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Chapter 6
Qualitative Research Methods
Winston Jackson and Norine Verberg
Winston Jackson and Norine Verberg
Methods: Doing Social Research, 4e
Methods: Doing Social Research, 4e

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© 2007 Pearson Education Canada
Approach of Qualitative Research
 Qualitative research – different assumptions/
approach than quantitative research
 Emphasis on seeing the world from the eyes
of the participants
 Strive to make sense of phenomena in terms
of the meanings people bring to them
 Holistic emphasis – studying the person,
group, culture in the natural setting

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Table 1.2, Qualitative and Quantitative
Research Contrasted
QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
 Multiple realities  Single reality
 Reality is socially constructed  Reality is objective
 Reality is context interrelated  Reality is context free
Holistic  Reductionistic
 Strong philosophical perspective  Strong theoretical base
 Reasoning is inductive  Reasoning is deductive and
inductive
 Discovery of meaning is the basis
of knowledge
 Cause-and-effect relationships are
the bases of knowledge
 Develops theory  Tests theory

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Table 1.2, Qualitative and Quantitative
Research Contrasted (continued)
QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
 Theory developed during study  Theory developed a priori
 Meaning of concepts  Measurement of variables
 Process oriented  Outcome oriented
 Control unimportant  Control important
 Rich descriptions  Precise measurement of variables
 Basic element of analysis is words  Basic element of analysis is
numbers
 Uniqueness  Generalization
 Trustworthiness of findings  Control of error

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Figure 6.1, Steps in Quantitative and
Qualitative Studies
Quantitative (Linear)
↓ Define a Research Problem/Question
↓ Review the Literature
↓ Formulate Hypothesis or Refine Question
↓ Make Operational Definitions
↓ Design or Select Instruments for Data
↓ Obtain Ethical Approval
↓ Collect Data
↓ Analyze Data
↓ Interpret Findings – Refer to Literature Again
↓ Determine Implications – Draw Conclusions
Source: Based on H.J. Streubert and D.R. Carpenter (1999). Qualitative Research in Nursing: Advancing the
Humanistic Imperative. 2nd
ed. Philadelphia: J.B.Lippincott.

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Figure 6.1, Steps in Quantitative and
Qualitative Studies (continued)

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Core Activities in Qualitative
Research
Qualitative approaches on:
A. Literature review
B. Explicating researcher’s beliefs
C. Role of participants: subject or informant?
D. Selection of participants
E. Setting for data collection
F. Approach to data analysis
G. Saturation

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A. Literature Review
 Conducted after the data have been collected
and analyzed
 Rationale for delaying the literature review:
 To avoid leading the participants in the
direction of what has already been discovered
 Purpose of literature review:
 To show how current findings fit into what is
already known

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B. Explicating Researcher’s Beliefs
 Bracketing – setting aside one’s biases and
personal views on a topic
 Investigator keeps a diary of personal
thoughts and feelings about the topic
 Purpose: the researcher is made aware when
interpretations of the data reflect personal
beliefs rather than those of the participants

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C. Subject or Informant?
 People being studied are viewed as participant
or informant, not “subject”
 Viewed as active participants in the research
 They “inform” the researcher about their culture
 Researcher seeks to understand the
participants’ cultural knowledge
 Hence, requires learning about the participants’
culture through on-going discussion and
involvement with them

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D. Selection of Participants
 Method is called “purposive sampling”
 Participants must have first-hand experience
with the research topic (e.g., homelessness,
gang involvement, attending medical school)
and be able to talk about it
 Researcher establishes clear criteria and
rationale for sample selection
 Goal is not generalization of findings but rich
descriptions of phenomenon by those who
have experienced it

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E. Setting for Data Collection
 “Informant-driven” rather than “theory-driven”
 Investigator assumes ignorance of the culture
or experience being studied
 Informant teaches the investigator
 Data is collected in the “field” – the natural
world where people live and experience life
 Investigator should:
 be nonintrusive
 spend a prolonged time in the field
 Some researchers used multiple methods

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F. Data Analysis
 Researcher immerses self in data to bring
order and meaning to vast narrative
 Come to truly understand what the data are saying
 Cyclical process – data collection occurs
simultaneously with data analysis
 Analysis begins when data collection begins
 Reading, rereading, intuiting, analyzing,
synthesizing, and reporting on data
 Sometimes called theoretical sampling (collect
data until saturation is reached)

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 Generalizations drawn from earlier interviews
are returned to participants for clarification
and elaboration
 Look for meaning in the data as it is gathered
 Data similar in meaning are clustered
together into preliminary categories
 Requires an extensive amount of time
F. Data Analysis (cont’d)

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 Refers to a situation in data analysis where
participants’ descriptions become repetitive
and confirm previously collected data
 An indication that data analysis is complete
 When data analysis is complete, data
collection is terminated
G. Saturation

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Three Qualitative Methods
TABLE 6.1 COMPARISON OF QUALITATIVE METHODS
METHOD STUDY FOCUS ANALYTIC
FOCUS
DISCIPLINES
Ethnography culture/cultural
group
describe a
culture/cultural
group
Cultural
Anthropology
Grounded
Theory
cultural groups generate theory
about a basic
social process
Sociology/
Symbolic
Interaction/
Criminology
Phenomenology individual
experience
discern the
essence of the
lived experience
Philosophy/
Psychology/
Sociology

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Three Qualitative Methods:
Ethnography
 Focus: study human behaviour in the cultural
context in which it is embedded
 Ethnography is the work of describing a
culture – the way of life of a cultural group
 Associated with Cultural Anthropology
 Example: David Counts and Dorothy Ayer
Counts: “An Ethnography of RVing Seniors”

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 Focus: develop a theory to explain underlying
social processes of a cultural group
 Useful in areas where little is known or when a
new perspective is needed
 Used for exploratory, descriptive studies
 Because the theory emerges from the data, it
is said to be grounded in the data
 Foundation in Symbolic Interactionism
 Example: Kerry Daly and the social
construction of fatherhood
Grounded Theory

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Phenomenology
 Focus: reveal the meaning of the lived
experience from the perspective of participants
 Describe the essences of lived experience
 Essences: elements related to the true meaning of
something that gives common understanding to the
phenomenon under study
 Conveyed with descriptive language
 Drawn from Philosophy; used across disciplines
 Example: J.E. Solchany: A phenomenological
study of women’s preadoptive experiences

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Data Collection Methods
in Qualitative Studies
 Three data collection strategies introduced:
1. Participant observation
2. In-depth interviews
3. Focus group interviews
 Qualitative researchers may combine more
than one method

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Data Collection Methods:
1. Participant Observation
 Intensive, usually long term, examination of a
social group, an organization, etc.
 Researcher becomes a participant in the lives
of group members
 Observes their behaviour and learns meaning
systems (which are tied to language)
 Most closely associated with Ethnography, as
developed in Classical Anthropology
 Now done in a variety of disciplines

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1. Participant Observation (cont’d)
 Many classic participant observations studies
 E.g., Asylums (Erving Goffman), Tally’s Corner
(Elliot Liebow), Street Corner Society (William
F. Whyte), etc.
 Today most ethnographers take an overt role
 I.e., their identity as a researcher is known to
the people being studied
 Covert participation (i.e., identity concealed
from participants) is fraught with ethical issues
– e.g., Humphrey’s “Tearoom Trade”

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Steps Involved in
Participant Observation Research
A. Gaining entry into the group
B. Developing and maintaining rapport
C. Developing a method for taking field notes
D. Integrating data collection and data analysis

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Steps in Participant Observation:
A. Gaining Entry into the Group
 Take into consideration the type of group
 formal organizations require formal entry;
involves letter writing, permission requests, etc.
 Informal groups – different strategy needed
 Access may be gained through a gatekeeper
(an individual with special status)
 Want to involve key informants (those who are
most knowledgeable about the group)

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B. Developing/Maintaining Rapport
 Researcher must work hard to develop and
maintain good relationships in the field
 E.g., be sure not to become associated with
one faction in a group or organization
 Researcher could be blamed for problems
that arise in the setting

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C. Strategies for Taking Field Notes
Field notes – integral to participant observation
 Include descriptions and interpretations of
individuals, interactions, and events
 Distinguish descriptions from interpretations
 Record time and location of observations, as
well as key information (weather, events
happening and their significance)
 Keep theoretical memos – which are the
tentative interpretations emerging and being
assessed through further data collection

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Field Notes (cont’d)
 May not be possible or advisable to take
notes while in the field
 Important that they be done as soon after field
observation as possible
 Note-taking is time-consuming because it is
integral to guiding the data collection and
continuing the analysis
 E.g., field notes for When Prophecy Failed
were well over 1,000 typed pages

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D. Integrating Data Collection and Analysis
 Organizing field notes into different types of
files facilitates data analysis
 Master field file – complete journal of field
notes; number pages and include entry dates
 Background, history file – subfile organizing
background material
 Key character files – subfiles on key players
in the group or organization
 Analytic files – subfiles for different types of
observations or relationships

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2. In-depth Interviews
 Some studies cannot employ the participant
observation method
 E.g., Desroches’s study of bank robbers
 In-depth interviews allow participants to
describe their experiences and the meaning
of events taking place in their lives
 Verbatim quotes capture the language and
meaning expressed by participants
 Interviews are flexible and allow for probing
 Interview method is quite diverse, adaptive

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2. In-depth Interviews (cont’d)
 Spradley – three key elements for the
interview method to be successful
1. Explicit purpose – researcher and informant
are aware that the discussion has a purpose
2. Ethnographic explanations – researcher
tries out explanations on the participants to
see if they make sense
 Encourage the informants to use colloquial
language, and teach the researcher its
meaning

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2. In-depth Interviews (cont’d)
3. Ethnographic questions include:
i. Descriptive questions – ask participants to
describe their experiences (e.g., their ideas,
circumstances, viewpoints, dilemmas, etc)
ii. Structural questions – ask participants how
they organize their world (e.g., activities)
iii. Contrast questions – ask participants what is
meant by specific terminology
 Prus & Grills stress the value of the interview
method in a multi-method approach

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3. Focus Group Interviews
 Interview format, but in a group setting
 6-12 participants with common experience
 Dates back to the 1940s – used to assess
effectiveness of morale-boosting radio shows
 1970s onward – used by market researchers
 1980s onward – used by academics
 Transcript of discussion is the data
 Plus accompanying notes
 Use content analysis or grounded theory
approach to analyze the data

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3. Focus Group Interviews (cont’d)
 Strengths:
 Open-ended question
 Spontaneously deal with issues as they arise
 Cost-effective method of collecting data
 Less time-consuming
 Weaknesses:
 One or two participants may dominate
 Not done in a natural setting, so little
“observation” to help understand the
experience of the participants

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Approaches to Data Analysis
 Qualitative researchers have developed
several different methods of data analysis
 This chapter provides two examples:
1. Ethnographic data analysis
2. Grounded theory
 Both approaches reflect the inductive
strategy typical of qualitative data analysis
 Each shows that coding strategies facilitate
the identification of themes in the data

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Approaches to Data Analysis:
1. Ethnographic Data Analysis
 The ethnographer integrates data analysis
into the data collection process while in the
field
 Helps the ethnographer to guide his/her
participation and observations in the field
 While in the field, the researcher conducts
four levels of analysis simultaneously
A. Domain Analysis
B. Taxonomic Analysis
C. Componential Analysis
D. Theme Analysis

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Ethnographic Data Analysis:
A. Domain Analysis
 The researcher is moving from observing a
social situation (set of behaviours carried out
by people in a social situation) to discovering
the cultural scene
 Cultural domain – categories of meaning that
include smaller categories
 Strive to identify the semantic relationship in
the observations made
 E.g., x is a kind of y; x is the result of y; x is a part
of y

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B. Taxonomic Analysis
 More in-depth analysis in which the
researcher is searching for larger categories
to which the domain may belong
 A taxonomy is a set of categories organized
on the basis of a single semantic relationship
 Major difference: the taxonomy shows more of
the relationships among things inside the
cultural domain

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C. Componential Analysis
 Componential analysis looks for contrasts
among the cultural categories in the domains
 “Systematic search for the attributes
(components of culture) associated with
cultural categories” (Spradley)
 Uses idea of mail to explain. In our culture, we
can classify our mail – e.g., junk mail (flyers,
notices, etc.), bills, magazines, personal
letters – because each cluster has an attribute
that conveys meaning. Not visible to someone
from another culture

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D. Theme Analysis
 Cultural themes are recurrent patterns in the
data that are used to connect domains
 Themes are assertions that apply to numerous
situations and have a high degree of
generality
 Spradley suggests a number of universal
themes, such as social conflict, cultural
contradictions, informal techniques of social
control, managing impersonal social relations,
acquiring and maintaining status, solving
problems, etc.

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Approaches to Data Analysis:
2. Constant Comparison Method
 During data-collection process, grounded
theorists generate theory using the constant
comparative method
 I.e., each piece of information is coded and
compared to other pieces for similarity and
differences
 Steps in Constant Comparative Method
A. Concept Formation
B. Concept Development
C. Concept Modification and Integration

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Constant Comparison Method:
A. Concept Formation: Coding
 Coding occurs at three levels
 Level 1 coding: also called substantive codes
 Study the data line by line looking for key
processes – codify the substance of the data
 Substantive codes use participants’ words
 Level 2 coding: condense level 1 codes to
assign categories of codes
 Categories are usually mutually exclusive
 Level 3 coding: identify core variables or the
basic social psychological process (BSP)

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A. Concept Formation: Coding (cont’d)
 A core variable is one that focuses the theory
and accounts for most of the variation in a
pattern of behaviour that is both relevant and
problematic for the participants involved
 Usually represent the title given to the themes
that emerge from the data
 They are the processes that occur over time
and that involve changes over time

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Constant Comparison Method
B. Concept Development
Three steps involved:
1. Reduction
 Compare each category of codes to see if
there is an umbrella category under which
several existing categories can be merged
 Identify theoretical linkages among
categories and collapse them to form more
general categories

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B. Concept Development (cont’d)
2. Selective sampling of the literature
 Done to learn more about emerging concepts
 Literature is considered “data” and used to fill
in the gaps in emerging theory
 May add clarity to the theoretical descriptions

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B. Concept Development (cont’d)
3. Selective sampling of the data
 Done once main concepts have emerged
 Collect additional data in a selective manner:
 To develop the hypothesis statements,
 To identify the properties of the main variables,
 And to ensure saturation of categories
 Researchers stop collecting new data when
satisfied that they are not hearing anything
new about the category or hypothesis
 At this stage, core category variables emerge

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Constant Comparison Method:
Two processes: Theoretical coding and memoing
Theoretical coding
 Done to form theoretical linkages between categories
 18 families of theoretical codes: 3 examples
1. Consequence family (the six Cs: causes, contexts,
contingencies, consequences, covariances, and
conditions)
2. Interactive family (mutual effects, reciprocity, mutual
trajectory, mutual interdependence, interaction of
effects, and covariance)
3. Strategy family (strategies, tactics, mechanisms,
manipulations, maneuvering, dealing with handling
techniques, ploys, means, goals)

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Theoretical memoing
 These are the researcher’s ideas about the codes
and categories and the relationship among them
 Three roles
 To raise the data to a conceptual level
 To develop the properties of each category
 To generate hypotheses about the relationships
between categories

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Methods of Evaluating Qualitative
Research
 Developing standards of quality
 Lincoln and Guba’s classic work shed light on
how to assess truth in a qualitative report
 Offered four alternate tests of quality that
reflect the assumptions of the qualitative
paradigm:
 Credibility
 Dependability
 Transferability
 Confirmability

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Alternate Tests of Quality
Credibility refers to accuracy
 Description must be plausible and recognized
by participants
Enhanced by:
 Prolonged time in the field repeatedly
observing and interacting with participants
 Using different data sources, methods, data
type
 Conducting member checks
 Involving other investigators in the study

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Dependability refers to the stability and
trackability of the changes in data over time
and conditions
 Want to determine the extent to which
another researcher with similar training and
rapport with participants would make the
same observations
 This is determined by an audit trail
 Involves auditing research process,
documenting all the raw data generated, and
assessing method of data analysis

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Transferability refers to the generalizability of
the study findings to other settings,
populations, and contexts
 Report must provide sufficient detail so that
readers can assess this
 Lack of transferability is viewed as a
weakness of qualitative methods

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Confirmability refers to the objectivity of the
data
 Would another researcher agree about the
meanings emerging from the data
 An audit trail is used in which the researcher
explicates how personal biases may have
come into play

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Contemporary Standards of Quality
 Diverse inquiry communities
 Positionality
 Community
 Voice
 Critical subjectivity
 Reciprocity
 Sacredness of the research relationship
 Sharing privileges

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Advantages and Limitations
 Focus on the whole of the human experience and the
meanings ascribed to them by participants
 They provide the researcher with deep insights that
would not be possible using quantitative methods
 The major strength of qualitative work is the validity
of the data it produces
 Participants true reality is likely to be reflected
 Major limitation is its perceived lack of objectivity and
generalizability
 Researchers become the research tools and may
lack objectivity

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