This document summarizes a class on qualitative research methods. The class covered: - The differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods. Qualitative research is flexible and aims to understand experiences, while quantitative research tests hypotheses. - Various qualitative research approaches were overviewed, including interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and case studies. - Students practiced developing qualitative research questions and choosing appropriate data collection methods. - The use of narratives and storytelling in qualitative research was discussed. Different story types can help frame research questions and objectives. - Exercises had students outline their own qualitative research ideas and identify which story types their research may fit within. Developing the "research story" was emphasized.

1. Qualitative Research
Methods 1
March 24th 2011, KU Leuven
Jason Rutter

2. The day will be
practically
orientated.You will
have to work in
groups and present
to us all.

3. But there will be plenty of breaks.

4. Exercise

5. 1.Draw a pie chart with
three sections
2.List in it the three
most important
things to you in life
3.Divide the chart to
show the relative
importance of these to
you.
We will be reading these out!

6. Today’s Objectives
1. Understand the difference between
quantitative and qualitative research
2. Develop a practical approach to qualitative
research
3. Clarify your own qualitative research
question and methods

7. • Juliet Corbin & Anselm Strauss, Basics of Qualitative Research:Techniques
and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory
• Norman Denzin & Yvonna Lincoln, The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative
Research
• David Silverman, Doing Qualitative Research
• Scott VanderStoep & Deidre Johnson, Research Methods For Everyday Life:
Blending Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches

9. Did your answers fall into these categories?
Life
Work
Health
What were the exceptions?

10. Establish Design
Questions Collection
Develop
Collect Data Code Data
Categories
Write

11. Planning Qualitative
Research (I)
• Why use qualitative methods?
• Mapping the range of qualitative methods.
• What can qualitative methods do and not
do?

12. Qualitative Quantitative
General Framework
Develop hypotheses Test hypotheses
Reflexive & iterative categorisation Rigid categorisation
Semi-structured data collection Structured data collection
Textual data* Numerical data
In depth data Broad data
[How] [How Many]
* Text can include images, video, spoken word, literature, etc.
Adapted from: Qualitative Research Methods Overview, Family Health International

13. Qualitative Quantitative
Analytical Objectives
Describe variation Measure variation
Explain relationships Predict causal relationships
Describe characteristics Describe norms
Descriptive* Predictive
[How] [How Many]
* Qualitative methods such as Delphi surveys are used for forecasting
Adapted from: Qualitative Research Methods Overview, Family Health International

14. Qualitative Quantitative
Flexibility in Study Design
Some flexibility Fixed from beginning
Responses can affect questions Responses do not affect
asked questions asked
Design can change based upon Design based on statistical
findings methods
Open ended questions Closed questions
[How] [How Many]
Adapted from: Qualitative Research Methods Overview, Family Health International

15. Reactive
✴Action Research
✴Participant Observation
✴Interviews
✴Delphi ✴Phenomenography
✴Focus Groups
✴Grounded Theory
✴Ethnography
✴Diaries
✴Surveys ✴Ethnomethodology
High Aggregation Low Aggregation
✴Case Study
✴Observation ✴Narrative Analysis
✴Discourse Analysis
✴Objective Hermeneutics
✴Conversation Analysis ✴Semiotics
✴Content Analysis ✴Archival Research
Non Reactive

16. Priorities
Opinions
Attitudes
Behaviours
Organisation
Emotions
Understandings
Experiences

17. UK Branded Coffee Outlets
• Turnover of £1.63 billion in 2009
• More than 11,000 outlets
• Estimated 4,158 branded outlets
• 64% of consumers visit at least once a week
• 42% of consumers say price of coffee
affects their visiting frequency
• Average spend is £3.50
• Latte remains the most popular
espresso-based beverage,
followed by cappuccino
Source: Allegra, ProjectCafe 2009

18. Brand Loyalty vs Convenience
I am not very brand loyal and tend to visit the coffee shop which is closest to me at the time
2008 2009 2010
40
30
20
10
10 9 6 33 31 27 20 21 21 28 29 32 9 10 14
0
Agree Strongly Neither Strongly Disagree
Source: Allegra, ProjectCafe 2010

19. “Will never told
you?... Ah,
Probably just as
well. He would
have told it wrong
anyway. All the
facts and none of
the flavour.”
Edward Bloom, Big Fish (2003)

21. Exercise

22. In groups, build a description of what happens in
a coffee shop. Consider your description
through the following:
• The owner’s view
• The work of employees/baristas
• The customer experience
• How does it appeal to the senses?
• What difference is there between chains and
independents?
• Are coffee shops different in other places?
• How do people interact?
• How is business done?
• Is the experience different for different types of
people?

23. Qualitative Research
Methods 1
March 24th 2011, KU Leuven
Jason Rutter

24. So far....
• Differences between quantitative and qualitative
methods
• What qualitative research can offer
• Overview of different approaches
• The flexibility of qualitative methods
• The importance of choosing your data collection
• Working with categories
• Dealing with the exceptions and the identifying
what’s missing.
• The importance of developing a research question

25. People make sense of
things using
narratives

26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBM854BTGL0

27. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb2GmBkkaTU

28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb2GmBkkaTU

29. Who tells the story?
How do they tell it?
What form does it take?
What references do they use?
What do they emphasise?
What do they ignore?
What does it tell us about them
and the world the live in?

30. There is no story without an audience. As a qualitative
researcher you are a vital element in the research
process and the building of understanding.

31. The narrative is not the thing itself

32. “Both motives and
actions very often
originate not from
within but from the
situation in which
individuals finds
themselves.”
Karl Mannheim

33. “A satisfactory or
adequate motive is
one that satisfies the
questioners of an act
or program.”
C Wright Mills

34. David Silverman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVnIO4vzXg8

35. Exercise

36. Explain your research to a partner
considering the research story:
• Who is the story about?
• Where is it set?
• What is the problem faced?
• How will qualitative research help?
• Why do you care?

37. Now your partner has to present
your research to the group...

38. Planning Qualitative
Research (II)
• Identifying a research problem
• Choosing the case(s)
• Choosing a methodology

39. Say a lot about a little rather
than a little about a lot.

40. A good research question will:
• Organise the project giving it direction and
cohesiveness
• Create boundaries to your investigation
• Keep you focused
• Provide a framework for writing up
• Point to the methods and data you will need
Adapted from: K Punch, Introduction to Social Research

41. • Developmental Puzzle:
How did X develop?
• Mechanical Puzzle:
How does X work?
• Causal Puzzle:
What causes X or what influence will X
have on Y?

42. Most Importantly - Is your
question answerable?

43. All good stories need a point.
What are the challenges your
protagonists face?

44. What type of story are you telling?

45. Story types
Philip Parker
The Art and Science of
Screenwriting

46. The Romance
A person is missing something
or someone. There is lack and
desire for that thing or
person. The character struggles
in overcoming all or many of
the barriers between him/
herself and the object of
desire. The closure of unity is
eventually achieved.

47. The Unrecognised
Virtue
A virtuous person enters
another world and falls in love
with a powerful person in that
world. The person seeks love
but the power gets in the way.
The person tries to help the
powerful person and their
virtue is eventually recognised.

48. The Fatal Flaw
A successful person uses
opportunities for personal
gain, often at the expense of
others. Then, seeing the
damage, the person seeks to
repair it, but the quality that
led to success eventually leads
to failure.

49. The Debt That
Must Be Repaid
A person wants something or
someone, for which there is a
high price. The person accepts
the price but seeks to put off
paying the debt. Eventually,
though, they have to pay it.

50. The Spider and
the Fly
A person wants another
person to do something.
Lacking the influence or power
to demand it, they seek to
ensnare the other person,
tricking them into compliance.
They are successful and a new
future is faced.

51. The Quest
A person is set a task to find
someone or something. The
challenge is accepted and the
quest is eventually won. There
may or may not be a prize.

52. The Rites of
Passage
A person knows they have
reached a new stage in life and
seeks to find what must be
done to complete the
transition. They pretend that
they already know, then meet a
challenge that shows they do
not, yet also provides the route
by which they achieve the full
transition.

53. The Wanderer
A person arrives somewhere
new and finds a problem
there. In facing the problem
they show why they left the
last place. They then seek to
move on, repeating the
pattern.

54. The Character
Who Cannot Be
Put Down
A person demonstrates
prowess, but then faces a
bigger challenge that tests that
prowess. They succeed.

55. Exercise

56. In groups, take it in turns to present
your research.
As a group, decide which story type/s
the research fit best with.
• Who is your story about?
• How did they get where they are?
• What is the challenge they face?
• What is their background?
• What changes have/may happen?
• What caused these changes?
• Do you know how the story ends yet?

57. The Romance
The Gift Taken Away
A person is missing something or someone. There is lack and
A person has a gift which is lost. Seeking to regain the gift leads
desire for that thing or person. The character struggles in
them into a new situation, to which the person eventually
overcoming all or many of the barriers between him/herself and
becomes reconciled.
the object of desire. The closure of unity is eventually achieved.
Example: Rain Man
Example: When Harry Met Sally
The Unrecognised Virtue
The Quest
A virtuous person enters another world and falls in love with a
A person is set a task to find someone or something. The
powerful person in that world. The person seeks love but the
challenge is accepted and the quest is eventually won. There may
power gets in the way. The person tries to help the powerful
or may not be a prize.
person and their virtue is eventually recognised.
Example: Star Wars
Example: Pretty Woman
The Fatal Flaw The Rites of Passage
A successful person uses opportunities for personal gain, often at A person knows they have reached a new stage in life and seeks to find
the expense of others. Then, seeing the damage, the person seeks what must be done to complete the transition. They pretend that they
to repair it, but the quality that led to success eventually leads to already know, then meet a challenge that shows they do not, yet also
failure. provides the route by which they achieve the full transition.
Example: Macbeth Example: Stand By Me
The Debt That Must Be Repaid The Wanderer
A person wants something or someone, for which there is a high A person arrives somewhere new and finds a problem there. In
price. The person accepts the price but seeks to put off paying the facing the problem they show why they left the last place. They
debt. Eventually, though, they have to pay it. then seek to move on, repeating the pattern.
Example: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Example: Shane
The Spider and the Fly
A person wants another person to do something. Lacking the The Character Who Cannot Be Put Down
influence or power to demand it, they seek to ensnare the other A person demonstrates prowess, but then faces a bigger challenge
person, tricking them into compliance. They are successful and a that tests that prowess. They succeed.
new future is faced. Example: Die Hard
Example: Double Indemnity

58. These stories give us:
• Research area
• Research field (setting)
• Research objectives
• Research questions
• Sensitising concepts

59. Exercise

60. My research seeks to answer the questions...
This is important because...
In order to do this I will collect data from...
This data will be collected using...

61. Summary

62. Questions....
(For next week)

63. Jason.Rutter@soc.kuleuven.be
http://www.slideshare.net/Jasieboy