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Qualitative Research Methods

Presentation · December 2019

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.27589.60649

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 Qualitative Research
Methods

Dr Peter Samuels
2nd December 2019

Session summary
 Qualitative v. quantitative research
 The 9 stage qualitative research process
 Research strategies
 Stage 6: Data collection techniques
 Stage 7: Data transcription
 Stage 8: Data analysis using a theory:
 Grounded theory and alternatives
 Primary analysis and category formation
 Using NVivo
 Theory generation
 Stage 9: Writing up

1
 Two main types of research
Quantitative Qualitative
Philosophy Positivist Interpretive
Approach Deductive Mainly inductive (grounded)
Experiment, structured Unstructured survey, case
Strategy survey, structured study, action research,
ethnography unstructured ethnography
Measurement (objects), Open questionnaire,
closed questionnaire, interview, focus group,
Data
structured observation unstructured observation
collection
(people): numbers / (people or objects): text
categories
Descriptive statistics, Categorisation and
Analysis
hypothesis testing inductive theory generation

The 9 stage qualitative

research process
1. Identify research question
2. Choose research method (strategy / data
collection)
3. Obtain ethics approval
4. Select participants / place to capture data
5. Arrange data collection
6. Collect data
7. Transcribe data
8. Analyse data (using an appropriate theory)
9. Write up findings

2
 Common qualitative
research strategies
 Survey: Systematic collection of information
from a sample of people from a larger
population
 Ethnography: Systematic study of people and
cultures
 Case study: Systematic attempt to account for
the complexity and depth of a single example
 Action research: Systematic, reflective and
cooperative process of progressive problem
solving

Case studies
 Whatever its location, size or focus, it attempts to
account for complexity and depth of one example
 Can also involve surveys and other quantitative
methods
 Types of Case:
 Critical: Hypothesis that can be tested (Festinger et al.,
2012)
 Unique: Extreme or unlikely to be repeated (Weldes, 1999)
 Revelatory: Something that has not been looked at before
(Festinger et al., 2012)
 Exemplifying: Exemplifies, or represents, a typical
situation of the time (Young and Willmott, 1962)
 Not generalizable (except exemplifying cases)

3
 Example:
The Staffordshire hoard
 Discovered in a
field in
Staffordshire in
July 2009
 More than 3,500
items
 Nearly all martial
or warlike in
character
 >5 kilos of gold

Interview of Duncan Slarke

Portable Antiquities
Scheme
Birmingham Museum and
Art Gallery
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmoyGgdNOCk

4
 Activity 1
10 minutes, in pairs:
 Critically read and annotate the Staffordshire
Hoard interview transcript
 Identify at least four major categories (different
types) of information in the text

This is unparalleled as a find of Anglo-Saxon precious metalwork, certainly in the UK, possibly in Europe.
Dr Kevin Leahy who’s the Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Adviser has written a report on the find, has
been through them all and has been absolutely stunned by the quality and quantity of the material.// 1939
is probably the best parallel which was the Sutton Hoo ship burial. Now just to put into context, much of
the material, some of the material is similar. There is 5kg of gold found in Staffordshire Hoard and in
Sutton Hoo it was less than 1.5kg. // So in terms of quantity, it exceeds the best that we’ve got. The
quality of metalwork is absolutely breathtaking. // This was found by a local metal detectorist who’s been
metal detecting for 18 years. It was in farmland. And he found it over a series of days. Now because it’s
largely silver and gold, he realised that there was an implication, under the Treasury Act, and so reported
it to me. // And at that point, with a number of finds, then I called the county archaeologists for
Staffordshire and a full scale excavation commenced in which further material was found with the help of
the metal detectorist. // Seeing the material for the first time was absolutely breathtaking. I’d had a call
about the material and I’d listed something like 50 sword caps/sword pom caps in gold. And to see the
material, I didn’t really know what to expect, but to see the material actually in boxes on a table,
glistening at me, I was staggered. // I was there for 4 hours just looking at the material and the finder
actually called me Duncan Wow after, because that’s all I could say, wow, because it was find after find
after find, of the most staggering quality. // What’s quite interesting about this assemblage, as Dr Leahy
has looked at it, and made the point that it’s basically warfare related, it’s male items. There are very few,
if any, female items in there. So it’s a very specific assemblage. It’s possibly suggesting something like
trophies from a battle. // Lesley Webster who’s formerly a keeper at the British Museum, has said this is
going to change our views of Anglo-Saxon England perhaps more than any other discovery including
Sutton Hoo. // One of the advantages of this material, bizarrely, is that some of it has perhaps been hit by
a plough, some of it looks like it’s been deliberately folded up. // And so you can actually see how some
of the material was made. So I think it’s going to give us good insights into how the material was made.
But also the volume of material, I think will give us a better idea of the detailed chronology metalwork in
the period. // There’s going to be years and years, perhaps never-ending academic research onto this.
Already, the academics covering this particular period have seen much of the material. // We don’t even
know what some of it is. There’s going to be huge amounts of research onto this material. And I think this
is almost going to become a type site for the period because there is so much material. So there is going
to be vast amounts of further research and there will be publications.

5
 Stage 6: Data collection
methods
A. Open ended questionnaires
B. Interviews
C. Focus groups
D. Observations
E. Selection of documents

Note: These are common methods. This list

is not exhaustive.

Method Pros Cons

Honesty of responses
Cost-effective: Low response rates (esp.
Open ended
Larger samples email/online)  possible bias
questionnaires
More generalizable Can’t investigate meanings
and motivations further
Investigate meanings and
Can be tiring for interviewer
Interviews motivations
No group consensus
Individual views
Investigate meanings and Transcription and analysis
Focus groups motivations time consuming
Group views (consensus) Facilitation requires expertise
Rich and detailed accounts Data very descriptive and
of social situations subjective
Observations
Can help explain May be hard to replicate
motivations and actions Difficult to generalise

6
 A. Questionnaires
 Same written questions given to different people
 Can be used in conjunction with other qualitative techniques,
e.g. prior to interviews
 The mode of delivery can affect the response rate: online or
email are particularly problematic – this can lead to sample
bias
 Only ask what you need – you are relying on their goodwill
 The only type of question relevant to qualitative analysis is
open ended
 These often come at the end of a questionnaire that includes
other question types
 Another problem is short answers to open questions
 Two forms of analysis: word/synonym frequency (NVivo can
automate this) v. full qualitative

B. Semi-structured interviews
 Recommended type (fully open interviews are trickier to
facilitate, closed interviews only yield quantitative data)
 Incorporate both closed and open questions
 Can explain motives, actions and thoughts
 Interviewer may also look for further information, for example
asking “why do you think that?” or “what happened next?” or
“what exactly do you mean?”
 If something unanticipated comes up then that can also be
explored if it is useful
 Best to take notes but also use a dictaphone for a backup
(don’t transcribe everything) – try to maintain attention, e.g.
eye contact
 See iCity site for an in depth example of analysing an
interview transcript and improving interviewing technique

7
 C. Focus groups
 A facilitated discussion with a small group (6-10 people)
based around a research topic
 Offers the chance to investigate meanings and
motivations by asking ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ questions
 The data obtained is more likely to reveal group
consensus rather than a collection of different views
 Disadvantage: Requires a high level of resources, more
experienced facilitation and can be time consuming to
organise and analyse
 Type of group:
 Pre-existing – established social hierarchy may affect dialogue
 Common interest and Stratified sample – takes time for
people to start opening up: use an ice breaker

Focus groups: features

 Can be empowering: If a group works well, trust
develops and the group explores solutions to a
problem as a unit rather than as individuals
 Dominant individuals may dominate the discussion
 Group responses may vary according to group
dynamics and make-up
 Needs to be well managed, and the moderator/
facilitator needs to keep the discussion under
control
 Facilitator should not also take notes – use a
Dictaphone and transcribe later or have a note taker

8
 D. Observations
 Purpose: Uncover hidden rules of social settings
 Normally overt – people know they are being
observed or are told if they ask
 Observers can be:
 Actively involved with the phenomenon under study
(known as participant observations) – often through
learning by doing: hard but more authentic
 Passive (not involved), or somewhere in between
 Usually involve capturing quantitative data as well
as qualitative
 Usually carried out over a longer time period than
other techniques
 Example: rules people use to select seats on a bus

Stage 7: Transcription
 Recorded speech (interviews or focus
groups)
 Interview notes
 Field notes (from observations)

9
 Transcribing speech
 Generate a verbatim account (word forms and
punctuation)
 Do not prematurely reduce text
 Completed transcript should look like the
printed version of a play or a movie script
Source: (Mergenthaler and Stinson, 1992)

Transcribing interview notes

 Don’t get bogged down by the theory of interviewing.
Read the theory (higher degrees only) but be pragmatic
as each interview is likely to be quite different.
 Write up your brief notes as soon as possible,
preferably within 24 hours of completing the interview
 (For undergraduates) rely primarily on your notes but
use the tape recording as a backup for anything you are
unsure of
 At the end of the interview, if you are going to show your
interviewee your draft transcription, make sure you tell
them when s/he is likely to receive it then keep to that
timetable and incorporate any amendments
Source: (Garg, 2008)

10
 Transcribing field notes
 First make expanded field notes, then transcribe
 Do this on the same day as the observation
Elements:
 Introductory information – from form/checklist?
 Main body – expand most of your notes
 Summary/reflection:
 How did the activity go?
 Were there any biases in the data?
 Are your conclusions related to your study questions?
 What are the important issues to follow-up?
Source: (Weiss and Bolton, 2000)

Stage 8: The qualitative data

analysis process
Substage 8.1: Primary analysis
Substage 8.2: Category formation
Substage 8.3: Theory generation and comparative
analysis
 Applies to qualitative data analysis in general;
sometimes called content analysis
 Should be carried out from a theoretical stance
 Your choice of theory should be consistent with
your strategy / data collection method
 We will focus on grounded theory (popular)

11
 Grounded theory
Qualitative researchers do not, on the whole, start
with a theory which they aim to test, though there
is no reason why they should not do so if they
wish. They mainly work the other way round,
seeking to generate theory from the data. Theory
is then said to be ‘grounded’ in the data. Grounded
theory became popular in the UK during the
1970s, when it was beginning to be felt that too
much theory … was far removed from the realities
of social life.
Source: (Glaser and Strauss, 1999)

Stages
in
ground Theory
generation
-ed
theory

Source:
(Birks and Category
Mills, 2011) formation

Coding

12
Two styles of grounded theory
Origin: The data analysis process of grounded theory is
described very loosely in Glaser and Strauss’ original book
(1968) leading to a core conflict: is verification / validation
of a generated theory part of the analysis?
 Glaser (1992): Grounded theory is only inductive;
theory emerges from the data.
 Strauss (1987): Induction, deduction and verification
are “absolutely essential”. Strauss and Corbin (1998)
later modified this to validation, which they define as “a
process of comparing concepts and their relationships
against data during the research act to determine how
well they stand up to such scrutiny”. Their approach is
more in line with contemporary constructivist thinking.

Some alternatives to grounded

theory
 Ethnography: The study of a culture that a group of people
share – observation
 Netnography: The study of online communities
 Ethnomethodology: The study of the way that participants in a
social setting create and sustain a sense of reality
 Conversation analysis: A method for analysing the sequential
organization and details of conversations – focus groups?
 Narrative analysis: Seeks to put together the “big picture” about
experiences or events as the participants understand them
 Qualitative comparative analysis: Identifies the combination of
factors that had to be present across multiple cases to produce a
particular outcome (e.g. social care scandals)
 Case-orientated understanding: Provides a different way to
explain social phenomena – case studies
Source: (Schutt, 2012)

13
Substage 8.1: Primary analysis
Informal notes made whilst data collection is still underway
 Marginal notes
 Different forms
of underlining
and emphasis
 Comments
linked to the
text
 Similar to
critical
reading (see
study guide)

Grounded Theory has a more formal initial process called coding:

identifying important words/phrases and labelling them accordingly

Substage 8.2: Category formation

 Identify major categories in the data
 Include most of the data in these categories
 Some data can be assigned more than once
 Categories can be divided into subcategories or
combined together into themes
 This is a hands-on, iterative process which can be
done in several different ways:
 Create charts and concept maps
 Cut and paste pieces of paper
 Use coloured pens
 Create a table in Excel or Word
 Use NVivo software

14
 More detailed instructions
 Distinguish between major and minor categories
 Compare text in different categories, moving it around if
necessary
 Repeat the process with another transcript
 The more transcripts you add, the less new categories
you should form, eventually leading to saturation (no
new categories)
 Re-examine the text in each category in turn: do they
really belong together?
 Look at the range of categories: is your division of major
and minor categories correct? Do several categories
group together?  identify themes
 Go back and look at all the text which has not been
included: does it fit anywhere?
Source: (Hancock, 2002)

Substage 8.3: Theory generation

 Not compulsory – some analyses stop after Stage 8.2
 The final product of a grounded theory study is a
comprehensive (and integrated) grounded theory that
explains a process or scheme associated with a
phenomenon
 It is comprehensive because it explains variations
rather than assuming there is a one-size-fits-all
answer to a research question
 Strauss’ approach also integrates existing theories
with the grounded theory thus produced whilst
Glaser’s approach doesn’t

15
 Activity 2
10 minutes, in pairs:
 Revisit your analysis of the Staffordshire Hoard
interview transcript
 Review your choice of categories
 Try to apportion most of the text to one or more
categories
 Suggest a theory which explains one aspect of
the Staffordshire Hoard discovery (e.g. how is
the significance of a treasure find established?)

Using NVivo
1. Import the document(s)
2. Create nodes (categories) and simultaneously associate
them to parts of the text
3. Create node classifications (themes) containing the text
from several other nodes
4. Create types of relationships between the nodes (e.g.
“indicates”, “is a consequence of”, etc.)
5. Create a project map of the relationships between nodes
6. Export the text associated with each node into Excel
7. Write memos as you go along
8. Generate theories based on your project map, the
exported text and your memos

16
Example categories (NVivo nodes)
1. Academic impact of find
2. Authority figure
3. Development of metalwork skills
4. Experience of viewing the find
5. How materials were made
6. How the treasure was found
7. Hypothesis for treasure assemblage
8. Previous find
9. Quality of find
10.Quantity of find
11.Significance of find
12.Type and purpose of objects

Coding of nodes in NVivo

17
 Project map

Coding summary by node (Excel

file extracted from NVivo)
Name List Order Coverage No. Coding References Reference No. Coded Text
Academic impact of find 9 18.1% 4 1 written a report
Academic impact of find 9 18.1% 4 2 this is going to change our views of Anglo-Saxon England perhaps more than any other dis
Academic impact of find 9 18.1% 4 3 There’s going to be years and years, perhaps never-ending academic research onto this. A
Academic impact of find 9 18.1% 4 4 There’s going to be huge amounts of research onto this material. And I think this is almost
Authority figure 2 2.2% 4 1 Dr Kevin Leahy
Authority figure 2 2.2% 4 2 me
Authority figure 2 2.2% 4 3 county archaeologists for Staffordshire
Authority figure 2 2.2% 4 4 Lesley Webster
Development of metalwork skills 11 1.4% 1 1 detailed chronology metalwork in the period
Emotional reaction 3 8.8% 4 1 absolutely stunned
Emotional reaction 3 8.8% 4 2 absolutely breathtaking
Emotional reaction 3 8.8% 4 3 I was staggered
Emotional reaction 3 8.8% 4 4 I was there for 4 hours just looking at the material and the finder actually called me Duncan
Experience of viewing the find 12 17.3% 1 1 Seeing the material for the first time was absolutely breathtaking. I’d had a call about the m
How materials were made 10 9.7% 1 1 One of the advantages of this material, bizarrely, is that some of it has perhaps been hit by
How the treasure was found 6 15.9% 1 1 This was found by a local metal detectorist who’s been metal detecting for 18 years. It was
Hypothesis for treasure assemblage 8 3.2% 1 1 So it’s a very specific assemblage. It’s possibly suggesting something like trophies from a
Previous find 13 1.0% 2 1 Sutton Hoo ship burial
Previous find 13 1.0% 2 2 Sutton Hoo
Quality of find 5 2.6% 3 1 quality
Quality of find 5 2.6% 3 2 The quality of metalwork is absolutely breathtaking
Quality of find 5 2.6% 3 3 most staggering quality
Quantity of find 4 8.1% 5 1 quantity
Quantity of find 4 8.1% 5 2 There is 5kg of gold found in Staffordshire Hoard and in Sutton Hoo it was less than 1.5kg
Quantity of find 4 8.1% 5 3 So in terms of quantity, it exceeds the best that we’ve got
Quantity of find 4 8.1% 5 4 I’d listed something like 50 sword caps/sword pom caps in gold
Quantity of find 4 8.1% 5 5 But also the volume of material
Significance of find 1 5.7% 2 1 This is unparalleled as a find of Anglo-Saxon precious metalwork, certainly in the UK, poss
Significance of find 1 5.7% 2 2 1939 is probably the best parallel which was the Sutton Hoo ship burial
Type and purpose of objects 7 2.7% 2 1 it’s basically warfare related, it’s male items
Type and purpose of objects 7 2.7% 2 2 We don’t even know what some of it is.

18
 Comparative analysis
 Instances are compared across a range of
situations, over a period of time, among a number
of people and through a variety of methods
 Comparisons are being made all the time: in
checking data, testing an idea, bringing out the
distinctive elements of a category and establishing
generalities within a group
 Any of these could spark off ideas about ‘why’,
which would bring more comparisons to test and
refine that idea
 This process should continue until saturation is
reached (stable categories and generated theory)

Theorising
 Theorising goes on throughout the study
 The researcher becomes steeped in the data
 Need to cultivate analytical distance to enable
reflection upon the data and to allow the
imagination to work to see patterns in the detail,
or how apparently unrelated items might be
connected (memos):
 Reflective diary separate from the data
 Additional marginal notes in a different pen
 Summaries, figures, tables, diagrams
 Memos in NVivo

19
 Theorising (2)
 Consulting the literature is an integral part of
theory development, and the main way of
making comparisons outside the study (at least
in Straussian grounded theory)
 Discuss your findings with your supervisor
 Another important factor is time: the deeper the
involvement, the longer the association, the
wider the field of contacts and knowledge, the
more intense the reflection, the stronger the
promise of ‘groundedness’

Example of a generated theory

When a large treasure find is made, due to legal implications, it first needs
to be reported to the people responsible for securing, identifying and
assessing it, such as archaeologists and museum curators. This might
lead to excavations by archaeologists and further finds.
Once the full scope of the find has been established its importance can be
assessed according to the type, age, quantity and quality of the materials
it contains. It can be compared with other finds from the same period to
establish its relative importance. The individual items within the find can
then be analysed in terms their type and a reason for why they came to be
assembled together can be asserted.
The significance of a find will then be communicated via a report written by
a designated expert, such as a museum finds advisor. If the find is
significant this may lead to further research which may cover issues such
as how the materials were made or how design processes changed over
the period of time to which it relates. The body of research publications
based on the find will provide additional perspectives to this report and will
enable both academics and lay people assess the find’s significance. Very
significant finds are known as type sites for the period to which they
belong.

20
Stage 9: Writing up – example
Keyworth, C., Peters, S.,
Chisholm, A. and Hart, J.
(2012) Nursing students’
perceptions of obesity and
behaviour change:
Implications for
undergraduate nurse
education. Nurse Education
Today, 33(5), pp. 481–485.
 Semi-structured interviews
 Grounded theory
 Explains method nicely

With the absence of any prior theoretical framework, an inductive

thematic approach to the analysis was informed by the principles of
Grounded Theory (GT). This iterative process allowed for emerging
ideas to be tested in subsequent interviews. Thus, constructive
questions were formulated and themes were not sought out, but
allowed to emerge from the data (Lyons and Coyle, 2007). By
adhering to these principles, the authors were able to control the
research process and increase the analytical power of the findings,
by developing the analytical framework that was used to view and
synthesise the data (Charmaz, 2006).
Coding was conducted by one of the authors, and themes were
discussed and agreed upon with the co-authors of the study during
ongoing research meetings. In accordance with Strauss and
Corbin's (1998) approach to GT, coding began soon after the first
interview was completed. As the interviews progressed and a list of
codes was developed, possible themes and sub-themes were
developed (Strauss and Corbin, 1998).

21
 Recap
 Qualitative v. quantitative research
 The 9 stage qualitative research process
 Research strategies
 Stage 6: Data collection techniques
 Stage 7: Data transcription
 Stage 8: Data analysis using a theory:
 Grounded theory and alternatives
 Primary analysis and category formation
 Using NVivo
 Theory generation
 Stage 9: Writing up

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Garg, A. (2008) My experience of interviewing a “crusader participant”:
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Methods, 5(4), pp. 70-74.
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Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. (1999) The Discovery of Grounded Theory.
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 References (2)
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