two or more
people (often members of a research team) independently
interpret data and comparing the similarities and differences in
the interpretation.
Qualitative Analysis
Representing the Account
The final of Crabtree and Miller’s five phases, representation
of the account, refers to the way in which the research will be
reported, the story told, how it will be written up.
Qualitative Analysis
Representing the Account
Writing as Research
“Although we usually think of writing as a mode of ‘telling’
about the social world, writing is not just a mopping-up activity
at the end of a research project. Writing is also a way of
“knowing” – a method of discovery and analysis. By writing in
different ways, we discover new aspects of our topic and our
relationship to it. Form and content are inseparable.”
(Richardson 1998, p345)
Qualitative Analysis
Representing the Account
The Reader as Participant
The relationship between writers and their readers is a
complex phenomena and a recurring theme in relativist
research paradigms.
Case study researchers have speculated on the role of the
reader in generalizing research findings (Gomm 2000).
Winter (1989) describes the outcome of research activity
as a “dialogue” between reader and writer.
Thank you
Any Questions