In this talk I will address issues of "rigour" and "quality" in qualitative research, and the way that the two are closely aligned with how the researcher may explore various points of focus within the research process itself. Rigour and quality are inseparable from the generative nature of much qualitative inquiry, and the need to "show your workings" in the field within which the research is carried out. I will discuss this using examples of particular aspects of qualitative research that I have been involved with recently, both in design and execution. I will also discuss the opportunities and challenges of making a case for qualitative insights to augment and add value to other forms of research.

1. Showing your
workings in qualitative
research
Dr Ibrar Bhatt
i.bhatt@qub.ac.uk | @ibrar_bhatt | ibrarspace.net
#resonances17 Conference
University of Leeds
May 2017

3. What is Qualitative Research?
A research strategy that emphasizes words rather than quantification in collection and analysis of data
(Bryman 2008)
An array of attitudes towards and strategies (Sandelowski 2004)
Unriddling (Alasuutari 1995)
A flexible and data-driven research design (Hammersly 2016)

4. Qualitative orientations
 A flexible, ‘inductive’ or data-driven
 Relatively unstructured forms of data
 Subjectivity
 Fluidity of ‘setting
 Familiarise – generalise
The need to be:
i) open to the data (go where it leads you); ii) thorough, transparent, and flexible in its collection; iii)
and continuously developing descriptions and explanations (i.e. writing).

5. The QUAL methodological toolkit

6. Two projects
 The Dynamics of Knowledge Creation: Academics’ Writing in the Contemporary University
 Examined the writing and knowledge-producing work of academics in different universities
 See http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/acadswriting/
 Assignments as controversies: Digital Literacy & Writing in Classroom Practice
 Examined how students write their course assignments
 See https://www.routledge.com/Assignments-as-Controversies-Digital-Literacy-and-Writing-in-
Classroom/Bhatt/p/book/9781138185456

7. The Dynamics of Knowledge Creation
Phase 1
 Observations of sites
 Differently-focussed qualitative interviews
i. Walk-along interviews
ii. Technobiographic interviews
iii. Day-in-the-life interviews
Phase 2
 Videography of writing
Phase 3
 Interviews with managerial, admin, and other staff participants

8. Assignments as Controversies
Phase 1
 Observations of sites
Phase 2
 Videography of assignment writing
Phase 3
 Post-assignment interviews

9. https://www.flickr.com/photos/sis/2687423479 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

10. Conflicted stance
 ‘I love Twitter… I hate Twitter…’
 ‘I like…’
 ‘I like…. but…’
(Barton 2017)
Conflicted stances in this research reveal that:
 understandings of technology use are nuanced and indeterminable
 identity positions are multiple
 how people use technologies depends on what they want out of it
Recording conflicted stance and theorising it became an issue of rigour

11. Coding
 Thematic categories established by the research team’s ongoing analysis
 Agreement ensured by the team through continuous discussion and deliberation
 Interviews initially, then video logs integrated into data set
 Atlasti software used – The role of CAQDAS tools in reflexivity is under-examined
 Tools afford and restrict data presentation and outputs
 They are built upon the assumptions and ideologies of software designers
 Reflexivity is not just a human-centric activity
Continual team deliberation and tool use became an issue of rigour

12. Coding
i. What influenced your choice of software?
ii. Which tools and options within the software are adopted, and how are they used?
iii. How is the use of software accounted for in your public research outputs?
iv. How is the use of software accounted for in private research outputs?
v. How are breakdowns, limits and workarounds understood, drawn on, incorporated or theorised
into your final accounts?
(adapted from Wright & Bhatt 2016)
Examination of tool use is an issue of rigour

13. Writing up collaboratively
 Project writing retreats
Continual team deliberation in writing up became an issue of
rigour

14. Videography
 Deciding what to observe
 Recordings used a screen-in-screen format (Bhatt 2017b; Bhatt et al 2015)
 Video logs created
Capturing the writing activities the way I wanted to became an issue of rigour

15. Videography
Screen-in-screen format (image
from Bhatt 2017a)
See Bhatt (2017b) for a detailed
discussion of data collection
methods

16. Videography
Video log allowed for a step-by-
step account of salient moments
See Bhatt 2017b for a detailed
discussion

17. Documenting & rationalising the multiple layers of work
Data management decision/work Transformation conducted
1. Setting up of video recording Angled webcams captured students’ movements and talk around the computers. Webcams show one angle of this view continuously
alongside simultaneous audio recording
2. Choosing and utilising screen
recording software
Blueberry Flashback Recorder (for screen recordings) was set to record on the students’ computers at the time of the assignments,
then exported to appropriate video file format shortly afterwards. A wide net to yield a comprehensive view of ‘what happened’ which
was later viewed, scrutinised, and broken down
3. Screen-in-screen format adopted To make exported files accessible and transportable, video quality was reduced (for economy of conversion time and storage space)
and the screen-in-screen image was docked in a particular place on the screen
4. File conversion and management For ease of access on multiple devices, video files were password protected and stored on Web servers (the Vimeo video sharing
platform)
5. Video logging Selecting clips to analyse via a descriptive video log of each recording., to make complex multimodal data more accessible and allowed
for ease of categorisation, coding, and breakdown. Focussed on segments of a descriptive video log varying lengths
6. Gisting Overall impression (‘forest-wise’) was initially attained, then a ‘tree-wise’ (Erikson, 2006) understanding
7. Digital transcript preparation Select segments were prepared for further analysis in CAQDAS (ELAN) for transcription and manipulability (slowing down,
segmentation, etc.)
See Bhatt & de Roock (2013) for detail

18. Videography
 7. Digital transcription
preparation (manual version)

19. Videography
 8. Digital transcription
(Image from Bhatt, 2017:
p. 59)

20. Videography
 9. Analytic vignettes (including
other data sources)
 10. Screenshots for publishing &
presentations

21. The audit trail
 Credibility, dependability, and transferability
 Audit trail - trace through a researcher's logic and determine whether the study's findings may be
relied upon as a platform for further inquiry
 Physical audit trail
 Intellectual audit trail
Capturing the path you were lead on through the research

22. Impact
 Qualitative research can be ‘impactful’ because it aims to understand the experience of particular
groups - to familiarise rather than generalise
 Rigour and transparency allow research to be more accessible (knowledge transfer)
 Enhanced opportunities for partnership (knowledge exchange)
 Universities and publics co-generate knowledge: setting, research questions, research design, data
collection, analysis and practice (knowledge co-production)
Rigourous qualitative research is highly ‘impactful’

23. References
Alasuutari, P. (1995) Researching Culture: Qualitative Method and Cultural Studies, London: Sage
Bhatt, I. (2017a) Assignments as controversies: digital literacy and writing in classroom practice, Routledge Research in
Literacy, NY/London: Routledge
Bhatt, I. (2017b) Classroom digital literacies as interactional accomplishments, In ‘Researching New Literacies: Design,
Theory, and Data in Sociocultural Investigation’, Knobel, M. and Lankshear, C. (eds.), New York: Peter Lang
Bhatt, I, de Roock, R & Adams, J. (2015) Diving deep into digital literacy: emerging methods for research, Language
and Education, Vol. 29 (6) pp. 477-492
Bhatt, I. and de Roock, R. (2013) Capturing the Sociomateriality of Digital Literacy Events, Research in Learning
Technology, Special Issue: Scholarship and Literacies in a Digital Age, Vol. 21 (4)
Bryman, A. (2008) ‘Of methods and methodology’, Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management, Vol. 3 (2),
pp. 159-168.
Hammersly, M. (2016) What Is Qualitative Research? London: Bloomsbury Academic
Wright, S. & Bhatt, I. (2016) Teaching-led research? Exploring the digital agencies of software in qualitative research,
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Networked Learning 2016, pp. 489-498.