This document outlines a course on mixed methods research design, emphasizing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in social research. It covers the rationale, goals, and step-by-step processes for conducting qualitative research, detailing various approaches such as narrative, grounded theory, and ethnography. Additionally, it discusses data collection techniques, data management, and analysis, as well as the importance of rigorous literature reviews and developing dissertation proposals.

1. Research Design
A mixed methods approach
By Dr. Robert Strauss
 Managing Partner, Global Perspectives Consulting, LLC
 Co-Founder, President and CEO, Worldview Resource Group,
 Affiliate Faculty, Regis University, College of Professional Studies

2. Research Design
THE FOCUS OF THE COURSE
 A philosophical framework for social research
 A verifiable and reliable methodology of social research
 Mixed methods = Quantitative + qualitative
 Five (5) qualitative approaches to inquiry
 A practical step-by-step research process
 Data collection (10 techniques) and management
 Data analysis (4 tools)
 The writing style guide (4 options)
 How to write a dissertation proposal
 The dissertation outline

3. Research Design
THE RATIONALE FOR THE COURSE
 To demonstrate how to use mixed methods
 To offer qualitative research as the preferred method of
inquiry in the social sciences
 To describe five qualitative approaches to inquiry
 To outline a step-by-step process of qualitative research
design
 To identify the techniques of data collection – when to use
which
 To introduce methods of data management and analysis
 To provide samples of writing styles
 To equip participants to write a dissertation proposal

4. Research Design
THE GOALS IN THE COURSE
 Understand the difference between qualitative and
quantitative research as well as the basic underlying
assumptions of qualitative research
 Equipped to choose an approach of inquiry
 Exposed to the step-by-step process
 Able to use data collection techniques
 Understand how to manage and analyze data
 Aware of writing styles
 Able to write a dissertation proposal

5. Research Design
INITIAL REMARKS
 Required text
Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design – Second Edition
by John W. Creswell

6. Research Design
INITIAL REMARKS
 The Qualitative Research Design Reader (CD or printed)
 Note the parallel between “qualitative research design”
and “culture investigation methodologies”
 My academic and professional journey in social research
and culture learning
 Social research investigates human interactions – what,
how, and why
 Social research is always empirical
 Verifiability and reliability require a step-by-step process
 The process of inquiry includes: (a) conceptualizing the
problem, (b) studying relevant literature, (c) collecting,
managing, analyzing, and interpreting data related to the
problem, and (d) presenting the results

7. Research Design
INITIAL REMARKS
 PhD academic research involves an extension of
understanding, not a compilation of existing
theories [RESEARCHING versus REPORTING]
 The importance of the literature review is that it
provides a theoretical construct for interpreting data
 Scholarship requires rigor, precision, and acuity
 Procedural: Cp. Proverbs 13:16; 14:8,15b; 15:28
 Replicability leads to theories
 What need or problem exists? What are you
contributing? How can you make a difference?

8. Research Design
Qualitative
 Quality – experience in context
 Words and meaning
 Why/how
 EMIC perspective – insider
 Inductive
 Discovering “soft” data
 Grounded theory – what meaning is the
data constructing?
 Naturally occurring
 Labor and time intensive
 Writing is longer (300 pgs.)
Quantitative
 Quantity
 Numbers
 What/how many
 ETIC perspective – outsider
 Deductive
 Confirming “hard” data
 Hypotheses /tests – does the data
support the assumptions of positivism?
 Controlled variables/rigid steps
 More efficient
 Writing is shorter

9. Research Design
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH…
 Is “delightfully ambiguous” (Bernard, 2000, p. 418)
 Reflexivity – recognizes the subjectivity and bias of
the researcher (note the “Rashomon Effect”)
 Relies on triangulation to support reliability and
verifiability rather than serial experiments
 Phenomenology – inquiry is made without value
judgments
 Requires participant observation

10. Research Design
THE RASHOMON EFFECT
Rashomon (羅生門) is a Japanese film released in 1950 and directed
by Akira Kurosawa that tells a 12th century story of a rape and
murder as told by four witnesses: the bandit, a murdered samurai
warrior, his wife, and an unnamed woodcutter.
1. Personality: N-Ach, N-Aff, and N-Pow (McClelland, 1958)
2. Value system – ideological bias
3. Culture of ethnographer (Lingenfelter, 1998)
4. Traits: gender, age, race, sexual preference, family status, physical
appearance, occupation, accent, clothes
5. Length of time in the field – for example, witchcraft
6. Language ability
7. Rapport
8. Experience in field work

11. Research Design
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERCEPTION
 Acquaintance (familiarity) – we “see” what we are
used to seeing
 An individual’s personality and life experiences
influence the interpretation of ambiguous stimuli
 Avoidance – we do not “see” what is ambiguous and
unpleasant

12. Dr. Akiyoshi Kitaoka
Professor at the Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan
“Rotating Snakes”

13. Research Design
THE PROCESS OF CULTURE LEARNING
 Awareness – seeing
 Adjustment – valuing
 Acquisition – becoming
 Analysis – understanding
 Application – contextualizing

14. Research Design
FIVE QUALITATIVE APPROACHES TO INQUIRY
1. Narrative
2. Grounded Theory
3. Phenomenology
4. Ethnography
5. Case Study

15. Research Design
NARRATIVE
 A story (usually of one person) – “lived” and told
 It is historical (diachronic vs. synchronic)
 More related to experience and less rooted in literature
 What does the story mean?
 Collection of field texts – verbatim (in his own words)
 Analysis – chronology, cultural setting, themes
 Write as a story retold
 What can one learn from his/her life?

16. Research Design
GROUNDED THEORY
 Investigates a process, action, or interaction
 The goal is to develop a theory
 Interview and observe many individuals (20-60)
 Analysis is done by coding
 What theory explains…?

17. Research Design
PHENOMENOLOGY
 To goal is to understand a phenomenon
 Description of participant’s experience in a
context
 What is it like?
 Data is gathered through interviews and
observations
 Describe the “essence” of the experience

18. Research Design
ETHNOGRAPHY
 An in-depth description of a ethnic/cultural group
 A holistic view – behavior, institutions, values, and
worldview assumptions
 Patterns of values and behaviors
 Recorded in the vernacular (necessitates culture
and language acquisition)
 Participant observation – “immersed”
 Who are they?

19. Research Design
CASE STUDY
 Bounded system = time + setting (a definable
framework)
 Historical – diachronic (use documents and artifacts)
 Detailed
 Episodic events versus measurable data
 “How” questions
 Has a sense of story
 Process – description, analysis, interpretation, and
conclusion
 How does it work?

20. Research Design
KEY DIFFERENCES
1.Narrative – retell someone’s story
2.Grounded Theory – develop a theory
3.Phenomenology – describe an experience
4.Ethnography – describe a cultural group
5.Case Study – explain “how”

21. Research Design
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE DIFFERENCES
1.Narrative – The story of a Special Forces soldier
2.Grounded Theory – The relationship between the law of
karma and litter in India’s cities
3.Phenomenology – The experience of a sex slave in Thailand
4.Ethnography – Who are the Cree Indians of Western
Canada?
5.Case Study – How to design training from competency
models using backwards mapping

22. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
 A step-by-step process to qualitative research
design
 The “question” is the starting point of research
 General Outline:
1. Problem
2. Question
3. Literature review
4. Data
5. Analysis
6. Report

23. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.Problem
 Selecting a topic within an area of interest
 Rooted in missiology
 New contribution – going beyond the present boundaries
 “Applied” – direct applicability to a field
 No ambiguity – precise and clear
 A literature review discloses the existing research and
provides an overall body of knowledge from which
theoretical constructs emerge
 Factors: personal interest, helpfulness or significance,
feasibility, ethics, and mitigating variables

24. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.Problem
2.Question
 Write and rewrite a purpose statement for the inquiry
 Concise, clear and unambiguous, precise, defined
 Convert the purpose statement into a question
 The question addresses a relationship of interaction
 An independent variable acts upon a dependent variable
 The help of the advisor
 The question is the starting point of research
 Gather applicable literature – provide the theoretical
constructs of meaning (Wiersma, 2000, pp. 17-19)

25. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1. Problem
2. Question
An area of interest
Topic
Statement
Question
Operationalized definitions
I
D

26. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.Problem
2.Question
 Hypotheses (4-6)
 Given the validity of the interaction in the research question,
several hypotheses are asserted to be true
 Based on theory established by the literature review or
evidence “in situ”
 Brief, clear, and reasonable predictions
 Direct, focus, and exert influence over the steps in the research
process
 Permit persuasive conclusions

27. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.Problem
2.Question
3.Literature review
4.Data – collecting, recording, and managing data

28. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.Problem
2.Question
3.Literature review
4.Data
5.Analysis – coding, categorizing, and interpreting
data

29. Research Design
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.Problem
2.Question
3.Literature review
4.Data
5.Analysis
6.Report – the presentation of the findings

30. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
1.Survey questionnaires
 Purpose – to view comprehensively, to gather demographic
data, and to determine overall satisfaction
 For large data populations
 The technique takes less time and is less expensive
 Useful in abstract contexts (West)
 A major problem is researcher bias
 A major challenge is precise, clear wording of questions
 Use of “forced choice” scales – Likert (1-5) or Guttman (check
those with which you agree)
 Best to pilot
 Provide instructions and an example (without which it will not
be self-evident)

31. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
1.Survey questionnaires – continued
 Overall satisfaction
Note Don Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation (1998, p. 19):
1. Do they like it?
2. Do they get it?
3. Can they do it?
4. What difference does it make?

32. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
1.Survey questionnaires – continued
 Example of a question with a Likert scale:
The PhD Programme of the India Institute of Intercultural Studies
should require each scholar to take the Qualitative Research
Design course. (Only check one)
1 Strongly disagree _____
2 Disagree _____
3 Neither disagree or agree _____
4 Agree _____
5 Strongly agree _____

33. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
1.Survey questionnaires – continued
 Example of a question with a Guttman scale
Place a check mark after those statements with which you agree:
1. The borders to the United States should be open. _____
2. Illegal immigrants should be granted amnesty.
_____
3. Illegal immigrants must register in an immigration process.
_____
4. Immigrants with children born in the USA should be permitted
to register in an immigration process.
_____
5. All illegal immigrants should be deported.
_____
6. The US government should build fences along the borders. _____
7. The United States should not permit any immigration.
_____

34. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
1.Survey questionnaires – continued
 Surveymoney.com
 Zoomerang.com
 Surverygizmo.com

35. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
2. Observation (Spradley, 1980)
 In the natural, social setting (experiential/relational)
 Able to see complex interactions – “wide-angle lens”
 Ethnography – 1 year immersion with language acquisition
 Types
 Participant – outsider/insider perspective
 Direct
 Indirect/passive – spot sampling and continuous monitoring
 HOW TO:
 Carefully planned – see p. 341
 Note taking strategies (template, detailed, and concrete)
 See John Lofland’s “Thinking Units” on p. 334

36. Research Design

37. Research Design
F I E L D N O T E S T E M P L AT E
Data collection technique:
Date: Time:
Setting:
Purpose:
Activity Log:
Line 1:
2:
3:
4:
Questions: Insights:
Miscellaneous Notes:

38. Research Design
FIELD NOTEBOOK HEADINGS
1.Plans – including schedule
2.Log of activity
3.Detailed notes – organized
4.Analysis – categorizing
5.Conclusions

39. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
3. Interviews
 Types:
 Unstructured – at the front end to determine categories
 Semi-structure – background and perceptions
 Structured – to test and check
 Formats:
 Face-to-face
 Telephone
 Documentation – tape record, note taking, large quantities of data
quickly
 HOW TO
 Story is best – complex, holistic, life-related
 Reactions: neutrality, cordiality, passivity
 Prompts (silence, repeat, “tell me more”), probe (ask), check
(summarize)

40. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
3. Interviews – continued
 Types of questions:
 Descriptive – to understand the big picture
 Structural – don’t ask for meaning; ask for use (how); ask the
interviewee to reconstruct not remember
 Contrastive - differences
 Ask for actual behavior versus idealized conceptions (Cp. BEI)
 From Rashomon effect, note “traits”
 Caution – shame-based cultures

41. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
3. Interviews – Sample semi-structured interview
 Pre-interview
 PHRR consent form (if required by PhD program)
 Permission
 Purpose – repeat explanations
 Interview
 Restate purpose/state interviewee’s value to research
 Permission to write and/or tape record
 Start with easy question to establish a level of comfort
 Open ended questions soliciting a story response
 Use free listing, pile sorting, and rank ordering
 Post-interview
 Read
 Code
 Notations – follow-up questions, analysis

42. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
4.Focus groups
 Homogenous, but related – reduces variables
 Size – 6-9 people
 Synergy
 Fill in gaps
 Difficult to record verbatim – interruptions and simultaneous
talking

43. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
5.Text analysis
 Use primary sources – note definition
 Domains are culturally derived
 Priorities – discourse markers, order, frequency
 Values – positive and negative views
 Discourse markers

44. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
6.Story analysis
 Characters – personality development
 Plot – setting and storyline
 In Western stories the storyline has a rhythm of conflict and
resolution
 Protagonist and antagonist
 Archetypes – ideal and un-ideal
 Foils – supporting characters and events

45. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
7. Projective techniques or dilemma analysis
 Projective hypothesis – unconscious desires inferred
 The more unstructured and ambiguous the stimulus, the more
the subjects will project their emotions and values
 Examples:
 Word association
 Rorschach inkblot test
 Thematic apperception test (TAT)
 Sentence completion
 Role-play

46. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
8. Mapping

47. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
9.Physical trace evidence – symbols

48. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
10.Sampling
 In qualitative research, the sampling should be 30-250
 Statistical accuracy is maximized at 10%
 Random – use random number chart for selections
 Systematic – every 10th
 Stratified – for example, “over 18 years of age”
 Clustered – at a specific location
 Snowball – sample recommended by others

49. Research Design
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUE
Others:
 Videotaping and photographs – show nonverbal
behaviors, physical and spatial context
 Tests and assessments – DISC, cross-cultural competency
 Archival

50. Research Design
Question-Literature-Review-Methods-ANALYSIS-Results
 The process of analyzing data:
Management and organization – see Culture analysis.docx
Read, read, read WHY? Successive approximation (Wolfer, 2007, p. 495)
While reading, do what? Reflect and describe
Code, Classify, and Categorize – domains and boundaries grounded in the
data; also, HRAF (www.yale.edu/hraf) or outline of culture universals are
useful for analytic comparison (Wolfer, 2007, p. 491)
Interpret
Present findings

51. Research Design

52. Research Design
ANALYSIS
 Analytic Coding
The analytic process of classifying data into meaningful categories
Categories emerge from the data itself – they are “culturally derived”
Domains and boundaries show differences, commonalities, patterns,
interactions, and processes
Domain analysis:
1. Free listing (sequence)
2. Pile or triad sorting
3. Rank ordering (priority)
Types of codes:
1. Open red, blue, green = “a”
12, 500, 27 = “b”
giraffe, elephant, tiger = “c”
2. Axial a >< b >< c (Strauss & Corbin, 2008, Sage)
3. Selective a + b = c

53. Research Design
ANALYSIS
 Types of semantic relationships
FORM RELATIONSHIP
1. X is a kind of Y Inclusion
2. X is a place in Y Spatial
3. X is a result of Y Cause and effect
4. X is a way to do Y Means to an end
5. X is a reason for doing Y Rationale
6. X is used for Y Function
7. X is a step/stage of Y Sequence
8. X is a characteristic of Y Attribution
(Adapted from James Spradley, 1979)

54. Research Design

55. Research Design
ANALYSIS
 Network analysis (Wolfer, 2007, p. 492)
Types of people – status and role
Kinds of interaction – based on grid/group (Douglas, 1996)
Places of interaction – geo/spatial mapping
Ways of communicating – verbal and nonverbal (gesticulations,
facial expressions, and physical contact)

56. Research Design
ANALYSIS
 What and how, then why (Wolfer, 2007, pp. 484-488)
 David Kolb’s circle of experiential learning
Apprehension
Concrete Experience
Active Experimentation Reflective Observation
Abstract Conceptualization
Comprehension
What?
So what?
Now
what?

57. Research Design
ANALYSIS
 Worldview Resource Group’s culture model
Outward observable behaviors and symbols
Socio/cultural institutions
Values
Worldview assumptions
Also see Con-circles.doc
See Wolfer, 2007, p. 487 to analyze photo
Or, go to GPC PPT on culture

58. Research Design
ANALYSIS
 Finding themes:
1. Repetition = Words, phrases, names, places
2. Indigenous categories
3. Metaphors or analogies
4. Transitions = From a pause in speech or change in intonation to
cultural rite of passage (adulthood, marriage, death)
5. Similarities and differences
6. Linguistic connectors
7. Missing data
8. Theory related material

59. Research Design
ANALYSIS
Worldview universals from Michael Kearney (1984, p.
106)
1.Classification
2.Self and other
3.Relationship
4.Causality
5.Time
6.Space

60. Research Design
WRITING STYLE
 AAA (www.aaanet.org/pubs/style_guide.pdf)
 APA 5th Edition (2001)
 Biola University uses an adaptation of APA 5th Edition
 ACPL uses Turabian (a modification of Chicago style)
 SAIACS did use Turabian, but has now created its own
 Dr. Mahabaligiri Hegde from Karnataka, India wrote
“Clinical Research in Communicative Disorders”
published by the University of Texas; uses the APA style

61. Research Design
WRITING THE DISSERTATION – OUTLINE
 Title page
 Abstract
 Table of contents
 Introduction
 Research methodology
 Literature review
 Research findings
 References
 Appendices

62. Research Design
WRITING THE DISSERTATION – OUTLINE
 Introduction
Preamble
The context and content
Research question
Definition of terms
Assumptions
Hypotheses
Delimitations and limitations

63. Research Design
WRITING THE DISSERTATION – OUTLINE
 Research methodology
Type of research
Chronology
Role of researcher
Data collection techniques
Data management
Validity and reliability

64. Research Design
WRITING THE DISSERTATION – OUTLINE
 Research findings
Description of the research process
Presentation of the outcomes
Analysis of the process and outcomes
Assessment of the research question and hypotheses
How to improve the process
Further research needed
Significance of the research

65. Research Design
BEST AUTHORS
 Qualitative research – John Creswell (2007); Sharon
Merriam
 Ethnography – Harry Wolcott (2008); also Margaret
LeCompte and Jean Schensul (1999)
 Grounded theory – Juliet Corbin and Anselm Strauss (2007)
 Data Analysis – Matthew Miles and Michael Huberman
(1994)
 Case study – Robert Yin (2002) and Robert Stake (1995)
 Academic research – William Wiersma (2000)
 For all aspects of qualitative research design, see Sage
Publications

66. Research Design
REFERENCES
Bernard, H. (2000). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Thousands Oaks, CA: Sage.
Creswell, J. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Creswell, J., & Clark, V. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kirkpatrick, D. (1998a/2005). Evaluating training programs. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.
Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
LeCompte, M., & Schensul, J. (1999). Analyzing & interpreting ethnographic data. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
Miles, M., & Huberman, A. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook for new methods (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Schensul, J., LeCompte, M., Trotter II, R., Cromley, E., & Singer, M. (1999). Mapping social networks, spatial data, & hidden populations.
Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.
Seale, C. (1999). The quality of qualitative research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Silverman, D. (2005). Doing qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Spradley, J. (1980). Participant observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.
Stake, R. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Wiersma, W. (2000). Research methods in education. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Willis, J. (2007). Foundations of qualitative research: interpretive and critical approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
Yin, R. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

67. Research Design
WORKSHOPS
 Evaluate which approach to qualitative research
would best facilitate your topic. Why?
 Craft a research question
 Design and dramatize a semi-structured interview
 Design a survey questionnaire
 Analyze data
 Final questions and answers