Qualitative

Research

Noel Scott
Qualitative research is a situated activity that
locates the observer in the world. … This means
that qualitative researchers study things in their
natural settings, attempting to make sense of or
interpret phenomena in terms of the meanings
people bring to them. (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994,
p. 3).

Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Handbook

of Qualitative Research. London: Sage.
What are the approaches for Qualitative
studies?
▪ The goal of qualitative research is not hypothesis testing.
▪ Frameworks are used in a different sense in qualitative research.
▪ Each type of qualitative research is guided by a particular
philosophical stance.
How does the Data in Qualitative research
look different?
▪ Data is subjective, systematic
▪ Describes life experiences and gives them meaning
▪ Data in qualitative research are typically words versus numbers in
quantitative research
▪ Focus on the whole, holistic
▪ Data incorporate perceptions and beliefs of researcher and
participants
Qualitative Research Purpose

Describe Understand Explain

Identify Develop Generate

Qualitative Research Methods
▪ Multiple realities
▪ Natural setting for data collection
▪ Researchers and participants interact
▪ Results are rich descriptions
Approaches to Qualitative Research
Phenomenological

Grounded Theory

Ethnography

Exploratory-descriptive-qualitative

Historical
Phenomenology
Provides a rich description of the ‘lived
experience’

Ethnography
Based in anthropology
Focus on understanding the culture

Exploratory-Descriptive
No specific approach described except for naturalistic inquiry, descriptive,
or qualitative
Addresses the research purpose and question from a qualitative method
Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, Australia
Griffith Institute for Tourism | World-leading tourism research
Looking at the starry sky gave me a special
feeling. It really led me to forget myself
completely, to be oblivious to everything else.
The feelings of fluttering and flying, so light
and easily among stars, swimming in the
Milky Way. [S03]

➢ Stored memories
➢ Being oblivious oneself
➢ Deeper non-conceptual insight
What is your
question?
What is the purpose of my research?
▪ What is my research for?
▪ How will this contribute to the socio-political and cultural context of Sri
Lanka?
▪ Who will benefit? How emancipatory or participatory is it?
▪ Is this using qualitative techniques for to achieve objective outcome?
What are my research questions?
▪ What is the social reality I wish to investigate?
▪ What explanations or arguments can I build from my data?
▪ Can I generalise my findings?
▪ Are my RQs consistent & linked with each other? Do they add to a
sensible whole?
▪ Are they worth asking and grounded in an understanding of the
relevant background?
How is the social world organised?
▪ What is my theory/ paradigm or world view?
▪ What are my life values?
▪ How might my paradigm influence my research?
 Open versus closed questions

Can you tell me more about that?

Griffith Institute for Tourism | World-leading tourism research

Collecting data

Griffith Institute for Tourism | World-leading tourism research

 Interviewing methods

Focused or semi-structured
Structured interviews interviews Unstructured interviews

Standardised interviews Standardized interviews In-depth interviews

Survey interviews Survey Interviews Clinical Interviews

Clinical history taking Group Interviews Group Interviews
Oral or life-history interviews

Griffith Institute for Tourism | World-leading tourism research

Photo-elicitation techniques

What image is most like

your company?
Data analysis

Griffith Institute for Tourism | World-leading tourism research

Qualitative data analysis
▪ Principles of data analysis (Patton,1990)
▪ 1. No exact replication. Each study unique
▪ 2. Dependent on skills of researcher at each stage of study
▪ 3. No absolute rules, but guidelines for analysis
▪ 4. Report and monitor and report analytical procedures in detail

Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative Evaluation

and Research Methods (Second ed.). Newbury
Park: Sage.
Principles of qualitative data analysis
▪ Important for researchers to recognise and
account for own perspective
▪ Respondent validation
▪ Seek alternative explanations
▪ Work closely with same-language key
informant familiar with the languages and
perspectives of both researchers and
participants
Principles of qualitative data analysis
▪ Context is critical
i.e. physical, historical, social, political,
organisational, individual context
Dependence/interdependence

▪ Identify convergence / divergence of views

and how contextual factors may influence the
differences
Principles of qualitative data analysis
▪ Role of theory guides approach to analysis
▪ Established conceptual framework –
predetermined categories according to
research questions
▪ Grounded theory – interrogate the data for
emergent themes
Principles of qualitative data analysis
▪ Pay attention to deviant cases / exceptions
▪ Gives a voice to minorities
▪ Yield new insights
▪ Lead to further inquiry
Principles of qualitative data analysis
▪ Data analysis is a non-linear / iterative process
▪ Numerous rounds of questioning, reflecting,
rephrasing, analysing, theorising, verifying
after each observation, interview, or Focus
Group Discussion
Steps to Analysis
Step 1: Familiarisation and immersion
Step 2: Inducing themes/ Hypothesis Formulation:
▪ Identifying
▪ Coding
▪ Categorisation
Step 3: Discursive Elaboration (context)
Step 4: Interpretation (telling the story)
Discourse (language)
▪ Realised in texts
▪ Is about objects
▪ Contains subjects
▪ Reflects its own way of speaking/ presentation
▪ Is historically located
Ideology
▪ A set of ideas that explains reality, provides guidelines for behaviour
and expresses the interest of a group
▪ Elaborate: Christianity, capitalism, Marxism.
▪ Consistent framework guiding action
▪ Narrowly aimed at one side of issue
Step 1: Familiarisation and immersion

▪ Read the whole, read parts and see how they fit into the whole
picture.
▪ What are the contradictions?
▪ What are the taken for granted statements?
▪ What vivid expressions, figures of speech and metaphors emerge?
▪ What repetitions, gaps are noticed?
Step 1 …continued
▪ Why is this pattern like this?
▪ How are the sentences constructed? Active or passive?
▪ How is the language being used? E.g. police: “they did it, I keep law
and order” for protection.
▪ Comb the data and immerse yourself
Step 2: Inducing Themes
▪ Order the text into segment and solicit themes
▪ - Way in which people categorise
▪ -Who is doing the categories?
▪ -Look for consistent patterns
▪ Coding
▪ Categorisation
Processes in qualitative data analysis
2. Coding – Identifying emerging themes
▪ Code the themes that you have identified
▪ No standard rules of how to code
▪ Researchers differ on how to derive
codes, when to start and stop, and on the
level of detail required
▪ Record coding decisions
▪ Usually - insert codes / labels into the
margins
▪ Use words or parts of words to flag ideas
you find in the transcript
▪ Identify sub-themes and explore them in
greater depth
Coding – Identifying emerging themes
▪ Codes / labels
▪ Emergent codes
▪ Closely match the language and
ideas in the textual data
▪ Insert notes during the coding process
▪ Explanatory notes, questions
▪ Give consideration to the words that you
will use as codes / labels – must capture
meaning and lead to explanations
▪ Flexible coding scheme – record codes,
definitions, and revisions
Code continuously as data
▪ Imposes a systematic approach
▪ Helps to identify gaps or questions
while it is possible to return for
more data
▪ Reveals early biases
▪ Helps to re-define concepts
 The content categories used in the content analysis procedure

Stakeholder Collaboration Characteristics Individual Stakeholder Collaborative

Salience Outcomes Outcomes
Power Trust Learning goals Goal Attainment
Urgency Communication Socio-political Responsibility Social Capital
Goals
Legitimacy Leadership Efficiency Shared Meaning
Inclusion of Stakeholders Risk reduction Network
Development
Mutual Acceptance Legitimacy Power
Stakeholder Expertises Resources
Stakeholder Allegiance
Governance
Commitment

Griffith Institute for Tourism | World-leading tourism research

Collaboration characteristics Frequency
Expertise 8
Commitment 6
Governance 6
Communication 5
Leadership 5
Mutual acceptance 5
Inclusion of stakeholders 4
Trust 4
Allegiance 3
Sum of collaboration characteristic frequencies 46
Step 3: Discursive Elaboration
▪ Texts work to reproduce status quo of power relations OR disrupt,
challenge, deconstruct, show marginal voices.
▪ Explore function of texts in relation to:
▪ Power
▪ Ideology
▪ Institutions & domination
Developing hypotheses, questioning and
verification
▪ Extract meaning from the data
▪ Do the categories developed make sense?
▪ What pieces of information contradict my
emerging ideas?
▪ What pieces of information are missing or
underdeveloped?
▪ What other opinions should be taken into
account?
▪ How do my own biases influence the data
collection and analysis process?
Step 3 Tools for Analysis
▪ How are persons, situations named, referred to linguistically?
▪ What traits, qualities, characteristics attributed?
▪ What arguments are used to justify, legitimise the status quo?
Step 4: Telling the Story
▪ Bringing the whole analysis together into a coherent whole. For a
competent and useful guideline, refer to the article:
Interpretation
▪ Dependability
▪ Can findings be replicated?
▪ Confirmability
▪ Audit trail
▪ Permits external review of analysis decisions
▪ Transferability
▪ Apply lessons learned in one context to
another
▪ Support, refine, limit the generalisability of, or
propose an alternative model or theory
Noel Scott
dr.noel.scott@gmail.com