Qualitative Study Designs

Question 1

Natural setting

Answer 1

Collect data where participants experience the issue under study

Question 2

What is purpose of natural setting

Answer 2

Talk to participants
See how participants behave and act in their context
Face-to-face interaction over time

Question 3

Emergent design

Answer 3

Initial plan for research can’t be tightly prescribed
- study phases may change/shift after researcher enters field

Question 4

Participants meanings

Answer 4

Focus on learning the meaning that the participants hold about the research topic
- emphasizes importance of purposeful sampling and “information rich” participants

Question 5

Some characteristics of qualitative research

Answer 5

• researcher as key instrument
• reflexivity
• often multiple data collection methods
• inductive data analyis
• interpretive
  -typically in natural setting

Question 6

Strategies of inquiry

Answer 6

Narrative, phenomenology, ethnography, case study, qualitative description, grounded theory

Question 7

Narrative

Answer 7

Study of individual
Focuses on stories of individuals that are used to bring understanding to lived experiences
Generated through interaction/dialogue between researcher and participants
May be single person or group

Question 8

Phenomenology

Answer 8

Study of phenomenon or concept through exploration of lived experiences
- group of individuals who have experienced phenomenon
- 5-8

Question 9

Ethnography

Answer 9

• describing and interpreting a cultural or social group , such as behaviours, values and beliefs
• goal is develop a complex, complete description of the culture of a group
• prolonged observation, identification of key informants

Question 10

Case study

Answer 10

In depth description of a case over time through detailed, in depth data collection involving sources of rich information

Question 11

Qualitative description

Answer 11

Used to develop a comprehensive description and summary of a phenomenon or event
- results in “everyday language”

Question 12

Grounded theory

Answer 12

Generate a theory from the data
- find unified theoretical explanation
Inductive

Question 13

When use qualitative?

Answer 13

• when problem/issue needs to be explored
• when complex or detailed understanding of issue is wanted
• identify variables that cannot easily be measured
• groups need to be studied
• hear silenced voices
• develop theories

Question 14

What is theory used for in qualitative

Answer 14

• inform research problem and purpose
• can become outcome
• used as theoretical lens or perspective to guide
• interpretive framework
• some studies don’t apply explicit theory

Question 15

What are three factors to determine sample size by saturation

Answer 15

Scope of study, nature of topic, quality of data

Question 16

Scope of study

Answer 16

Studies with broad focus will take longer to reach saturation than narrow topics, therefore more participants are needed

Question 17

Nature of topic

Answer 17

Extent to which topic is obvious and clear
Challenging phenomenon need larger samples

Question 18

Quality of data

Answer 18

Some participants share their knowledge and experiences in great detail, some not
If quality lacks depts need more participants