Scientific approaches in qualitative research for Mphil and PhD scholars.

1. Scientific Approaches in
Qualitative Research
Kanhaiya Sapkota
Central Department of Geography
Tribhuvan University
Kathmandu
Day - 1

2. Methodvs.Methodology
• Methodology=method+ology
• Method=toolsandtechniques
• Ology =Philosophy,theory,ethology
• So methodology refers tothephilosophy of your research
Method
A methodis simplythetoolused toansweryour researchquestions -how,
inshort,you willgo about collectingyour data.
 Contextualinquiry
 FocusGroup Discussion
 StructuredInterview
 Acontrolledexperiment
 Surveyorquestionnaire
 Diarystudy, etc.
Ifyou arechoosingamong these,you might say“what methodshouldI
use?” andsettleononeormoremethodsto answeryour research
question.
In summary, the methodology is “HOW” you will answer
your research questions and the method is “WHAT” you
do to collect your data.
A methodology is the rationale for the
research approach, and the lens
through which you will analyse your
research.

3. Howdoweknowthetruth?
• Poonam, the lady claims that Kaji,
their pet (dog) loves her ‘The Most’
than anybody else in the world and
Diwas, her husband, claims Kaji loves
him more.
How do we know what is True?

4. Doesa‘Truth’exist?
• Idealism: Reality exists only in our minds.
• Realism: External reality exists; Universal concepts like ‘Love’ and ‘Gravity’ exist too.
• Objectivism: Applies Realism. External Psychological and Social Phenomena (Intelligence, Social
Cohesion…) exist.
• Constructivism: Social Phenomena are mental constructions. The meaning of ‘Happiness’ or
‘Femininity/Masculinity’ depend on culture and contexts
• Interpretivism: Applies Constructivism: The observer’s experience can be different from the
participant’s experience
• Hermeneutics: Phenomenology(How people experience the world), and Verstehen (Empathic
Understanding of human behavior)

5. TheFundamentalApproaches
• Qualitative Research generally applies a Constructivist-Interpretivist view
 Unstructured Interviews, Participant Observation, etc.
• Quantitative Research generally applies an Objectivist-Positivist approach
 Focuses on counting, measuring, and generalizing.
• None of these should be taken as water-tight compartments. Then what?
• What we need is Mixed Methods where both methods complement each other, especially in fields
like Psychology

6. Canyousaywhichapproachissuitable?
Capital punishment is the best way to deal with convicted murderers.
Response:
Strongly Disagree = 1
Disagree = 2 √
Neutral = 3
Agree = 4
Strongly Agree = 5

7.  Did the respondent understand the term "capital punishment"?
 Does the respondent have any idea about alternatives to capital punishment (otherwise how can they judge
what's "best")?
 Did the respondent read carefully enough to determine that the statement was limited only to convicted
murderers (for instance, rapists were not included)?
 Does the respondent care or were they just circling anything arbitrarily/randomly?
 Was the respondent mentally alert (especially if this is late in a long survey or the respondent had other things
going on earlier in the day)?
 what was the setting for the survey (e.g., lighting, noise, and other distractions)?
 Was the survey anonymous? Was it confidential?
 In the respondent's mind, is the difference between a "1" and a "2" the same as between a "2" and a "3" (i.e., is
this an interval scale?)?

8. Whatisqualitativeresearch?
• Norman Denzin and Yvonna Lincoln define qualitative researchers as people who
usually work in the ‘real’ world of lived experience, often in a natural setting, rather
laboratory-based experimental approach. The qualitative researcher tries to make
social phenomena and the meanings people bring to them (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000).
• Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data (e.g., text,
video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be used to
gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for research.

9. • Therefore,methodologyprovidesaguidancewhetheryouaredoingyourresearchinaqualitative study–interpretivist;
• Quantitativestudy=positivist/post-positivist
• Whenyouclearaboutyourmethodologicalstandpoint,thenyoucanthinkaboutyourmethods/tools/techniques,etc.
Qualitative research: It is a phenomenological inquiry in a
naturalistic setting that provides detailed information about
the participants’ behaviour, motivations, and preferences.
INTERPRETIVISM = CONSTRUCTIVISM

10. Whatdoesqualitativeresearchdo?
The following are the five features that Denzin and Lincoln (2000) list as major defining characteristics of qualitative research:
1. Concern with the richness of description - Quantitative researchers value data that is rich in its descriptive attributes.
2. Capturing the individual’s perspective - Qualitative methods emphasize the perspective of the individual and their
3. The rejection of positivism and the use of post-modern perspectives - Qualitative researchers tend to reject positivist
approaches. ’
4. Adherence to the postmodern sensibility - The postmodern sensibility, for example, reveals itself in the way that qualitative
researchers are much more likely to use methods that get them close to the real-life experiences of people (in-depth
interviews, for example) than quantitative researchers who are often content with a degree of artificiality such as that arising
from the use of laboratory studies.
5. Examination of the constraints of everyday life.

11. Qualitative research is commonly used in the humanities and social sciences, in subjects
such as anthropology, sociology, education, health sciences, history, etc.
Some of the qualitative research question examples
 How does social media shape body image in teenagers?
 How do children and adults interpret healthy eating in Kathmandu and Rolpa?
 How is anxiety experienced around the world?
 How can teachers integrate social issues into science curriculums?

12. Whatmethodsareusedinqualitativeresearch?
Each of the research approaches involves using one or more data collection methods. These are some
of the most common qualitative methods:
 Observations: recording what you have seen, heard, or encountered in detailed field notes.
 Interviews: personally, asking people questions in one-on-one conversations.
 Focus groups: asking questions and generating discussion among a group of people.
 Surveys: distributing questionnaires with open-ended questions.
 Secondary research: collecting existing data in the form of texts, images, audio or video
etc.

13. Qualitative researchers often consider themselves “instruments” in research because all
observations, interpretations, and analyses are filtered through their own personal lens.
For this reason, when writing up your methodology for qualitative research, it’s important to
reflect on your approach and to thoroughly explain the choices you made in collecting and
analyzing the data.

14. Howqualitativedataanalyzed?
Qualitative data can take the form of texts, photos, videos, and audio. For example, you might be working with interview
transcripts, survey responses, field notes, or recordings from natural settings.
Most types of qualitative data analysis share the same five steps:
1. Prepare and organize your data. This may mean transcribing interviews or typing up field notes.
2. Review and explore your data. Examine the data for patterns or repeated ideas that emerge.
3. Develop a data coding system (Deductive coding/Inductive coding/hybrid coding). Based on your initial ideas,
establish a set of codes that you can apply to categorize your data. One mode sample
4. Assign codes to the data. For example, in qualitative survey analysis, this may mean going through each participant’s
responses and tagging them with codes in a spreadsheet. As you go through your data, you can create new codes to
add to your system if necessary.
5. Identify recurring themes. Link codes together into cohesive, overarching themes.

15. Qualitative data analysis
Approach When to use Example
Content
analysis
To describe and categorize common
words, phrases, and ideas in qualitative
data.
A market researcher could perform content
analysis to find out what kind of language is used
in descriptions of therapeutic apps.
Thematic
analysis
To identify and interpret patterns and
themes in qualitative data.
A psychologist could apply thematic analysis to
travel blogs to explore how tourism shapes self-
identity.
Textual
analysis
To examine the content, structure, and
design of texts.
A media researcher could use textual analysis to
understand how news coverage of celebrities has
changed in the past decade.
Discourse
analysis
To study communication and how
language is used to achieve effects in
specific contexts.
A political geographer could use discourse analysis
to study how politicians generate trust in election
campaigns.

16. Whatarethemainqualitativeresearchapproaches?
 Grounded theory involves collecting data in order to develop new theories.
 Ethnography involves immersing yourself in a group or organization to understand its
culture.
 Narrative research involves interpreting stories to understand how people make sense of
their experiences and perceptions.
 Phenomenological research involves investigating phenomena through people’s lived
experiences.
 Action research links theory and practice in several cycles to drive innovative changes.
 Case Study:

17. PHENOMENOLOGY
When researchers attempt to gain insight into a universal feeling
or experience (or phenomenon).
It is a type of Qualitative Research Method
Phenomenology has been used in psychology to study human
experience and consciousness, particularly in the areas of
perception, emotion, and cognition. It has also been used to
develop new forms of psychotherapy, such as existential and
humanistic psychotherapy.

18. PhenomenologicalResearch
• The phenomenological approach to qualitative research has its historical roots at the
turn of the 20th century in the work of Edmund Husserl. Husserl developed and
employed the research method he called “phenomenology” for use in philosophy and
the human sciences including psychology.
• A qualitative research approach that helps in describing the lived experiences of an
individual is known as phenomenological research.
• The phenomenological method focuses on studying the phenomena that have impacted
an individual. This approach highlights the specifics and identifies a phenomenon as
perceived by an individual in a situation. It can also be used to study the commonality in
the behaviors of a group of people.

19. • Phenomenological research has its roots in psychology, education and philosophy.
• Its aim is to extract the purest data that hasn’t been attained before. In general, researchers record
personal notes about what they learn from the subjects. This adds to the credibility of data, allowing
researchers to remove these influences to produce unbiased narratives. Through this method, researchers
attempt to answer two major questions:
1. What are the subject’s experiences related to the phenomenon?
2. What factors have influenced the experience of the phenomenon?
• A researcher may also use observations, art and documents to construct a universal meaning of experiences
as they establish an understanding of the phenomenon. The richness of the data obtained
in phenomenological research opens up opportunities for further inquiry.

20. Qualitative thematic analysis based on descriptive
phenomenology

21. Examples of Phenomenological Research
• Phenomenological research is a way to understand individual situations in detail. We can use this
methodology in situations such as:
• The experiences of every war survivor or war veteran are unique. Research can illuminate their mental
states and survival strategies in a new world.
• Losing family members to covid-19 hasn’t been easy. A detailed study of survivors and people who’ve lost
loved ones can help understand coping mechanisms and long-term traumas.
• What’s it like to be diagnosed with a terminal disease when a person becomes a parent? The conflict of
birth and death can’t be generalized, but research can record emotions and experiences.

22. • There are several types of phenomenology that have emerged over time,
but, we frequently use Transcendental Phenomenology in psychology.
• This is the type of phenomenology developed by Edmund Husserl, which
aims to investigate the structures of consciousness and experience in a
systematic way by using the method of epoche (suspension of judgement)
or bracketing.
• Bracketing suspends preconceptions, beliefs, or even prejudices so they do
not influence the interpretation of the participants’ / respondents’
experiences.

23. StepsinPhenomenologicalResearch/Explicitationofthedata
1. Bracketing and phenomenological reduction.
2. Delineating units of meaning.
3. Clustering of units of meaning to form themes.
4. Summarizing each interview, validating it and where necessary modifying
it.
5. Extracting general and unique themes from all the interviews and making
a composite summary.

25. Case Study in Psychology
Case study research involves the study of an issue explored
through one or more cases within a bounded system (i.e., a setting,
a context).
Although Stake (2005) states that case study research is not a
methodology but a choice of what is to be studied (i.e., a case within
a bounded system), others present it as a strategy of inquiry, a
methodology, or a comprehensive research strategy (Denzin &
Lincoln, 2005; Merriam, 1998; Yin, 2003).

26. • Case study research is a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a bounded system (a case)
or multiple bounded systems (cases) over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection involving
multiple sources of information (e.g., observations, interviews, audiovisual material, and documents and
reports), and reports a case description and case-based themes.
• For example, several programs (a multi-site study) or a single program (a within-site study) may be selected
for study.
• The case study approach is familiar to social scientists because of its popularity in psychology (Sigmund
Freud), medicine (case analysis of a problem), law (case law), and political science (case reports).
Therefore,
The unit of analysis can vary from an individual to a corporation, or an event
Single or multiple cases can be included in a study
documentation, archival records, interviews, direct observations, participant observation and physical
artefacts (Yin, 1994)

27. Typologiesofcasestudies
• Types of qualitative case studies are distinguished by the size of the bounded case, such as
whether the case involves one individual, several individuals, a group, an entire program, or an
activity. They may also be distinguished in terms of the intent of the case analysis.
• Three variations exist in terms of intent: the single instrumental case study, the collective or
multiple case study, and the intrinsic case study.
• In a single instrumental case study (Stake, 1995), the researcher focuses on an issue or concern,
and then selects one bounded case to illustrate this issue.
• In a collective case study (or multiple case study), the one issue or concern is again selected, but
the inquirer selects multiple case studies to illustrate the issue.

28. • The final type of case study design is an intrinsic case study in which
the focus is on the case itself (e.g., evaluating a program, or studying
a student having difficulty, etc.) because the case presents an unusual
or unique situation. This resembles the focus of narrative research,
but the case study analytic procedures of a detailed description of the
case, set within its context or surroundings, still hold true.

29. WhatisaCase?UnitsofAnalysis

30. CharacteristicsofCaseStudy
• It is (Mostly)Descriptive : Highly detailed; trying to collect as much data as
possible, including the contexts.
• Narrow Focus: A single entity is studied. Limited aspects, most of the times.
• Uses Triangulation of Tools/Methods
• Combines Objective & Subjective Data: Objective recordings + feelings, beliefs,
interpretations….
• Process Oriented: Different from experimental methods, which are mostly
‘snapshots’.

31. Pros
• Stimulating New Research
• Question Established Theory
• Giving New Insight into Phenomena or experience
• Investigating Otherwise Inaccessible Areas
• Not Replicable
• Researcher Bias
• Memory Distortions
• No Generalization
Cons

32. Protocol
A Sample Protocol:
• Purpose and Rationale
• Design (Based on Unit of Analysis and purpose)
• Data Collection and Management
• Describing Full Case
• Thematic Analysis (Based on purpose, rationale and questions)
• Establish Rigour
• Protocol

33. ‘Doing’ CaseStudy-AnApproach
Stage 3 - Focus of the Analysis
• Theoretical and Naturalistic
Generalizations are possible
Stage 1 - Describing Experience
• Interview and other possible data sources
• Iterative Interviews and Literature Survey
• Categorizing Experiences
Stage 2 - Describing Meaning
• Meaning of Signs and Symbols
• Meaning of People, Things and Events
• Meanings as a whole

34. StrategiesforEstablishingRigour
What goes with what? Integration among pieces of data
Noting patterns
Clustering making Metaphors
Seeing plausibility
What's there? Sharpen our understanding
Counting Making comparisons
Partitioning variables
See things and their relationships more
abstractly
Assemble a coherent understanding of the data
Subsuming particulars into the general Building a logical chain of evidence
Factoring Making conceptual/theoretical
Noting relations between variables Coherence
Finding intervening variables

35. Writing Up
• Separate the story and the findings from the conclusions and interpretations
• Not a good practice to just list out cases
• Emphasize the common themes across cases
• Ensure proper referencing
• Be open to Ethical concerns

36. Thank you
Please keep in touch while doing your research
Kanhaiya Sapkota
Email: kanhaiya.sapkota@cdg.tu.edu.np
OR
kanhaiya.sapkota@gmail.com
Contact no.: 9849849197