Chapter 3 of the qualitative dissertation outlines essential components such as the research design, methodology, role of the researcher, and ethical considerations. It emphasizes the importance of trustworthiness through established criteria and details various qualitative research designs. The chapter concludes with a summary that recaps the main components and transitions to the next section.

1. QUALITATIVE
DISSERTATION
CHAPTER 3

2. Components of a Qualitative Ch 3
◦ Introduction
◦ Research Design and Rationale
◦ Role of the Researcher
◦ Methodology
◦ Issues of Trustworthiness
◦ Ethical Considerations
◦ Summary

3. Introduction
◦Background to your study
◦Restate the problem and purpose
◦Preview the chapter

4. Research Design and Rationale
◦ Remind readers of the research
question
◦ Written exactly as they are elsewhere in
the dissertation
◦ Identify the phenomenon you are
studying
◦ Identify and justify your research
design
◦ Identify other possibilities and describe
why they were not appropriate for your
study

5. Common Qualitative Research Designs
◦ Case study
◦ One or more cases bounded by uniting factor
◦ Multiple data collection methods
◦ Phenomenology
◦ Explores lived experiences of participants and meaning assigned to those experiences
◦ Focused on commonalities of experience, the essence of the phenomenon
◦ Generic
◦ Useful when purpose and RQs do not fully align with other designs
◦ Can combine data collection and analysis approaches
◦ Offers methodological flexibility

6. Less Common Qualitative Research Designs for
the Advanced Researcher
◦ Grounded theory
◦ Generate theory
◦ Theory derived from data, or grounded in data, from vast number of
participants
◦ Explanatory
◦ Ethnography
◦ Explores phenomenon in cultural context
◦ Participant observation

7. Role of the Researcher
◦ Explain where you, as the researcher, fit into the
research process
◦ Identify your biases about your research topic,
participants, etc.
◦ Address any relationships you have with your
research participants and power
relationships/dynamics.
◦ Address any ethical issues related to power
relationships, how you will handle these.

8. Methodology
◦ The is the “recipe” for your research, so it should be in depth!
◦ Components:
◦ Participants and selection
◦ Instruments
◦ Pilot studies, when appropriate
◦ Procedures
◦ Data analysis

9. Participants and Selection
◦ Population
◦ Identify the population from which you will draw your sample.
◦ Sample strategy
◦ Usually purposeful in qualitative research
◦ Identify inclusion criteria and how you will screen participants for this
◦ How will you identify, contact, and recruit your participants?

10. Instruments
◦ How are you collecting data?
◦ Interviews
◦ Observations
◦ Document review
◦ Focus groups
◦ Protocols
◦ For interviews/focus groups: include interview questions and
prompts
◦ For observations/documents: include specific items you will be
looking for, helpful to have a protocol for each observation
point/document
◦ Help ensure consistency in data collection

11. Study Procedures
◦ Where will you collect data?
◦ Will you, or someone else collect data?
◦ How often will you collect data? Duration?
◦ How will you record your data?
◦ How will the study end?
◦ What are participants expected to do during and after data collection?

12. Data Analysis Plan
◦ How will you analyze your qualitative data?
◦ Think about data as they relate to your RQs.
◦ Will you use software? Why and how will this work?
◦ What will you do about cases that seem to disconfirm your findings, or participants whose experiences
are very different from other participants’ experiences?

13. Qualitative Data Analysis

14. Trustworthiness – Four Criteria
◦ Criteria
◦ Credibility – how true are the findings?
◦ Transferability – can the findings be generalized?
◦ Dependability – can the study and findings be replicated?
◦ Confirmability – how free are the results from researcher bias?
◦ Methods to establish criteria in your study
◦ Triangulation
◦ Transcript review
◦ Member checking
◦ Audit trail
◦ Descriptive, detailed methods
◦ Clear analysis procedures

15. Ethical Considerations
◦ Permission from research site
◦ Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval
◦ Informed consent
◦ Ensuring privacy and confidentiality
◦ Difference between confidential vs. anonymous
◦ Protection of participants and data
◦ Data storage

16. Summary
◦ Recap the highlights or major sections of your chapter
◦ Think about briefly tracing through the main components
◦ Purpose -> RQs -> method and design -> procedures
◦ Transition to next chapter