Module 10 Flashcards
(30 cards)
What is qualitative research?
Qualitative research is a research strategy that collects and analyzes non-numerical data: words rather than numbers.
Qualitative data can be primary or secondary.
Primary qualitative data
Primary qualitative data : are qualitative data that are collected first-hand by the researcher for a specific research purpose. Researchers can collect primary qualitative data through interviews, focus groups, or observations.
Secondary qualitative data
Secondary qualitative data are qualitative data that have already been collected by someone else for a different purpose. The researcher reanalyzes these data for a new purpose. Secondary qualitative data sources include written texts, such as company and financial reports, press releases, blogs, etc.
When to use qualitative research?
Qualitative research is helpful to generate insights into less mature topics: in order to clarify key constructs and develop new theoretical frameworks. In business research, it is particularly suited to uncover unexpected pain points or opportunities to add value. (An example of a less mature research topic that would benefit from qualitative research is consumers’ reactions toward drone delivery services)
Qualitative research is typically inductive rather than deductive, because the researcher develops a theoretical framework during the empirical research (rather than before the empirical research), including propositions/hypotheses that can subsequently be tested in future quantitative research. However, while qualitative researchers tend to subscribe to an inductive research process, qualitative research can also be used to test theories deductively.
Sometimes, it is wrongly assumed that qualitative and quantitative research are each other’s opposites. This is not true. These two research strategies complement each other well, and together, they may provide the best answer to a research question
options that you may use to collect primary qualitative data:
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Observations
Interviews ?
Interviews:
An interview is a conversation where the researcher asks questions and listens while the respondent answers.
Respondents can, e.g., be CEOs, middle managers, employees, investors, accountants, suppliers, or consumers.
Types of interviews
A structured interview : has a carefully worded set of interview questions. The interviewee can typically be brief in his/her responses.
In an unstructured interview: the interviewer does not have a planned sequence of questions to be asked to the interviewee. The interviewer usually begins the interview with a broad question, for example: what are your views on …? The interviewee then responds to this question and can talk freely. The interviewer’s next questions are very much dependent on the answers given by the interviewee.
A semi-structured interview: is a hybrid form of the structured and unstructured interview approach. The semi-structured interview is based on a set of predetermined questions, but it also leaves room for the interviewee to elaborate on his/her responses and for the interviewer to introduce additional questions based on the interviewee’s answer.
- The semi-structured approach tends to be the favoured choice for collecting interview data.
Designing a semi-structured interview
An interview contains the following stages:
Stage 1. Setting the scene
First, introduce yourself. Briefly inform the interviewee about the purpose of the interview and why s/he was chosen to be among those interviewed. Ask for the interviewee’s permission to audiotape the interview and assure confidentiality: explain that the interviewee’s anonymity will be preserved.
Stage 2. Warm-up questions
Start with a few warm-up questions: easy-to-answer, non-sensitive questions.
Stage 3. Interview
Then, ask the main questions of interest, organised per subtopic. Start with an open-ended question. Based on the interviewee’s answer, continue with one or more probing questions. Probing questions are follow-up questions that help the interviewee to think through issues. Examples of probing questions are ‘Can you give an example?’ or ‘What do you exactly mean by that?’
Stage 4. Summarising
Summarise/rephrase important information given by the interviewee, to make sure you interpreted his/her answers correctly.
Interview data
After the interview takes place, you must transcribe it.
You should reproduce exactly what you and the interviewee have said in the language in which the interview was conducted. It is advisable to transcribe interviews immediately as you may then still be able to recall the interviewee’s non-verbal cues during the interview.
As a rule of thumb, one hour of interviewing takes four hours of transcribing.
Focus groups
A focus group is an unstructured interview conducted by a moderator with a small group of participants, varying from approximately 8 to 14.
The moderator asks questions in an interactive setting where participants are free to talk to each other. Listening to others expressing their experiences and ideas stimulates participants to express their own opinions.
The role of the moderator in focus groups
The moderator is core to the success of a focus group. The role of the moderator is to ensure that all members participate in the discussion and that no member dominates the group.
Designing a focus group
the number of stages to a focus group are ?:
Stage 1: Setting the scene
The moderator introduces the topic and explains the purpose of the focus group. S/he should also negotiate consent to record the focus group. It is very important that the participants taking part in the focus group understand how recordings will be used.
Stage 2: Introductions
Go around the table and ask everyone to introduce themselves, stating their first name clearly. This will be important for writing up the recording later. The moderator can also ask participants to give a short answer to an introductory question to get everyone involved in the discussion from the outset.
Stage 3: Discussion
A topic guide needs to be planned in advance; this outlines the areas for discussion during the focus group, with key ideas and questions to be discussed. It is useful to construct the topic guide with the thought of a conversation in mind rather than interview questions. Therefore, include topic questions, possibly with areas for prompting rather than exact questions. It is highly likely that the discussion will take place in a different order compared to the order of the topic guide. The moderator should also be prepared to tactfully steer the group back to the topics under consideration if the conversation goes too much off track.
Stage 4: Closing round
It is good to end the discussion with a ‘closing round’, asking each participant, in turn, to offer final reflections or answer a final question. This is followed by informing the participants of the next steps and how they can stay informed or involved with the research.
Focus-group data consist of: what ?
Focus group data consist of:
tape recordings
transcripts of those recordings, and
the moderator’s notes from the discussion
Choosing between focus groups and interviews ?
Focus groups allow for group interaction. Therefore, focus groups are preferred for topics where new ideas or insights are more likely to emerge when people can build on each other’s answers.
Also, focus groups work well when respondents can say all that is relevant or all that they know in response to a question in less than 10 minutes.
Interviews, on the other hand, may be a better method to research more sensitive topics. For example, consumers’ or firms’ investment strategies may be too sensitive for respondents to be willing to talk openly about them in a group.
Interviews are also the better method when the interviewer is looking for more detailed answers, which is the case for more complex topics, and when expert respondents are being interviewed.
whats Observations
Observations involve systematically recording the behaviours of small groups of people in their natural surroundings.
Types of observational research
Observational research comes in four types. These four types can be distinguished along two dimensions.
The first dimension pertains to whether the research’s identity is revealed (overt observation) or concealed (covert observation) during the study. The second dimension pertains to the extent to which the researcher participates in the activities of the organization that s/he is observing.
This leads to four types of observation research that are labeled:
Complete participant
Complete observer
Observer as participant
Participant as observer
Complete participant
In the complete participant role, the researcher
tries to become a member of the group which s/he is researching
does not reveal his/her true purpose to those he is observing
For example, a researcher may participate as a co-worker in an organisation to evaluate some of the company’s working practices.
Complete observer
In the complete observer role, the researcher
does not reveal his/her purpose to those he is observing
does not take part in the activities of those s/he is observing
For example, a researcher may observe consumers’ behaviour at a supermarket’s checkout. Which checkouts do they choose? How much do they interact with the cashier? How long are the delays, and how impatient do consumers become of these delays?
Observer-as-participant
In the observer-as-participant role, the researcher
does not take part as a member of the group which s/he is observing
reveals his/her true purpose to those he is observing
For example, you may observe a team-building course as a spectator.
Participant-as-observer
In the participant-as-observer role, the researcher
takes part as a member of the group which s/he is observing
reveals his/her true purpose to those he is observing
For example, you may participate in a strike and completely immerse yourself in it, spending long hours with those on strike, without being an employee of the company involved.
Observational data
(Note-making )
Note-making is very important in observational studies. Your notes should consist of:
primary observations: notes about what happened or what was said
experiential data: notes on your perceptions and feelings as you experience the process you are researching
contextual data: notes on the research setting (e.g., organisational structure, communication patterns, …) that may help you interpret other data
Choosing between observations and interviews
Observations are most suited if you are interested in direct information about people’s behaviour. However, it does not uncover the reasons underlying people’s behaviour.
If you are interested in finding out what drives people’s behaviour, interviews are more suitable than observation.
For some topics, however, interviews might lead to distorted information, for example, because people may provide socially desirable answers. In such instances, it might be better to observe people’s actual behaviour.
Reliability and qualitative research :
Reliability and validity are essential criteria in establishing and assessing the quality of quantitative business research.
However, there has been discussion among qualitative researchers concerning the relevance of measurement reliability and measurement validity. Since measurement is not a major preoccupation among qualitative researchers, these criteria seem to have little applicability in qualitative studies.
Therefore, we only discuss evaluating internal and external validity in qualitative research.
Threats to internal validity in qualitative research
Two common threats to internal validity in qualitative research are researcher bias and respondent bias.
Researcher bias: is the influence of researchers’ prior knowledge and assumptions on their study.
Respondent bias: refers to participants not providing honest responses to the researcher.
