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Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods Guide
- 2. The Qualitative methods and analysis
- 3. Reflect: what is qualitative research The Researcher's Role how does sampling differ fieldnotes observation
- 4. Interviews
- 5. Research Interviewing Unstructured Conversation Central to ethnography and phenomenology Semi-structured Broad open questions with prompting Fits within most qualitative paradigms Structured Tight questions with limited or already given responses Quantitative/positivist research Mixed paradigm research Technology-based methodologies (phone interviewing, ICT research)
- 6. Unstructured Interviewing Conversations in the field Ideally recorded on digital devices and transcribed in full Requires the researcher to be skilled: In holding conversations In listening In focusing/re-focusing conversations Requires time
- 7. Semi-Structured Interviewing Guided conversations Uses broad opening questions which can be redirected by interviewee or interviewer Uses verbal prompting Allows for the development of conversation/research skills Generally piloted beforehand Recorded digitally and on paper
- 8. Structured Interviewing Focused conversations Uses tight questions which require set responses (sometimes given) Reflects survey research Allows for collection of theme-driven data Requires piloting with similar sample Recorded on digitally or on paper
- 9. What leads to a good interview Rapport Before the interview The first question/opening comments Reciprocity You shouldn’t be the only one gaining from the interview Acceptance of the unexpected Unanswered questions Self-Confidence Practice and faith in oneself
- 10. Ann Oakley (1981): The Central Dilemma Who holds power in the interview process? Who gains from research? What is false about ‘rapport’ in qualitative research interviewing? When does the relationship finish?
- 11. Interviewing a Group: Focus Group Interviews Works at providing further information and context to a researched phenomenon Tends to not stand as a single methodological approach but sits alongside other data-gathering strategies A form of triangulation Requires a particular type of questioning and facilitation skills
- 14. Focus Groups: Fitting them in Sitting within a multi-method approach Providing more depth Enabling future discussion Typical research designs include Evaluation research Mixed design research Case study research
- 15. Recording Focus Groups Pen/Paper Two researchers Technology Audio Video Each has its own dilemmas and issues
- 16. Asking the Questions Questions Importance of ice-breaking Open questions that create a communicative atmosphere Rapport building The role of activities Semi-structured and provocative The role of the researcher Facilitator and guide Guides discussion by using directive questioning and prompting
- 17. Guiding the Discussion Group discussion has particular dilemmas Dominant speakers Silent groups Effectively using prompts The little things Names Relationships
- 19. Text Analysis Used across the paradigms differently To gather analysable statistics positivist To provide a historical analysis Feminist and ethnic research To provide a history of the present – a deconstruction of knowledge Cultural studies
- 20. Peach-skinned Bailey Junior Kurariki killed at 12, Kararaina Makere Te Rauna at 14. Their faces are too young to be giveaways for the violence that festered and flared and struck out. They look disturbingly like the kids next door, like kids who skateboard and learn their maths and play on computers. Are our children worse than they used to be? Is this the onset of a wave of hideous child crime, payback for some creeping national deficiency? Who will be the next person going happily about their business to be belted over the head and murdered for nothing? Kurariki and Te Rauna were not alone. Other kids were there at the kill. Are we becoming a society rotten at birth where doors need to be locked not just against ingrained criminals but children of trick-or-treat age? (Dekker, 2002, p.F1)
- 21. Analyzing the Data • Looking for themes across data which answer or provide information to your question • Looking for outliners that question and richen information • Putting data into boxes that make sense of your question • Traditional - scissors and data • Technological – nodes and families (NVIVO)
- 22. Your Turn • Look at the Rangatahi Centre Interviews. The research question was: How does the Alternative Education experience of the Rangatahi Centre enable re-engagement with education? • First look for themes within each interview question • Then look for themes and responses to the main question (above)
- 23. Where are you at now?
Editor's Notes
- There are four basic considerations of focus groups that you need to take into account when attempting to construct a robust methodology The first is that the choice to use focus groups needs to consider the purpose of focus groups. Focus groups are a way to gather more information about a particular topic or issue. They provide a social context to the issues and topics being researched. Focus groups are not a way to gather quantifiable information – this is the role of surveys and structured interviewing; instead, focus groups are a way to get insight into how particular interested groups think about a topic or issue. Focus groups provide depth and, to what Clifford Geertz would consider as, think description of a phenomenon – a description that not only shows how people think about a topic, but a description that highlights the contradictions and gaps in the way people reason about issues and topics. Secondary, we need to consider that a robust piece of research will not use focus groups as the only method of data gathering. Focus groups are good in that they allow for some insight and elaboration on a particular topic or issue from a collective or group perspective. However, focus groups cannot accurately provide the perspectives of individuals, and, if not facilitated well, may be biased to a particular point of view or, in a worse case scenario, hijacked by a strong willed and opinioned individual. To take advantage of the strengths of focus group but also acknowledge the limitations, a robust methodology employing focus groups as a data gathering method will often use focus groups alongside other data-gathering strategies such as interviewing, observation, and surveying When this occurs, focus groups can allow for a form of triangulation – that is they can be used to confirm the findings of other data gathering methods. They can also be used to triangulate the opinions and perspectives of different interest groups (such as teachers, pupils, and parents). In a robust piece of qualitative research, triangulation of data is an important aspect we need to employ to ensure that the findings represent an authentic picture of the topic or issue researched. Focus groups are just one tool we can draw upon for this. Finally, focus groups require a particular type of questioning – a type of questioning that stimulates discussion and allows for a point of view to be expressed, a type of questioning that allows for social interaction – rather than personal responses, and a type of questioning that enables more than just one liner answers – one that leads to discussion which a facilitator can prompt. Focus group questions tend to be semi-structured with open-ended prompting. This also means that the facilitator needs to know how to draw out answers, prompt but not lead the discussion, engage more than one person, and allow the ‘quiet’ ones to feel safe in the expression of ideas.
- There are two ways in which focus groups can be incorporated within a research design. Focus groups can be used as a supplementary component to other date gathering techniques or as a way of scoping the field in itself to direct future research. As a supplement to other data gathering techniques – such as surveying, interviewing, or textual analysis. The focus group discussion tends to occur after some, or all, data has been gathered and initially analysed. The focus group is then used to build upon and expand themes found in the initial stage of the research process. In effect, the initial data gathering allows you to scope the field of inquiry, focus groups then allow for key ideas to be explored in depth. If you are using focus groups as a form of data gathering, it is important to realise that there is a need to first scope the field for answers. Often, before the research we might have some really good questions that could be asked in a focus group context, but it is important to realise that the interests we have need to reflect the interests of the groups we are researching – to this end, we need to scope the field first before we ask questions – we need to have some idea over what the interested parties are saying.
- However, focus groups can occur early on in the research – that is before other methods are employed. When we do this, we are often using the focus group as a form of scoping the field itself in order to develop robust research instruments that are actually going to capture the field and not have lots of unanswerable or unrelated questions which just elicit an pause and move on response by the participant
- So when to focus groups fit in … Well we have already established that focus groups are more beneficial within a multi-method approach – they provide more depth to a phenomenon being researched and enable more discussion on pertinent themes However, focus groups are also suited to particular methodologies. Most typically we can find focus groups in evaluation research, mixed design research, and case study research. In all these forms of research, focus groups tend to be applied after initial data gathering to expand upon findings in the first phase of research. In evaluation research, focus groups tend to supplement survey research and may even compose a case study component to the research. In mixed design research focus groups provide some qualitative data to quantitative analysis. In case study research, focus groups may follow document analysis, site observations, site interviews, and/or site surveys.
- There are a number of ways focus groups can be captured – each has strengths and limitations. Pen and paper can be useful but keeping up with responses can be problematic and keeping turned into responses – to allow prompting can be difficult Many companies employing focus groups in customer research, use two researchers – one does the questioning and prompting whilst the other records the answers. However, two researchers can effect the confidence of individuals to respond – particularly when participants don’t know interviewers or are a vulnerable population (such as children) where adult researchers can appear quite threatening Many researchers use recording devices to record interviews. Although these are very effective in the process of recording interviews – remember to put time aside to transcript interviews. An average typist will find that it takes about 2hours for every 1/2hour recorded. Unfortunately, the most reliable recording device for those of us who find interviewing quite a apprehensive task. However, mini discs and solid state recorders (such as mp3 recorders) can also be very useful for this – just be aware that with mini discs and solid state recorders, pressing the wrong button can wipe entire files. All audio recorders allow the researcher to concentrate on the interview process itself rather than recording responses. Try to place the recording device in a place that does not intrude on the discussion as people do tend to self censor information if they know they are being recorded and can constantly watch the recorder. It is important and ethical to tell people you are recording interviews (and to get consent for recording) but it is also important to make sure people feel comfortable in the process. With audio and visual recording, it is important that you have a good supply of tapes/discs etc and that you check all equipment just before starting interviewing. If you are using batteries always put new batteries in at the beginning of a focus group – never trust batteries – it is better to spend a bit more money on batteries than potentially losing data due to the recorder stopping. Finally, a key problem with audio recording is the transcription of data – often, particularly with child, it is hard to determine when a new speaker starts – it can also be hard to determine when a particular speaker dominates a discussion. Some researchers do visual recording of focus groups so that they can capture who is speaking and the dynamics of a focus group – although this is great – it can be very intimidating for participants and does take longer to transcript as it is not as simple as playing a tape back through a transcribing machine or through a transcribing programme – tools that allow you to slow the dialogue down. I have personally found that a mixture of pen and paper and audio recording to be the best techniques. I get the group to speak their names at the beginning of the session so that the tape or solid state player records the voice of the participant to enable identification of their voice. I use the pen and paper to note down prompts, key points, and key speakers.
- We have already talked a bit about the types of questions you need to ask in a focus group and the role of the questioner or focus group facilitator Dynamic and successful focus groups have the following aspects – The questions are provocative and guide the discussion (so tend to be semi-structured). However, it is important that the very first questions engage everyone and allow participants to feel comfortable. The perfect focus group would have a researcher that the participants know and feel comfortable with (ie a researcher that they have already meet and talked with as individuals). This researcher is not necessarily an insider to the group (this has it’s own problems) but is someone that participants have met and talked to. However, the reality is, in most pg student research, that the researcher is not known by the participants – for these people the first few minutes of the focus group can make it or break it. It is important to show to the participants that you are genuinely interested in what they have to say and to start with questions that are not intrusive, not to controversial or provocative, and are answerable. These questions should suggest to the participant that there is no right or wrong answer – they should invite a response. Secondary it is important to remember that the researcher in the focus group is a facilitator and guide who is genuinely interested in the views of others. The researcher does not control discussion or lead participants to a pre-determined conclusion but, instead, uses a interview schedule with questions that invite responses and guides the discussion with prompting and further questioning. The researcher should be able to read the group in order to determine when enough time has been spent on a question, when discussion has been dominated by a certain individuals or interests, when the group is tiring, and when individuals are feeling uncomfortable with discussion. In all these scenarios the researchers needs to gently move the discussion on by paraphrasing and moving to the next question in the schedule.
- Finally in guiding the discussion, the researcher as facilitator needs to consider the following: A perfect focus group is a group where everyone is participating – but there are groups where discussion is dominated by a particular individual or groups that no discussion at all happens (these issues are particularly apparent in educational research). There are certain strategies that researchers can draw upon … In the case of the dominant speaker – Remember that effective focus groups in data gathering are most robust if there are four to six people in a group – this usually involves inviting around 10 people and expecting that there will be some no-shows The researcher can invite discussion from other members – this may not always work particularly with teenagers who tend to respond – yeah I agree The researcher can take a point from the dominant speaker and ask for examples The researcher can change the pronoun language in their questioning of the individual – instead of using ‘you’ use ‘people’, ‘you all’ etc – to indicate that questioning is of the group not individual In extreme cases, the researcher might gently invite discussion of contradictions raised in the discussion with the dominant speaker e.g. ‘that’s really interesting, can people think of examples of when that doesn’t happen’ – often those who feel excluded from the dominant speaker’s point of view feel as if they can contribute In the case of the silent group Often you can tell a silent group before you actually conduct the focus group – these groups tend to have apprehensive body language and seem anxious (particularly about getting the right answer), in these groups you need to spend a lot of time building rapport – get individuals to share a bit about themselves, talk a bit about your own experiences (without leading discussion), and, allow some discussion about interests. Other strategies are .. Look carefully at interview schedule – ask the simple questions first and ask for examples (this might require restructuring) Remember that effective focus groups in data gathering are most robust if there are several focus groups with the same individuals – that is you should not be doing one-off focus groups and expecting them to be successful. Using this strategy you can limit the discussion time in the first session to some general getting to know each other question and simple to answer questions (ie have a shorter focus group) in this way you can gradually build rapport with a group. In both cases it is about the types of questioning and prompting you do and it is about the small things like knowing people’s names and trying to establish a good rapport with participants in the first focus group. If you don’t spend time on names and relationships, you shouldn’t expect successful focus groups all the time
- Data collection is not just about the collection of voices and words – as a researcher you can draw upon a range of resources. Video and photo is one of the most powerful tools you can use. Now researchers don’t just use video and photo to record a research context, but they also have participant’s use video and photo to record their world through their eyes. Researchers have now realised that the old adage is true – a picture can tell a thousand words
- Textual analysis is used across most research paradigms – but it is used differently in each. In postivist paradigms textual analysis is used to gather analysable statistics. This can occur in two ways – actual statistics from research reports might be analysed and compared or themes and patterns across a coupus of reports might be quantified. In feminist and ethnic research, textual analysis enables the researcher to perform a historical analysis of documents. In this form of analysis, the researcher has key questions which are then answered by looking across a corpus of documents. For example, a researcher might want to look at how the teaching profession has been feminised in pedagogical texts over the last 100 years. Finally, textual analysis might also be used to provide a ‘history of the present’. In this form of analysis the researcher looks at the cultural contexts of documents – what types of values, attitudes, knowledges etc are imbued in the document. This form of analysis tends to be theory and discipline driven. Many researchers may draw upon the work of Michel Foucault, or use established methodologies from researchers such as Fairclough, Potter and Wetherall, and Howarth A important thing to remember is that in qualitative paradigms the word ‘text’ might be used to refer to a number of modes of publication – including written texts, aural recordings, visual recordings, and photos. The general rule is ‘texts are produced artefacts’
- This is an example of one of the texts I analysed. Have a look at this text – how are young people constructed – what is being said and implied – angels and devils What sorts of knowledge are they drawing upon – traditional philosophies of childhood What are the implications – moral panic, a fear of children, and increased reasoning to control children