Advance Qualitative Research Methodology

Lesson 01

Introduction to Qualitative Research Methodology

Professor Dharmakeerthi Sri Ranjan

Faculty of Mass Media

Sri Palee Campus
University of Colombo
Sri Lanka.

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•‘‘Life without inquiry is not worth living for a human being’’(Socrates , 469–399 BC)

•Research - Search for knowledge, or systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish
novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories.

•The term derived from the old French term "recerchier" a compound word from "re-" +
"cerchier", or "sercher", meaning 'search‘

•to go about seeking”

•In the broadest sense of the word, the definition of research includes any gathering of data,
information and facts for the advancement of knowledge.”

• Research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our
understanding of a topic or issue.

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• Ancient Egyptian documents describe empirical methods in astronomy, mathematics and
medicine
• The ancient Greek philosopher Thales in the 6th century BC refused to accept supernatural,
religious or mythological explanations for natural phenomena, proclaiming that every event
had a natural cause.
•The development of deductive reasoning by Plato was an important step towards the
scientific method. Empiricism seems to have been formalized by Aristotle, who believed
that universal truths could be reached via induction (induction is the process of reasoning
from the particular to the general).

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• Ancient Egyptian documents describe empirical methods in astronomy, mathematics and
medicine
• The ancient Greek philosopher Thales in the 6th century BC refused to accept supernatural,
religious or mythological explanations for natural phenomena, proclaiming that every event
had a natural cause.
•The development of deductive reasoning by Plato was an important step towards the
scientific method. Empiricism seems to have been formalized by Aristotle, who believed
that universal truths could be reached via induction (induction is the process of reasoning
from the particular to the general).

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Philosophy of qualitative research is “interpretive, humanistic, and naturalistic”
•There are four different methods of philosophizing:

1.Logic (based on reasoning and critical thinking)

2.Existentialism
3.Analytic tradition
4.Phenomenology

Qualitative approaches of the research:

Ethnography Survey
Phenomenology Descriptive analysis Historical
Grounded theory
Content analysis, Case study.
 

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Ontology: assumptions about the nature of reality. Shape the way in which you see
•
and study your research objects.
•organizations
•management
•individuals’ working lives and organizational events artifacts.
Your ontology, therefore, determines how you see the world.

Epistemology: concerns assumptions about knowledge, what constitutes

acceptable, valid, and legitimate knowledge, and how we can communicate
knowledge to others. Help to see the multidisciplinary context of the behavioral
pattern of the masses and their different types of knowledge:
(ranging from numerical data to textual and visual data, from facts to interpretations,
and including narratives, stories, and even fictional accounts)
Axiology: refers to the role of values and ethics within the research process.
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•Qualitative methods: used for several centuries - anthropologists brought qualitative
field research methods to the forefront through their 19th century observations of
preliterate societies.
•some researchers in 1900s, rejected positivism, the theoretical idea that there is an
objective world which we can gather data from and "verify" this data through empiricism.

empiricism -  theory  - knowledge

Positivism - philosophical theory -
certain knowledge is based on
natural phenomena and their
properties and relations. Thus,
information derived from sensory
experience, interpreted through
reason and logic, forms the
exclusive source of all certain
knowledge.
relations of previous sense experiences
comes only or primarily from sensory
experience. It is one of several views
of epistemology, along
with rationalism and skepticism.
Empiricism - role of empirical
evidence in the formation of ideas,
rather than innate ideas or traditions.
 However, empiricists may argue that
traditions (or customs) arise due to
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Perception

Knowledge
(Man made)

Reasons

&
Information Logic

Post truth era

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The theory empiricism: - knowledge is based on experience derived from the senses.
Stimulated by the rise of experimental science, it developed in the 17th and 18th
centuries, expounded in particular by John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume.
.
• Basic/generic/pragmatic qualitative research,
• Ethnographic research - culture - cultural framework and their understanding.
• Grounded theory 
• Phenomenology describes the "subjective reality"
• Biographical research influenced by symbolic
interactionism, phenomenological sociology of knowledge 
• Philosophical research
• Critical Social Research, - understand how people communicate and develop
symbolic meanings.

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• Ethical Inquiry,
• Social science and Governmental Research to understand social services,
government operations, and recommendations (or not) regarding future
developments and programs, including whether or not government should be
involved.
• Activist research
• Foundational research
• Historical research
• Visual ethnography.
• Auto ethnography - the study of self,

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Steps in conducting research

The major steps in conducting research are:

1.Identification of research problem

2.Literature review

3.Specifying the purpose of research

4.Data collection

5.Analyzing and interpreting the data

6.Reporting and evaluating research

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Scientific research:
• The development of the scientific method is inseparable from the history of science itself.

• The Oxford English Dictionary says that scientific method is: "a method or procedure that has
characterized natural science since the 17th century, consisting in systematic observation,
measurement, and experiment, and the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses.

Scientific method
 
1.Observations and Formation of the topic: Consists of the subject area of one’s interest and
following that subject area to conduct subject related research. The subject area should not be
randomly chosen since it requires reading a vast amount of literature on the topic to determine
the gap in the literature the researcher intends to narrow. A keen interest in the chosen subject
area is advisable.
2.Review of the literature - Primary Sources – Secondary sources

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3. Scientific hypothesis:
People refer to a trial solution to a problem as a hypothesis, often called an "educated
guess" because it provides a suggested solution based on the evidence. Experimenters may
test and reject several hypotheses before solving the problem.
•A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term
derives from the Greek, hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose".
•For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires
that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypothesis on previous observations
•A working hypothesis a provisionally accepted hypothesis proposed for further research
• Testability
• Scope – the apparent application of the hypothesis to multiple cases of phenomena
•Fruitfulness – the prospect that a hypothesis may explain further phenomena in the future
• Conservatism – the degree of "fit" with existing recognized knowledge-systems.
4. Gathering of data: Consists of identifying a population and selecting samples, gathering
information from and/or about these samples by using specific research instruments. The

instruments used for data collection must be valid and reliable.

• Technique of observation

•Technique of participant observation

•Technique of living in role

•Technique of questionnaire

•Technique of interview

•Technique of case study

5.Classification of Data

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6. Analysis of data:
process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of highlighting
useful information, suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making.
Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, encompassing diverse techniques.

Prepare and organize your data. 

• Statistical applications
• Descriptive statistics
Review and explore your data. 

Develop a data coding system. Based on your initial ideas, establish a set of codes that you can
apply to categorize your data.

• Confirmatory data analysis

• Text analytics
 Approach When to use

Content analysis To describe and categorize common words, phrases, and ideas in
qualitative data.

Thematic analysis To identify and interpret patterns and themes in qualitative data.

Textual analysis To examine the content, structure, and design of texts.

Discourse analysis To study communication and how language is used to achieve effects
in specific contexts.

Two Main Approaches to Qualitative Data Analysis

1. Deductive Approach - deductive reasoning aims at testing an existing theory
2. Inductive Approach - not based on a predetermined structure or set ground
rules/framework. inductive reasoning aims at developing a

theory 
All these are varieties of data analysis.
 Data integration - precursor to data analysis, and data analysis is closely linked to data
visualization and data dissemination. The term data analysis is sometimes used as a synonym for
data modeling.

7. Data Interpretation: This can be represented through tables, figures and pictures, and then

described in words.

8. Test, revising of hypothesis (Verifications of data)

9.Conclusion, reiteration if necessary

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Advantages of qualitative data
•in-depth analysis
•Understand what customers think
•Rich data

Disadvantages of Qualitative Data

1.Time-consuming
2.Not easy to generalize
3.Dependent on the researcher’s skills

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