Qualitative Research Designs

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

 Describe the types of qualitative research designs
 Identify the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research designs
 Explain the importance of qualitative research across fields

Design is a word which means a plan or something that is conceptualized by the mind. As
a result of a mental activity characterized by unfixed formation of something but an extensive
interconnection of things, a design in the field of research serves as a blueprint or a skeletal
framework of your research study. It includes many related aspects of your research work. A
choice of a research design requires you to finalize your mind on the purpose, philosophical
basis, and types of data of your research, including your method of collecting, analyzing,
interpreting, and presenting the data. It is a plan that directs your mind to several stages of
your research work. (De Mey 2013)

Types of Qualitative Research Design

There are varied ways of doing qualitative research. In this chapter we will focus on six
types of qualitative research. These are:
1. phenomenology,
2. ethnography,
3. grounded theory,
4. case study,
5. discourse/conversation analysis, and
6. narrative analysis.
Comparative Summary of Different Types of Qualitative Research
Types of Qualitative
Research Defining features
1. Phenomenology Both an approach to, and a method of, understanding the
behavioral, emotive, and social meanings of lived experiences
of
individuals
2. Ethnography Focuses on studying shared practices and belief
systems (. e., culture) of a group people in their natural context
over a prolonged period.
3. Grounded theory Refers to a set of inductive data collection and analytic methods
with the purpose of constructing theories grounded in the data
themselves.

4. Case study Allows the in-depth investigation of complex issues within a

specific context, based on a small geographical area or a very
limited
number of individuals as the subjects of study
5.Discourse/ Study naturally occurring discourse and extract shared meanings
Conversation analysis from such discourse.

6. Narrative analysis Focuses on the narratives (storytelling) used

as source of data.
The following table summarizes the key features of these six different types of
qualitative research. What follows is a brief description of each type of qualitative
research.
ACTIVITY #1

Which of the six types of qualitative research corresponds to, or is being described by
each of the following sets of ideas listed below?

Phenomenology Case Study

Ethnography Narrative Analysis
Grounded Theory Discourse/Conversation Analysis