Bryman’s Social Research Methods
Chapter 16: The nature of qualitative research
Introduction:
Qualitative research is a type of research strategy that emphasizes words, images, and objects when
collecting and analysing data. It is broadly inductivist, constructionist, and interpretivist but it can
take a variety of forms.
What is qualitative research?
Qualitative research aims to generate deep insights concerning particular topics through engagement
with places and social actors. Aside from focus on words, images and objects other key features are:
Inductive view of relationship between theory and research
Interpretivist nature = generating understanding of the social world by examining how
participants interpret it
Ontological position or constructionist = social properties are seen as outcomes of the
interactions between individuals rather than phenomena that are “out there” and separate
from those involved in constructing them.
Traditions and perspectives in qualitative research:
Denzin and Lincoln created a list of 8 stages through which qualitative research has developed.
However, there are some problems with this list of stages:
1. The moments are presented as too distinct and as consecutive phases
* in reality a shift between the “moments” happens more fluently and even now is research a
combination of views
2. The list ends in the early 2000s and does not acknowledge new forms and perspectives in
modern qualitative research
There are also more recent themes and “movements” associated with qualitative research, such as:
An emphasis on the sensory in accessing and interpreting reality
A questioning of normative concepts of identity and experience
The use of creative and participatory approaches = these types of research methods attempt
to rebalance power relations in research by conducting studies “by” or “with” rather than
“on” participants.
Data-collection methods in qualitative research:
The main methods of data collection in qualitative research are:
Ethnography/participant observation
Qualitative interviewing
Focus groups
Collection of texts and documents
The main preoccupations of qualitative researchers:
Whereas quantitative research is more focused on natural sciences in terms of what is acceptable
knowledge, qualitative researchers are more influenced by interpretivism. The five common concerns
of qualitative research then are:
Seeing through the eyes of those being studied
Providing full descriptions and emphasizing context
, The importance of process in social life
Grounding concepts and theory in data
Seeing through the eyes of the people being studied:
Qualitative researchers operate on the assumption that subject matter of the social sciences is
different than that of natural sciences. The key difference is that objects of natural sciences cannot
attribute meaning to the environment and events, whereas people can and do. There is argued that
we need a methodology that reflects this difference, and an express a commitment to viewing the
social world through the eyes of the people that they study. Epistemology, which underlies
qualitative research, has been expressed as having two central principles:
1. Face-to-face interaction is the fullest condition of participating in the mind of another human
being
2. You must participate in the mind of another human being to acquire social knowledge
Seeing through the eyes of people often goes along with the goal of probing underneath surface
appearances. In attempting to take the position of people you are studying, you may find that they
view things in a different way from what you might have expected. Many researchers argue that the
kind of reasoning required is not inductive but abductive. Induction involves theory emerging out of
research, whereas abduction involves the researcher grounding a theoretical understanding of the
contexts and people they are studying in the language, meanings and perspectives that form that
worldview.
The importance of contexts:
Qualitative researchers are very likely to provide a lot of descriptive detail when reporting their
findings. Description is not their only focus, they also try to provide explanations and answers to
“why” questions. Qualitative studies often provide detailed descriptions of what goes on in the
setting being investigated, these are called thick descriptions. Descriptive excess is when the amount
of detail overwhelms of interferes with the analysis of the data. Researchers argue that we can’t
understand the behaviour of members of a social group without appreciating the specific relations,
networks and environments in which they operate. Naturalism is closely related to importance of the
context because it also places great value on detailed, rich descriptions of social settings.
Emphasis on process:
Qualitative research tends to view social life in terms of processes. This reveals itself by for example
trying to show how events and patterns unfold over time. Ethnographic research is particularly
associated with this emphasis, and ethnographers are typically immersed in a social setting for a long
time. By doing this they are able to observe the ways in which events develop and/or the ways in
which the different elements of a social system interconnect. The findings can help us see social life
in terms of streams of interdependent events and elements. Researchers can also examine process
through semi-structured and unstructured interviewing by asking participants to reflect on the
processes leading up to or following on from an event.
Flexibility:
Qualitative researchers are often critical of approaches to research that involve imposing
predetermined formats on the social world. This is largely to do with the preference of seeing
through the eyes of people being studied. When using a structured method, researchers must have
made decisions about what to expect and this limits the degree to which the researcher can try to
adopt the worldview of people being studied. So, a research orientation that involves as little prior
contamination of the social world as possible is preferred. Within ethnographic approaches the
preference for a less structured approach often means that the investigator does not need to
, develop highly specific research questions in advance. This allows researchers to submerge
themselves in a social setting within a fairly general research focus in mind, and the gradually
develop a narrower focus by making as many observations of that setting as possible. Another
advantage of less structure is it offers more scope for flexibility. So, researchers can change their
direction in their investigation more easily.
Concepts and theory that are grounded in data:
Qualitative researchers usually develop concepts and theories using the data that are collected
during the research project. This differs from quantitative research where theoretical issues are
usually seen as driving the formulation of research questions, which in turn shapes how data is
collected and analysed. Findings then feedback into the relevant theory. In qualitative research the
relationship between theory and data is more nuanced and ambiguous. Theory can both be a starting
point and the outcome.
The main steps in qualitative research:
An outline of the main steps of qualitative research is:
1. General research question
2. Selection of relevant site(s) and subjects
3. Collection of relevant data
4. Interpretation of data 5b. Collection of further data
5. Conceptual and theoretical work 5a. tighter specification of the research question(s)
6. Writing up findings and conclusions
Theory and concepts in qualitative research:
When writing about the research process, researchers emphasize a preference for treating theory as
something that informs and, at the same time, emerges out of data collection and analysis. Concepts
are part of the landscape in qualitative research. There are two types of concepts:
1. Definitive concepts = concepts become almost entirely defined by its indicators
2. Sensitizing concepts = providing a more general sense of what to look for and guide empirical
work. They help researchers uncover the variety of ways in which something can exist and be
seen, rather than imposing rigid measures.
There are some problems with the distinction between these two types. It is not clear how far a very
general formulation of a concepts can be regarded as a useful guide to empirical enquiry
(investigation based on observation or experience, not through logic or intuition). If it is too general it
will not provide a starting point, but if it is too narrow it is likely to become too rigid to use in
qualitative research.
Research quality and quantitative research:
There has been some discussion about how relevant the criteria for reliability and validity are in
qualitative research. In may be that these terms need to be redefined for use in qualitative contexts.
It is for this reason that some researchers have suggested using an entirely different set of criteria for
qualitative studies.
The use of reliability and validity in qualitative research:
Some researchers refer to reliability and validity with little change of meaning other than reducing
the emphasis on measurement issues. Another option is to alter the emphasis of the terms
