Samenvatting Qualitative Research Practice - Qualitative Research Methods
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Course
Qualitative Research Methods
Institution
Tilburg University (UVT)
This document contains a very extensive summary of the course 'Qualitative Research Methods'. Lectureslides, notes taken during the lectures and the relevant chapters from the book are all merged. The course and lecture goals are mentioned, just like the chapters for each week.
Qualitative Research Methods
Lecture 1: Quantitative versus Qualitative research
Literature: Ritchie et al.: chapter 1 p 1-4 (p.4 only box 1.1), chapter 2 p. 30 (from the
functions of qualitative research) – 39, box 2.1 p.41
Course learning goals
CG 1: Contrast the characteristics and research questions of qualitative and mixed methods
research in the social sciences.
Lecture goals
- Match research questions to qualitative and quantitative research
- Summarize the characteristics of qualitative research
- Explain the difference between inductive and deductive; emic and etic perspective
- Differentiate between the functions (i.e. contextual, explanatory, evaluative and
generative) of social science research
Quantitative research and qualitative research
Quantitative research Qualitative research
Links and effects Processes, events, experiences,
perceptions, beliefs etc.
Emphasis on deductive process Emphasis on inductive process
Testable hypotheses derived from theory or No hypotheses, but possibly expectations
logic
Testing hypotheses Theory development and adaptation
Questionnaires (quantifiable), experiments, Interviews (open questions), field research,
available data available data
Etic (outsider perspective) Emic (insider) perspective
Deductive and inductive
,Etic perspective
How non-members of a group interpret behaviour of a given culture (outsider’s perspective).
The etic perspective refers to an external viewpoint used to study a culture or social group.
Researchers adopting an etic approach analyse behaviours and phenomena using concepts
and categories from their own culture or from a universally accepted framework. This
perspective is considered more objective and seeks to compare cultures using common
metrics.
Example: A sociologist studying marriage rituals in various cultures categorizes different
types of ceremonies and compare them based on commonly known elements like ritual
symbols, attire, and ceremonies.
- Outsider's View: The researcher observes and analyses from an external
standpoint.
- Objective Analysis: Emphasizes universal concepts that can be applied across
different cultures.
- Comparison: Useful for comparing and contrasting different cultural practices.
Emic perspective
How members of a given culture perceive their world (insider’s perspective).
The emic perspective is an insider's viewpoint that focuses on understanding a culture or
social group from within. Researchers using an emic approach aim to understand the
meanings, beliefs, and practices as they are perceived by the members of the culture being
studied. This perspective emphasizes context-specific understanding and is considered more
subjective.
Example: An anthropologist living within a remote tribe and learning about their marriage
rituals directly from the tribe members, understanding the symbols and practices in the
context of their own cultural significance.
- Insider's View: The researcher tries to see the world through the eyes of the people
being studied.
- Subjective Understanding: Focuses on the unique aspects of a culture as
understood by its members.
- Contextual: Emphasizes the importance of cultural context in interpreting behaviours
and practices.
,Warning: contrast is more nuanced
- Qualitative research can also be deductive (e.g. deductive coding) in general it is
inductive, but can be deductive
- Quantitative research can also be inductive (data-driven)
- Qualitative research can also depart from an etic perspective (e.g. structured
interview, deductive coding). The interviewer can also be too focused on what they
think the participant said.
- Quantitative research can also prioritize an emic perspective (e.g. personalized
questionnaire)
Jerome Bruner: 2 distinct ways of knowing
Paradigmatic knowledge Versus Narrative knowledge
Reflects ‘objective’, deterministic world ‘constructed’, world in which
(deterministic = believing that human agency can make things
everything that happens must happen
happen as it does and couldn’t
have happened any other way)
Close Physical science Social sciences, humanities
to Abstract if-then statements Stories to make sense of events,
experiences
Focus Explaining observable The personal and collective
on phenomena; specific causal construction of meaning in the
factors and effects (e.g. world (e.g. the significance of
unemployment rate in a city) losing one’s job)
= Quantitative sensibility = Qualitative sensibility
Different research objectives ask for different methods qualitative research as an
independent research strategy.
Definition: qualitative research
- “Qualitative research is a broad umbrella term that covers a wide range of
techniques and philosophies; thus, it is not easy to define”.
- In broad terms: qualitative research is an approach that allows you to examine
people’s experiences in detail by using specific set of research methods, such
as
In-depth interviews
Focus group discussions
Observation
Content analysis
Visual methods
Life histories
Biographies
- “Qualitative research, however, is much more than just the application of
qualitative methods. Simply applying the methods does not automatically make you
a qualitative researcher”.
- One of the most distinctive features of qualitative research is that the approach allows
you to identify issues from the perspective of you study participants and
understand the meanings and interpretations that they give to behaviour,
events or objects.
, For example: to understand their experience of illness or disability, their
experience of using a health service, or to identify their social or cultural norms =
interpretative approach
- To derive this information a qualitative researcher needs to be open-minded,
curious and empathic, flexible and able to listen to people telling their own story
this is the way to an emic point of view
- Qualitative researchers also study people in their natural settings, to identify how
their experiences and behaviour are shaped by the context of their lives, such as
the social, economic, cultural or physical context in which they live. Therefore,
qualitative research also seeks to embrace and understand the contextual influences
on the research issues.
Field research, join the group, context (frame of reference, do you go on holidays
a lot or not? this influences the way people experience a holiday).
- Denzin and Lincoln (2008, p. 4) state that qualitative research ‘involves an
interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative
researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of,
or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them’.
The functions of qualitative research in social research
Contextual research
= Describing the form of nature of what exists:
- As experienced by the study population
- Participants perspectives
- Unpack issues experienced by participants to see what they are about or what lies
inside, and to explore how they are understood by those connected with them.
Explanatory research
= Examining the reasons for, or associations between what exists:
- In-depth study of processes; complex dynamics, social context and human
interactions
- Explain things – why is this the way it is?
- There is a debate about whether ‘causes’ of social phenomena can be truly detected,
with some arguing that cause and social enquiry can only be speculative.
Evaluative research
= Appraising the effectiveness of what exists (e.g. policy implementations), how well things
work
- Processes (how & why) & (experienced) outcomes (what)
- E.g. TiU student evaluation using focus groups
Generative research
= Aiding the development of theories, strategies or actions
- Conceptualization/understanding (novel) phenomena
- E.g. why are students now less often on campus than pre-covid?
Factors in whether a qualitative approach is needed
The features described below are some of the main determinants of using qualitative
research as an independent mode of research enquiry.
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