Qualitative Research Practice Summary Book
1. The foundations of qualitative research practice
Written by R. Ormston, L. Spencer, M. Barnard, D. Snape
The importance of knowing the background of qualitative research
- There is no single, accepted way of carrying out qualitative research. It all depends
on:
o Beliefs about nature of the social world (ontology)
o Nature of knowledge and how it can be acquired (epistemology)
o Characteristics of research participants
o Audience for the research
o Funders
o Positions and environments of the researchers
- The degree to which the research will be accepted will partly depend on the
particular stance(s) that those involved take:
o Some argue that consistency is seen as one way of producing more valid
findings.
o Others believe that a range of approaches and methods make for more valid
findings.
Nature of qualitative research
Qualitative research uses a wide range of approaches and methods within different research
disciplines. Therefore, it is hard to define the characteristics. Often qualitative research is
described as a naturalistic, interpretative approach, concerned with exploring phenomena
‘from the interior’ and taking the perspectives and accounts of research participants as a
starting point.
Some other researcher focus on the key features of qualitative research. Such as, data-
generation methods (observation, interviews, focus groups), specific kinds of data (words,
images not numbers). Hypotheses are most often derived from analysis of the data rather
than stated at the outset.
Common characteristics of qualitative research:
- Aims and objectives that focus on providing an in-depth and interpreted
understanding of the social world of participants by learning about their behaviour,
circumstances, experiences and perspectives.
- Use of non-standard, adaptable methods of data generation that are sensitive to the
social context of the study and can be adapted for each participant or case to allow
the exploration of emergent issues.
- Data that are detailed, rich and complex.
- Analysis that retains complexity and nuance and respects each participant being
unique as well as recurrent, cross-cutting themes.
, - Openness to emergent categories ant theories at the analysis and interpretation
stage.
- Outcomes that include detailed descriptions of the phenomena being researched,
grounded in the perspectives and accounts of the participants.
- A reflexive approach, where the role and perspective of the researcher in the
research process is acknowledged. For some researchers, reflexivity also means
reporting their personal experiences of the ‘field’.
Key Philosophical issues in social research
The issue of how the social world can be studied raises a number of philosophical questions
relating to different believes.
Ontology
Ontology is concerned with the nature of reality and what there is to know about the world.
In broad terms, there are two overarching ontological positions – realism and idealism.
A realist (realism) believes that there is an external reality which exists independently of
people’s beliefs about it. In other words, there is a distinction between the way the world is,
and the meaning and interpretation of that world held by individuals. There are multiple
more nuanced perspectives in realism:
- Naïve realism or shallow realism: reality can be observed directly and accurately
- Cautious realism: reality can be known approximately or imperfectly
- Depth realism, critical or transcendental realism: reality consist of different levels, the
empirical domain that is made of up what we experience through our senses, the
actual domain that exists regardless of whether or not it is observed, and the real
domain that refers to underlying processes and mechanisms.
- Subtle realism: an external reality exists, but is only known through the human mind
and socially constructed meanings.
- Materialism: recognises only material features. Values, beliefs or experiences are
‘epiphenomena’ that features arise from, but do not shape, the material world.
Idealist (idealism) believes that it is only knowable through the human mind and through
socially constructed meanings, and no reality exists independently of these.
- Subtle, contextual or collective idealism: the social world is made up of
representations constructed and shared by people in particular contexts.
- Relativism or radical idealism: there is no shared social reality, only a series of
different (individual) constructions.
The idea that fixed laws governing the social world exist or could be identified, is an idea
which is now rejected by most researchers.
Epistemology
Epistemology is concerned with ways of knowing and learning about the world and focuses
on issues such as how we can learn about reality and what forms the basis of our knowledge.
Several key issues dominate epistemological debates in social research.
- Way to acquiring knowledge
, o Inductive: evidence is collected first and knowledge and theories build from
this.
o Deductive: Hypothesis is first developed and evidence is collected to confirm
or reject it.
There can also be a combination of those to. Multiple researchers believe that
inductive approach will be influenced by assumptions deductively derived from
previous work and other way around.
- Research strategies or logics of enquiry
o Retroductive: Seeks to devise an explanation for patterns in data, structures
and mechanisms, trying out models for fit.
o Abduction: Everyday activities, ideas or beliefs are described using
participants’ language and meanings (first-order concepts). A technical
account is then ‘abducted’ from the lay accounts using the researcher’s
categories (second-order concepts).
- Other epistemological concepts or positions relevant to qualitative research focus on
the nature of knowledge or truth:
o Foundational vs. fallibilistic models of research-based knowledge: a
foundational model of research-based knowledge assumes it is possible to
mirror ‘reality’ accurately. A fallibilistic model treats all knowledge claims as
provisional.
o Knowledge as ‘value-mediated’: holds that all knowledge is affected by the
values of the person who produces/receives it.
o Correspondence theory of truth: a statement is true if it matches independent
reality.
o Coherence theory of truth: an account is true as a representation of the world
if it is supported by several other accounts.
o Pragmatic theory of truth: beliefs are true if they have practical utility, if
believing them is useful, helpful and productive to people.
- Relationship between researcher and researched and how this influences facts and
values.
o Findings are either mediated through the researcher (value-mediated
observation) or are negotiated and agreed between the researcher and
research participant (objective observation). Between these to positions
multiple researcher propose ‘empathic neutrality’, a position that recognises
that research cannot be value free but which advocated that researchers
should try to make their assumptions, biases and values transparent.
- What does it mean to accept claims as true or accurate?
o Dominant theory of truth: There is a match between observations/readings of
the natural world and an independent reality.
o Intersubjective or coherence theory of truth: independent reality can only be
gauged in a consensual rather than an absolute way. If multiple reports
confirm the statement it can be seen as the truth.
o Pragmatic theory of truth: An interpretation is true if it leads to, or provides
assistance to take, actions that produce the desired or predicted results.
Positivism and the scientific method
, Positivism had a big influence on the way social enquiry developed over the last century, and
provides the wider backdrop against which qualitative research evolved and matured.
- Rene Decartes, 1637 Discourse on Methodology. Researchers should attempt to
distance themselves from any influences that might corrupt their analytical capacity.
- Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon, 16th century, knowledge about the world can be
acquired through direct observations, rather than deduced from abstract
propositions.
- David Hume, 1711-1776, founding father of empirical research tradition. All
knowledge about the world originates in our experiences and is derived through the
senses. Basing evidence on direct observation and collecting it in an objective and
unbiased way became key tenets of empirical research.
- Auguste Comte, 1798-1857, founding father of sociology and architect of positivism.
The social world could and should be studied in much the same way as the natural
world, based on direct observations from which universal and invariant laws of
human behaviour could be identified.
- Popper, 1930, criticised the idea that general laws could be derived from observations
on the grounds that it was always possible that a future observation might prove an
exception to the rule. Popper advocated for an deductive approach where the
hypotheses is rejected, more researcher want the hypotheses to be confirmed. This
can be referred to post-positivism and post-empiricism.
Positivism and post-positivism
Positivism (Willis, 2007) empiricism (Blaikie, 2007)
o Knowledge is produced through the senses based on careful observation
o Regularities and ‘constant conjunctions’ are identified.
o Inductive reasoning is used after data have been collected to generalise from
empirical instances to general laws.
o Reality is unaffected by the research process, facts and values are separate,
objective value-free inquiry is possible.
o The methods used in the natural sciences are appropriate for studying the
social world.
o Reality can be known accurately (knowledge is foundational, correspondence
theory of truth)
o
Post-positivism, post-empiricism (Willis, 2007) Falsificationism (Blaikie, 2007)
o Knowledge of the world is produced through testing propositions: hypotheses
about causal relationships are derived from scientific theories and then
evaluated empirically against observations.
o Deductive reasoning is used to postulate possible relationships and models
before data are collected.
o Reality is unaffected by the research process, facts and values are separate,
objective value-free inquiry is possible.
o The methods used in the natural sciences are appropriate for studying the
social world.
o Reality can be known approximately, hypotheses can be rejected or
provisionally confirmed, but not definitively proved to be true (knowledge is
provisional and fallibilistic, coherence theory of truth)
