1 Assessment 4 Context Five Qualitative Methodologies Ethnography Ethnography is a descriptive research approach designed for in-depth investigation and description of cultures, cultural groups, large organizations and groupings, and their features. Ethnographers immerse themselves in the culture or organization they are studying, becoming a part of the culture in order to learn about it from the inside out. Consequently, this approach often requires longer timeframes for data collection, and ethnographers frequently return a number of times to the sites of their investigations to obtain more data. As a result, many doctoral learners avoid ethnographic studies because of the typically long time commitments. However, ethnography can be a fruitful approach, even in shorter periods, for understanding the customs, culture, belief systems, and implicit “rules” of organizations and large groups. Ethnography is based on the anthropological tradition of research. Keep in mind that the culture being studied could be a corporate culture, such as that of Microsoft or a small start-up company; or the culture of a particular group of people operating in a specific social environment, such as that of a third-grade classroom among the students, teachers, teacher’s aides, and so on. An important aspect of this research approach is that the participants (culture) are studied in their natural habitat and social contexts. Individuals are not the unit of analysis for ethnography, although they may be sources of valuable data. Thus, qualitative research questions in social psychology and group psychology often are well-answered by ethnographic research. Case Study A case study is the in-depth study—using multiple methods and data sources—of a single case. Sometimes a number of cases are studied and reported together. The “case” in a case study is the object of study. A case study is an exploration of a “bounded system” over time. The phrase “bounded system” means that the target to be studied is easily distinguished for other instances of the same phenomenon; it has a clear boundary differentiating it from all others. Think of a case of measles (that is, one patient who has the measles), or a case of homicide (a single incident of murder, including the victim, the murderer, the police, the attorneys—anyone and anything relevant to the particular murder event). In those cases, the boundary is clear and it encircles all the information about the patient and his or her disease or the victim and the circumstances of the murder. One could study a single case (in which a single instance is investigated in depth) or multiple cases (in which a number of instances of the target are studied and then compared with one another). For example, a single case study might investigate a single treatment program (the bounded system being that program and no other) or a new way of teaching reading in a school system (the bounded system being.

1. 1
Assessment 4 Context
Five Qualitative Methodologies
Ethnography
Ethnography is a descriptive research approach designed for in-
depth investigation and
description of cultures, cultural groups, large organizations and
groupings, and their features.
Ethnographers immerse themselves in the culture or
organization they are studying, becoming a
part of the culture in order to learn about it from the inside out.
Consequently, this approach
often requires longer timeframes for data collection, and
ethnographers frequently return a
number of times to the sites of their investigations to obtain
more data. As a result, many
doctoral learners avoid ethnographic studies because of the
typically long time commitments.
However, ethnography can be a fruitful approach, even in
shorter periods, for understanding the
customs, culture, belief systems, and implicit “rules” of
organizations and large groups.
Ethnography is based on the anthropological tradition of
research. Keep in mind that the culture
being studied could be a corporate culture, such as that of
Microsoft or a small start-up
company; or the culture of a particular group of people

2. operating in a specific social
environment, such as that of a third-grade classroom among the
students, teachers, teacher’s
aides, and so on. An important aspect of this research approach
is that the participants (culture)
are studied in their natural habitat and social contexts.
Individuals are not the unit of analysis for
ethnography, although they may be sources of valuable data.
Thus, qualitative research
questions in social psychology and group psychology often are
well-answered by ethnographic
research.
Case Study
A case study is the in-depth study—using multiple methods and
data sources—of a single case.
Sometimes a number of cases are studied and reported together.
The “case” in a case study is
the object of study. A case study is an exploration of a
“bounded system” over time. The phrase
“bounded system” means that the target to be studied is easily
distinguished for other instances
of the same phenomenon; it has a clear boundary differentiating
it from all others. Think of a
case of measles (that is, one patient who has the measles), or a
case of homicide (a single
incident of murder, including the victim, the murderer, the
police, the attorneys—anyone and
anything relevant to the particular murder event). In those
cases, the boundary is clear and it
encircles all the information about the patient and his or her
disease or the victim and the
circumstances of the murder.
One could study a single case (in which a single instance is

3. investigated in depth) or multiple
cases (in which a number of instances of the target are studied
and then compared with one
another). For example, a single case study might investigate a
single treatment program (the
bounded system being that program and no other) or a new way
of teaching reading in a school
system (the bounded system being that particular school and
those teachers and students using
the new reading program). Or one could do a multiple case
study of three different alcohol
treatment programs, all cases of alcohol treatment, and compare
them on many variables. In
both instances, the boundary would encompass all the
information, personnel, and contexts
relevant to the subject.
2
Case studies have roots in sociology (primarily the University
of Chicago Department of
Sociology from the early 1900s until 1935), in medicine (case
study is a common way to
present evidence of emerging illnesses or treatments before
more focused studies can be
done; for instance, Freud presented his new ideas about hysteria
and his new ideas about
treatment by means of detailed case studies), and in psychology
(Piaget’s first findings of
childhood cognitive development were presented as case studies
of his own and others’
children). Program evaluations often are framed as case studies.
When a subject is not well
described in the scientific literature or it is newly emergent,

4. descriptive case studies are often
the best way to generate a lot of information about the case to
base future and more tightly
focused studies. It is because of the highly descriptive nature of
the approach coupled with the
fact that the subject is usually not previously well studied, that
case studies seek numerous
sources and types of information about the case, including its
various contexts.
Grounded Theory
Grounded theory is a qualitative research approach that attempts
to develop theories of
understanding based on data from the real world. Grounded
theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990;
1998) has its origins in symbolic interactionism, taking the
perspective that reality is negotiated
between people, always changing, and constantly evolving. The
key word is theory, which in
science means an explanatory statement or model based on
research evidence. Unlike some
other forms of qualitative inquiry, grounded theory attempts to
go beyond rich description
(which it also strives for) to an explanation of the phenomena of
interest.
The second key word is grounded. This implies that the
explanation is derived from the
“ground,” the actual experiences, words, behaviors, and other
data obtained from people
directly involved or engaged in the topic. For example, if one
wished to derive a grounded
theory about the effects of childhood abuse on adult
functioning, one would gather many kinds
of data from persons who had grown up amid child abuse and

5. would build the theory of how it
affects adult development on the information obtained from
those people. Another unique
feature of the grounded theory is its tendency to “return” to the
ground by taking preliminary
insights back to the participants and asking them to further
comment on and refine the
researcher’s conclusions.
The primary tools of discovery are interviews and observations.
However, grounded theory goes
beyond the descriptive and interpretive goals and is aimed at
building theories. The ultimate
goal of this approach is to derive theories that are grounded in
(based on) reality, which is
grounded in the data collected from people actually involved in
the issues under investigation. A
grounded theory is one that is uncovered, developed, and
conditionally confirmed through
collecting and making sense of data related to the issue at hand.
The hope is that such theories
will lead to a better understanding of the phenomenon of
interest and to ideas of exerting some
control over the phenomenon. Although the grounded theory is
designed to be a precise and
rigorous process, creativity plays an important part in that
process in the formulations of the
data, to create a new order out of old. The use of literature also
differs in the grounded theory
approach. There is a recommendation against knowing the
literature too well before using this
approach because knowing the categories, classifications, and
conclusions of previous
researchers may constrain your creativity in finding new
formulas.

6. Phenomenology
The key to understanding phenomenology lies in the phrase
“lived experience.” Put most
simply, phenomenology is the study of the lived experience of
persons who are going through
the phenomenon to be understood. By using the terms “lived
experience” and “going through,”
3
we put the focus squarely on exactly how a phenomenon reveals
itself to the experiencing
person in all its specificity and concreteness. A phenomenon
can be anything that a person
experiences, but phenomena (the plural) are defined precisely in
their quality of being
experienced by someone. A feeling, such as anger can be a
phenomenon, but a
phenomenological study of anger would focus on what it is like
to be angry and to feel anger as
an actual, lived experience. Similarly, being hired by a large
corporation or being elected to
office or losing a loved one in a car accident all are phenomena,
but a phenomenological
analysis focuses on how the people experiencing them actually
experienced them—felt,
thought about, perceived, observed, reflected upon them.
As a methodological approach, phenomenology is open to
whatever may be significant to the
understanding of a phenomenon. The person experiencing a
phenomenon is asked to attend to
it and then to describe it exactly as it appears in his or her

7. consciousness, without prejudgment,
bias, or any predetermined set or orientation. Likewise, the
researcher takes great pains to
reduce his or her own predetermined sets or orientations so that
the reports of the participants
can “reach” the researcher’s own consciousness with as little
filtering as possible. This process
of suspending one’s preconceptions about the phenomena under
inquiry is a process often
referred to in phenomenology as epoche (pronounced “eh-poh-
kay”), from a Greek root
meaning “to suspend” or (from another root) “to keep steady or
hold steady.”
It means a conscious attempt to “reduce” the bias of
preconceptions by continually setting aside
preconceptions and looking anew at the things themselves. The
founder of philosophical
phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, used to say that the
phenomenologist had to be “a perpetual
beginner,” returning always “to the things themselves”
(Merleau-Ponty, 1962, p. 14). The
“things” are the phenomena we are trying to understand. We
know that any pure, unfiltered
perception is impossible, so the “reduction” of the researcher’s
biases is an ongoing and
always-imperfect thing. In Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s phrase,
“The most important lesson which
the reduction teaches us is the impossibility of a complete
reduction” (1962, p. xiv).
The goals of the phenomenological method are as follows: The
researcher seeks to describe
the phenomena in rich detail, illuminating the lived experience
of the participants mediated
through their reports. Through those descriptions, the researcher

8. aims at the apprehension
(literally, the mental grasping) of the structure of the
phenomenon as it appears in the
consciousness of the participants. By bringing to light these
structures of experiences, the
research investigates the foundations (bases or origins) of the
phenomenon-as-experienced,
seeking finally to know the possible ways of perceiving all such
phenomena (known as the
“essence” of the phenomenon). Keep in mind that the term
“phenomena” always implies the
thing-as-experienced in the consciousness of the person who
experiences. Consequently,
phenomenology as such is not concerned with objective
descriptions of “things-in-themselves,”
without reference to the perceiver or knower. Thus, terms like
“structure” and “essence” should
not be interpreted as being about the external thing
(phenomenon) but about the structure or
essence of how the participants experience the external thing.
The task of the phenomenological researcher is to investigate
the processes of intuition,
reflection, and description with which the participants
experience the phenomenon. Accordingly,
phenomena are not manipulated but rather are permitted to
reveal themselves. The substance
of phenomenology consists of the data of experience and their
meaning for the experiencing
individual. Paradoxically, although psychological
phenomenological research is certainly about
“real” phenomena, always as experienced by people, there is no
“subject-object split” in
phenomenological research. Both are considered an integral part
of any happening—there is
the external world and its manifestations, which are manifested

9. in the consciousness of the one
4
who experiences. The proper subject matter of phenomenology
is not consciousness alone but
always consciousness-of-phenomena-being-experienced
(Merleau-Ponty, 1962).
Heuristics (Heuristic Phenomenology)
According to Michael Patton (2002) heuristics (also called
heuristic phenomenology) is a form of
phenomenological inquiry that brings to the fore the personal
experience and insights of the
researcher along with those of participants. Heuristics is a
research model that places special
emphasis on knowing through the self, by becoming one with
the topic and experiencing it as it
exists in the world. Eric Craig (1978) defines heuristics in his
work The Heart of the Teacher as:
“A private discovery oriented approach to understanding how
individuals experience themselves
and their world” (p. 22). What has been said about
phenomenology, in general, is applied to the
heuristic approach as well, and now the researcher himself or
herself becomes one of the
participants. In most heuristics texts, the researcher and the
participants are called “co-
researchers.”
There are two focusing or narrowing elements of heuristic
inquiry within the larger framework of
phenomenology. First, the researcher must have personal

10. experience with and an intense
interest in the phenomenon under study and be willing to be a
participant (co-researcher in
his or her own study). Second, the other participants (co-
researchers) must share an intensity
of experience with the phenomenon.
Heuristic inquiry lends itself to single case designs in which the
researcher is the only
participant. However, in the general psychology specialization,
single case designs are not
allowed to provide the learner with a broader research
experience involving live participants,
and to sharpen the learner’s research skills with participants
prior to graduation and the
conferring of the doctoral degree.
Some heuristic research reports are written in the first person
because of the intense
involvement of the researcher. However, in the general
psychology specialization, all
dissertations must be written in the third person to conform with
Capella University's
requirements and standard scholarly requirements and to
provide the learner with a full
experience of the customary standards of research presentation.
The goals of heuristics are the same as those of
phenomenological inquiry, with the addition of
the involvement and illumination of the researcher’s experience.
References
Craig, E. (1978). The heart of the teacher. Ann Arbor,
Michigan: University Microfilms
International.

11. Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C.
Smith, Trans.). London, England:
Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation
methods (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research:
Grounded theory procedures
and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research:
Techniques and theory for
developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA:
Sage.
Running head: APA STYLE PAPER TEMPLATE
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The running head title is all capital letters. Page 1 begins on the
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Full Title of Paper
Learner's Full Name
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13. Abstract
[An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents
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example, an abstract will not be required for Capella's first
course, PSYC3002. The following sentences serve as an
example of what could be composed as an abstract for this
paper: The basic elements of APA style will be reviewed,
including formatting of an APA style paper, in-text citations,
and a reference list. Additional information will address the
components of an introduction, how to write effective
paragraphs using the MEAL plan, and elements of a summary
and conclusion section of a paper.]
Full Title of Paper
[In APA style, the heading “Introduction” is not used; instead
the introduction appears under the paper’s full title. An
effective introduction often provides an obvious statement of
purpose to help the reader know what to expect while helping
the writer to focus and stay on task. For example, this paper
will address several components necessary to effectively write
an academic paper including (a) how to write an introduction,
(b) how to write effective paragraphs using the MEAL plan, and
(c) how to properly use APA style.
An introduction may consist of four main components
including (a) the position statement, thesis, or hypothesis,
which describes the author's main position; (b) the purpose,

14. which outlines the objective of the paper; (c) the background,
which is general information that is needed to understand the
content of the paper; and (d) the approach, which is the process
or methodology the author uses to achieve the purpose of the
paper. Authors may choose to briefly reference sources that will
be identified later on in the paper as in this example (American
Psychological Association, 2010a; American Psychological
Association, 2010b; Walker, 2008).]
Level One Section Heading is Centered, Bold, Uppercase and
Lowercase
[Using section headings can be an effective method of
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be confused with the running head, which is a different concept
described in the cover page of this document. Section headings
are not required according to APA style; however, they can
significantly improve the quality of a paper. This is
accomplished because section headings help both the reader and
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Level Two Section Heading is Flush Left, Bold, Uppercase and
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[The heading style recommended by APA consists of five
levels (American Psychological Association, 2010a, p. 62). This
document contains two levels to demonstrate how headings are
structured according to APA style. Immediately before the
previous paragraph, a Level 1 heading was used. That section
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an Effective Introduction" on page 3 of this document. The
heading is centered, bold, and uses uppercase and lowercase
letters (compared to all uppercase in the running head at the top
of each page). If used properly, section headings can
significantly contribute to the quality of a paper by helping the
reader who wants to understand the information in the
document, and the author who desires to effectively describe the
information in the document.]

15. Section Headings Help the Reader
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found. When subtopics are needed to explain concepts in greater
detail, different levels of headings are used according to APA
style.]
Section Headings Help the Author
[Section headings do not only help the reader, they help
the author organize the document during the writing process.
Section headings can be used to arrange topics in a logical
order, and they can help an author manage the length of the
paper. In addition to an effective introduction and the use of
section headings, each paragraph of an academic paper can be
written in a manner that helps the reader stay engaged. Capella
University promotes the use of the MEAL plan to serve this
purpose.]
The MEAL Plan
[The MEAL plan is a model used by Capella University to
help learners effectively compose academic discussions and
papers. Each component of the MEAL plan is critical to writing
an effective paragraph. The acronym MEAL is based on four
components of a paragraph (M = Main point, E = Evidence or
Example, A = Analysis, and L = Link). The following section
includes a detailed description and examples of each component
of the MEAL plan.
When writing the content sections of an academic paper
(as opposed to the introduction or conclusion sections), the
MEAL plan can be an effective model for designing each
paragraph. A paragraph begins with a description of the main
point, which is represented by the letter "M" of the MEAL plan.
For example, the first sentence of this paragraph clearly states

16. the main point is a discussion of the MEAL plan. Once the main
point has been made, evidence and examples can be provided.
The second component of a paragraph contains evidence or
examples, which is represented by the letter "E" in the MEAL
plan. An example of this component of the MEAL plan is
actually (and ironically) this sentence, which provides an
example of an example. Evidence can be in the form of expert
opinions from research. For example, evidence shows that
plagiarism can occur even when it is not intended if sources are
not properly cited (Marsh, Landau, & Hicks, 1997; Walker,
2008). The previous sentence provides evidence supporting why
evidence is used in a paragraph.
Analysis, which is represented by the letter "A" of the
MEAL plan, should be based on the author's interpretation of
the evidence. An effective analysis might include a discussion
of the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments, as well as the
author's interpretations of the evidence and examples. If a quote
is used, the author will likely provide an analysis of the quote
and the specific point it makes for the author's position.
Without an analysis, the reader might not understand why the
author discussed the information that the reader just read. For
example, the previous sentence was an analysis by the author of
why an analysis is performed when writing paragraphs in
academic papers.
Even with the first three elements of the MEAL plan, it would
not be complete without the final component. The letter "L" of
the MEAL plan refers to information that "links" the current and
the subsequent paragraphs. The link helps the reader understand
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author's reasoning and shows how the paragraph fits together
and leads (that is, links) into the next section of the paper. For
example, this sentence might explain that once the MEAL plan
has been effectively used when writing the body of an academic
paper, the final section is the summary and conclusion section.]
Conclusion
[A summary and conclusion section, which can also be the

17. discussion section of an APA style paper, is the final
opportunity for the author to make a lasting impression on the
reader. The author can begin by restating opinions or positions
and summarizing the most important points that have been
presented in the paper. For example, this paper was written to
demonstrate to readers how to effectively use APA style when
writing academic papers. Various components of an APA style
paper that were discussed or displayed in the form of examples
include a running head, title page, introduction section, levels
of section headings and their use, in-text citations, the MEAL
plan, a conclusion, and the reference list.]
References
American Psychological Association. (2010a). Publication
manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).
Washington, DC: Author.
American Psychological Association. (2010b). Ethical
principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Washington,
DC: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx
Marsh, R. L., Landau, J. D., & Hicks, J. L. (1997).
Contributions of inadequate source
monitoring to unconscious plagiarism during idea generation.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 23(4), 886–897. doi: 10.1037/0278-
7393.23.4.886
Walker, A. L. (2008). Preventing unintentional plagiarism: A
method for strengthening
paraphrasing skills. Journal of Instructional Psychology, 35(4),
387–395. Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/213904438?accountid=
27965
[Always begin a reference list on a new page. Use a hanging
indent after the first line of each reference. The reference list is
in alphabetical order by first author’s last name. A reference list

18. only contains sources that are cited in the body of the paper,
and all sources cited in the body of the paper must be contained
in the reference list.
The reference list above contains an example of how to cite a
source when two documents are written in the same year by the
same author. The year is also displayed using this method for
the corresponding in-text citations as in the next sentence. The
author of the first citation (American Psychological
Association, 2010a) is also the publisher, therefore, the word
"Author" is used in place of the publisher's name.
When a digital object identifier (DOI) is available for a journal
article, it should be placed at the end of the citation. If a DOI is
not available, a uniform resource locator (URL) should be used.
The Marsh, Landau, and Hicks (1997) reference is an example
of how to cite a source using a DOI. The Walker (2008)
reference is an example of how to cite a source using a URL.]