This document discusses qualitative research methods in nursing. It distinguishes qualitative from quantitative research and outlines common characteristics of qualitative research, including a commitment to understanding multiple realities and participants' points of view. The document then describes several qualitative research methods: phenomenology aims to understand lived experiences; grounded theory develops theories from data; ethnography describes cultures; and historical research sheds light on the past. It also addresses ethical issues, the researcher's role, and evaluating qualitative research findings.

1. Qualitative Approaches
to Research
April
2007

2. Objectives

3. 1. Distinguish qualitative research from quantitative
research.
2. Recognize uses of qualitative research for nursing.
3. Identify the processes of phenomenological, grounded
theory, ethnographic, and historical methods.
4. Recognize nursing phenomena that lend themselves to
use of case study methodology.
5. Identify research methodology emerging from nursing
theory.
6. Discuss significant issues that arise in conducting
qualitative research.
7. Apply the critiquing criteria to evaluate a report of
qualitative research.
By the end of this session, participants will be able
to:

4. 4
Qualitative Research Definition
“Qualitative research involves broadly
stated questions about human
experiences and realities, studied
through sustained contact with people
in their natural environment,
generating rich, descriptive data that
help up to understand their
experiences" (Boyed, 1990).

5. 5
Common Characteristics of
Qualitative Research

6. 6
Qualitative Research Emphasizes
 A belief in multiple realities
 A commitment to identifying an approach to
understanding that will support the phenomenon
studied
 Commitment to the participants’ point of view
 Conduct of inquiry in a way that does not disturb
the natural context of the phenomena of interest
 Acknowledged participation of the researcher in
the research (acknowledged subjectivity)
 Conveyance of the understanding of phenomena
by reporting in a literary style rich with
participants’ commentary

7. 11 12
22
17
36
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
1988 1989 1990 1991 1992
No. of Qualitative nursing research articles
published in four Journals, more than tripled

8. Comparison Of Researcher
Beliefs, Activities, &
Questions When Using
Quantitative & Qualitative
Research Approaches

9. 9
Researcher beliefs when using
quantitative Vs. Qualitative approach
Humans are
biopsychosocially
(psychological,
physiological, social)
Truth is objective
reality that can be
experienced &
measured.
•Humans are complex beings.
Focusing on human experience
in naturalistic settings.
•Truth is the subjective
expression perceived by
participant, shared with
researcher.

10. 10
Researcher activities when using
quantitative Vs Qualitative approach
 Selects a representative
sample, determine size
before data collection.
 Uses an extensive
approach to collect data.
 Questionnaires and
measurement devices to
be administered in one
setting by unbiased
individual to control
extraneous variables.
 Larger number of
subjects.
• Selects participants who are
experiencing the phenomenon of interest
and collects data until saturation.
• Uses an extensive approach to collect
data.
• Conducts interviews and participant or
nonparticipant observation in
environments.
• Smaller number of subjects.

11. 11
Researcher activities when using
quantitative Vs Qualitative approach
 Eliminate extraneous
variables.
 Reliability and validity of
instruments and internal and
external validity permit
judgment of scientific rigor.
 Deductive analysis is used,
generating a numerical
summary that allows the
researcher to reject or accept
the null hypothesis. .
• Researcher is responsible to recognize
personal biases and set aside.
• Explores all dimensions of human
uniqueness.
• Creditability, auditability, fittingness, and
conformability permit judgment of scientific
rigor.
• Inductive analysis is used, leading to a
narrative summary, which synthesizes
participant information, creating a descriptive
of human experience.

12. 12
Researcher activities when using
quantitative Vs Qualitative approach
 What is the
essential
structure of
the lived
experience of
postpartum
depression?
(Beck, 1992)
• What is the relationship between the incidence
of maternity blues during the first week after
birth and postpartum depression in primiparas
at 1, 6, and 12 weeks postpartum?
• What are the differences in the incidence and
severity of maternity blues and post partum
depression for women experiencing early hospital
discharge and those with customary lengths of
hospital discharge and those with customary
lengths of hospital stay?
(Beck, Reynolds & Rutowski, 1992)

13. Qualitative Research
Methods

14. 14
 Phenomenological method
 Grounded theory method
 Ethnographic method
 Historical method

15. Basic Elements Of
Quantitative Or
Qualitative Research
Methods

16. 16
1. Identifying the phenomenon
2. Structuring the study
3. Gathering the data
4. Analyzing the data
5. Describing the findings

17. Uses Of Qualitative
Research In Nursing

18. 18
 It is suited to study human experience
of health.
 Guides nursing practice , contribute to
instrument & theory development and
to high quality care as well.
 Generate rich, descriptive data &
increase sensitivity to health
experiences.

19. 19
 Serves the purpose of conceptualization or
theory development.
 Helps to uncover life processes that
contributed to the outcome.
 Helps to increase understanding and
provides a basis for intervention that may
enhance quality of life

20. Qualitative Research
Methods

21. I. Phenomenological
Method

22. 22
Phenomenology is a science whose purpose is to describe
particular phenomena, or the appearance of things, as
lived experience
Lived experience of the world of every day life is the central
focus of phenomenological inquiry
It is a process of learning and constructing the meaning of
human experience through intensive dialogue with
persons who are living the experience.
Phenomenology is as much a way of
thinking or perceiving as it is a method of inquiry.

23. 23
It's focus is the lived experience,
used to study some dimensions of
day to day existence for a
particular group of individuals.
e.g. ask people about their
experience because of cancer.
1. Identifying The Phenomenon

24. 24
To describe structuring
- Research question: e.g. what is the experience of
hope for persons who have cancer?
(phenomenological lived experience)
- Researcher's perspective. the researcher’s
Perspective is bracketed.
The researcher is expected to set aside personal
biases researcher.
- Sample selection: will be living the experience
the researcher is querying.
2. Structuring The Study

25. 25
3. Data Gathering
Written or oral data may be
collected when using the
phenomenological method.

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4. Data Analysis
 Thorough reading and sensitive presence
with the entire transcription of the
participant's description.
 Identification of shifts in participant
thought.
 Specification of the significant phrases.
 Distillation of each significant phrase, with a
focus on the studied the phenomenon being.
 Final synthesis of all participants'
descriptions.

27. 27
5. Describing The Findings
The researcher provides the reader with a
path of information leading from the
research question, through samples of
participant's significant phrases, researcher's
interpretation, and leading to the final
synthesis that elaborates the lived
experience.

28. II. Grounded Theory
Method

29. 29
 It is a form of field research that explores and describes
phenomena in naturalistic settings
 It is an inductive approach that implements set of procedures to
arrive at theory about basic social processes.
 The goal of grounded theory investigations is discovery of
theoretically complete explanations about particular phenomena
 It holds that the relationship between self and theory is an
ongoing process of symbolic communication, whereby
individuals create a social reality.

31. 31
Glaser developed the systematic approach
to the study of interactions, known as the
grounded theory method, to bridge a
perceived gap between theory and
research and consequent undervaluing of
the qualitative studies. (Glaser and Strauss, 1967)

32. 32
1. Identifying The Phenomenon
Researchers uses the grounded
method when they are
interested in social processes
from the perspective of human
interactions.

33. 33
2. Structuring The Study
 Research question. It can be a statement or a broad
question that permits in-depth explanation of the
phenomenon.
 Researchers' perspective. A study of the processes that
occur as individuals interact with others in the social
setting.
 Sample selection. Involves choosing participants who
are experiencing the circumstance, and selecting events
and incidents related to the social process under
investigation.

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3.Data Gathering
Data are collected through interviews and
through skilled observations of individuals
interacting in a social setting. Interviews
are audiotaped and then transcribed, and
observations are recorded as field notes.
Open-ended questions are used initially to
identify concepts.

35. 35
4. Data Analysis
The initial analytic process is called open
coding (Strauss, 1987). Data are examined
carefully line by line, broken down into
discrete parts, and compared for similarities
and differences (Strauss & Corbin, 1990).
Data are compared with other data
continuously.

36. 36
5. Describing The Findings
It is reported in sufficient details to
provide the reader with the steps of
data collection, theoretical
sampling, constant comparison,
and three levels of coding to a
schematic model that depicts the
process. (Price 1993)

37. III. Ethnographical
Method

38. 38
 Ethnography is the work of describing culture it means
learning from people
 It focuses on scientific description of cultural group.
Aims to understand the natives' view of their world.
 Culture is a set of abstract ideas-the patterns, values,
expectations, and traditions by which a group of
people order life.
 Fieldwork is the method that the researcher goes "into
the field to study a group of people and events in their
natural settings.

39. 39
1. Identifying the Phenomenon
Ethnographic study will vary in
scope from a long-term study of a
very complex culture, the clinical
utility of ethnography in describing
the "local world" of groups of
patients who are experiencing a
particular phenomenon, such as
suffering. (Kleinman (1992)

40. 40
2. Structuring the Study
 Research questions asked about life ways
or particular patterns of behavior within the
social context of a culture or subculture, that
allows the researcher to interpret or make sense of
their world (Aamodt, 1991).
 Researchers' perspective
Ethnographic make their own beliefs explicit
and bracket, or set aside, their personal
biases as they seek to understand the world
view of others (Parse et al., 1985).

41. 41
 Sample Selection
The ethnographer selects a cultural group
who are living the phenomenon under
investigation (Parse, 1985).
The researcher gathers information from
general informants and from key
informants, who have special knowledge,
status, or communication skills, and who
are willing to teach the ethnographer about
phenomenon (Crabtree & Miller, 1992).

42. 42
Ethnographic data gathering
involves:
 participant observation in the
setting
 informant interviews, and
 interpretation.
3. Data Gathering

43. 43
There are three types of questions for
ethnographic inquiry:
 Descriptive, or broad, open-ended
questions;
 Structural, or in-depth questions that
expand and verify the unit of analysis;
 Contrast, or questions that further clarify
and provide criteria for exclusion.

44. 44
Data analysis proceeds through
several levels as the researcher
looks for the meaning of cultural
symbols in the informants'
language.
4. Data Analysis

45. 45
 Ethnographic studies yield large quantities of
data through observation, interview
transcriptions, and other artifacts, such as
photographs.
 When critiquing, be aware that the report finding
usually provides examples from data, through
description of the analytic process, & statement
of the hypothetical propositions & their
relationship to the ethnographer’s frame of
reference.
5. Describing The Findings

46. IV. Historical Method

47. 47
 Historical method is defined as
"the systematic compilation of data and
critical presentation, evaluation and
interpretation of facts regarding people,
events and occurrences of the past“
Used to shed light on the past so that it can
guide the present and the future.
Ex. of historical research is the biography

48. 48
1. Identifying the phenomenon
The historical method requires
that the phenomenon of interest
is a past event that can be
circumscribed to permit
distinction from other events.

49. 49
2. Structuring the study
 Research question. When critiquing , expect to
find the research question embedded in the
phenomenon to be studied. The question is
implicitly rather than explicitly stated. How nurses
get caught in shifting social priorities?
 Researcher’s perspective. Researcher's first
responsibility is to understand the
information being acquired without imposing
her own interpretation & being aware of
personal biases that may color the
interpretation. (Christy, 1975)

50. 50
Sample selection is accomplished by
identifying data sources. The more clearly a
researcher delineates the phenomenon, the
more specifically data sources can be
identified.
Data may include written or video documents,
interviews with persons who witnessed the
phenomenon, or photographs.

51. 51
3. Data Gathering
The researcher will begin the process of
learning what is available, to determine
which data sources were used when
reviewing a published study, Baer (1992)
used official university documents,
diaries, newspapers and personal letters.

52. 52
 Primary sources: are original
documents, films, diaries,
records, artifacts, periodicals, or
tapes.
 Secondary sources: provide a
view of the phenomenon from
another's perspective

53. 53
4.Data Analysis
Data analyzed first for importance and
then for validity and reliability, to judge
importance, the researcher separates.
The unimportant data will be discarded
and data clear value are included. Mildly
interesting data require further review
before they are included or discarded.

54. 54
Validity of documents is established by
external criticism; reliability is
established by internal criticism.
Primary source provides a more reliable
account than a secondary source.

55. 55
Historical methods attempt to
establish:
1. Facts
2. Probability
3. Possibility

56. 56
 Two independent primary sources that
agree with each other.
Or
 One independent primary source that
receives critical evaluation and one
independent secondary source that is in
agreement and receives critical
evaluation and no substantive
conflicting data.
Fact

57. 57
Probability
 One primary source that receives critical
evaluation and no substantive conflicting
data.
OR
 Two primary sources that agree about
particular points.

58. 58
Possibility
 One primary sources that provides
information but is not adequate to
receive critical evaluation.
OR
 Only secondary or tertiary sources.

59. 59
5. Describing The Findings
The findings of study are presented as a
well-synthesized chronicle.
If the synthesis successful, the reader
thinks the research and the writing have
been effortless. Reader is not aware of
the painstaking work, to details.

60. 60
The qualitative approach: Nursing methodology
 The qualitative methodology in nursing are
derived from other disciplines, such as
sociology, anthropology, and philosophy.
 Nurse theorists created research methods
specific to their theories to advance nursing
knowledge through inquiry that is congruent
with their theory.

61. 61
Significant Issues In
Qualitative Research

62. 62
The case method focuses on a selected
contemporary phenomenon over time
to provide an in depth description of
its essential dimensions and processes.
This is an underused methodology but
promising
Case Study Methodology:

63. 63
Ethical issues present the demand for the
protection of human subjects in all
research steps
It involves issues related to the
naturalistic setting, research-participant
interaction, researcher as instrument,
and the emergent nature of the design.
Ethics

64. 64
Naturalistic Setting
Some researchers using methods that rely on
participant observation may believe that
consent is not always possible or necessary.
Some researchers collect data without informing
participants
Such circumstances is most likely to occur when
collecting data in public settings, where the
researcher can easily gain entry as an accepted
member of the community without
explanation.

65. 65
Relationship developed between the
researcher and participant may allow the
participant to expect other than research
behaviors.
The nature of the research-participant
interaction over time introduces the
possibility that the research experience
becomes a therapeutic one
Researcher-Participant Interaction:

66. 66
The researcher is the study instrument,
collecting data and interpreting the
participant's reality.
The researcher may return to the subjects
at critical interpretive points and ask for
clarification or validation
Research As Instrument

67. 67
The emergent nature of the research design creates a
need for ongoing negotiation of consent with the
participant
In the course of study, situations change and what was
agreeable at the beginning may become intrusive
Planning for questioning and observation emerges
over the time of the study. So it is difficult to inform
the participant precisely of potential threats before
he or she agrees to participate.
Emergent Nature Of Design

68. 68
Credibility, Auditability, fittingness
Quantitative studies use reliability and
validity of instruments as well as internal
and external validity criteria, as measures
of scientific rigor
In qualitative research, scientific rigor is
judged by: credibility, auditability,
fittingness and confirmability

69. Credibility: truth of findings judged by
participants and others within the discipline.
Auditability: Accountability as judged by the
adequacy of information leading the reader
from the research question and raw data
through various steps of analysis to the
interpretation of findings.

70. Fittingness: faithfulness to everyday reality
of the participants, described in enough
detail so that others in the discipline can
evaluate importance for their own
practice, research, and theory
development.
Confirmability: findings that reflect
implementation of creditability,
Auditability, and fittingness standards.

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Combining Qualitative & Quantitative Approaches
There has been debate about combining
qualitative and quantitative approaches
(Boyed, 1990). Leininger (1992) offers
two principles to guide the researcher in
this matter:
 The researcher should not mix research
methods across approaches because it
violates the integrity of the approach;
 It is acceptable & desirable to mix
methods within an approach.

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Morse (1991) provided another view
that methods from two approaches
may be combined , the combination
of methods is labeled simultaneous
or sequential triangulation.

73. 73
A. Simultaneous triangulation is the
combination of qualitative & quantitative or
quantitative & qualitative methods in one
study at the same time used to provide
complementary information &
to test hypotheses
e.g. the researcher interested in the experience
of feeling depressed after loss of a spouse.

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B. Sequential triangulation. one
approach precedes the other. Morse is like
Leininger in her emphasis that findings
from each approach complement each other.
E.g. Qualitative → Quantitative
or
Quantitative → Qualitative

75. 75
Computer Management Of Qualitative Data
 Data preparation: entry of data from field
notes, interviews, and various other sources ;
cleaning of data to assure that spelling is
correct and data are easy to evaluate.
 Data identification: dividing data into
meaningful segments for analysis/synthesis.
 Data manipulation: searching for particular
words or phrases and sorting them from the
text.

76. 76
Thank You