The document is an introduction to qualitative research, outlining its purpose, designs, data collection methods, and analysis techniques. It highlights four primary qualitative research designs: phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, and case studies, each providing unique insights into human behavior and social phenomena. Furthermore, it details methods for collecting qualitative data, including interviews and focus group discussions, and emphasizes the importance of careful handling and analysis of qualitative data to derive meaningful conclusions.

1. An Introduction to Qualitative Research
By: Farhad MOHAMMAD RAJAB
PhD Student at Cyprus International University

2. Outline
 Introduction
 Study design in qualitative research
 Method of data collection
 Handling qualitative data
 Analyzing qualitative data
 Presenting the results of qualitative research

3. Qualitative Research
- Qualitative research can provide insight which is
not possible to elucidate with purely quantitative
data
– A means for exploring and understanding the
meaning individuals or groups ascribe to social or
human problems
– Study human behavior and social world.
- Help us to understand the world in which we live
and why things are the way they are .

4. Qualitative research answer questions on:
 Why people behave the way they do?
 How opinions and attitudes are formed?
 How people are affected by the events that go on
around them?
 How and why cultures have developed?
 The difference between social groups ?

5. Qualitative research designs
Four major types of qualitative research design
include:
Phenomenology
Ethnography
Grounded theory
Case study

6. Phenomenology
• Study of a phenomena – describing something that exist
as part of the world.
• Phenomena might be: An event, a situation, an
experience or a concept.
• It begins with the acknowledgment that there is a gap in
our understanding
• It may not necessarily provide definitive explanations but
it does raise awareness and increase insight

7. Ethnography
• The term means “portrait of people”
• It is a methodology for descriptive studies of cultures
and peoples – e.g. cultural parameter is suspected of
affecting the population’s response to care or treatment
• It requires extensive fieldwork by the researchers
• Data collection includes formal and informal interview on
several occasion and observation
• It is extremely time consuming

8. Ethnography cont.
• Data analysis : researcher interpret data from the
prospective of the population under study
• Results are expressed as they are expressed by the
subjects themselves
• These studies might be problematic when researchers are
not familiar with social norms and language.

9. Grounded theory
• Main feature: development of a new theory through the
collection and analysis of data about a phenomenon
• It goes beyond phenomenology as the explanation are
genuinely new knowledge and are used to develop theories
• Various data collection techniques are used:
-Literature review,
- documentary analysis,
- interviews ,
- observation.

10. Case study
• Case studies might be qualitative or quantitative
• In-depth analysis of a single or small number of unites
• It is used to describe an entity that forms a single unit
such as a person, an organization or an institution
• Complexity: illustration of an event VS. analysis of social
situation over time
• As a research design, it offers rich and in-depth
information which is not usually offered by other methods

11. Case study cont.
• It is highly versatile method and employs any or all
methods of data collection
• It can be used for different purposes e.g. development of
new services, organizational changes in planning,
purchasing or delivery of health services, evaluation of a
program
• A critic - case may not be representative of similar cases
(findings are not generalizable)

12. Methods of collecting qualitative data
• Direct interaction with individuals
– One to one interaction
– Or interaction with a group
• Interviews
- Focus Group Discussion
- Observation
• Data collection is time consuming
• Benefits of these methods include richness of data and
deeper insight into phenomena under study

13. Interviews
• Structured interviews
– Same questions in same away
– Limited range of responses (e.g. questionnaires)
• Semi structured interviews or focused interviews
– Series of open ended questions
– Provide opportunities to both researchers and respondents
to discuss certain topics in more details

14. • Unstructured interviews or in-depth interviews
– Discussing limited number of topics
– Phrase questions in the interviewee’s previous response
• Qualitative interviews are semi structure or unstructured
• Qualitative interviews should be fairly informal
• Require careful consideration and preparation

15. Focus group discussion
• Collect information from groups of people rather than a
series of individuals
• FGD can be used when
– Resources are limited
– To identify a number of individuals who share a common
factor
– It is desirable to collect the views of several people within
the population sub group
– Group interaction among participants has the potential
for greater insights to be developed

16. • Characteristics of a focus group
– Group size: usually 6-10 people
– Several FGD should be run in any research, it would be
wrong to rely on the views of just one group
– Members of each group should have something in
common
– May use pre formed groups e.g. pressure groups
– Data collection and analysis is time consuming
– Requires certain skills
Facilitation, moderating, listening, observing and
analyzing

17. Observation
• Might be the only method to collect information in
certain conditions
• Observation of people VS. observation of environment
• Observation can also serve for verifying or nullifying
information collected through other methods

18. Techniques for collecting data
– Written descriptions
• Researcher may miss to record
• May focus on one thing and miss equally or even more
important things
– Video recording
• No need to take notes
• Review time after time
• Recording my affect the behavior of the people under
observation
• Fixed camera may limits the range of possible observation

19. • Photographs
– Good way of collecting observable data of phenomena
which can be captured in a single shots or series of shots
– Photographs of buildings, neighborhoods, dress and
appearance
• Documentation
– Wide range of written materials
– Policy document, annual reports, minutes of meeting,
codes of conduct, notice boards etc.

20. Handling qualitative research data
• Recording VS. note taking
• Transcribing qualitative data
– Procedure for producing written version of interview
– Time consuming ,
– Produce a lot of written text
• Transcribe may not be essential for each interview
– Tape analysis: taking notes from play back of tape
recorded interviews
– Who should do transcribing?

21. Handling qualitative research data cont.
• Consideration should be given to tone and inflection
– By listening and noting the intensity and feeling in the
interviewee’s voice it is possible to detect:
• Positive/negative continuum
• Certainty/uncertainty
• Enthusiasm/reluctance
• Constant comparative analysis: data collection and data
analysis occur on ongoing basis
– Each interview is analyzed before other interview take place
– Finding of first interview is incorporated in the following one
– Later interviews might be completely different from the initial
ones

22. Analyzing qualitative data
• Involves summarizing data and presenting the results in a
way that communicate the most important features
• As quantitative research we are interested to discover the
big picture in qualitative research as well, but by using
different technics
• We start labeling or coding every item of information to
recognize differences and similarities between all different
items

23. Analyzing qualitative data cont.
• No system for pre-coding
• Needs a method of identifying and coding items of data
which appear in the text of transcript
• All the items of data from one interview should be
compared with other interviews
• Same procedures are used for qualitative data collected
through interviews, FGDs, observation and documentary
analysis – since all are concerned with analyzing text.

24. Analyzing qualitative data cont.
• Content analysis
– Procedure for categorization of verbal or behavioral data
– It involves coding and classifying data – Analysis done at
two levels:
• Basic or manifest level: descriptive what was actually said
• Higher or interpretative level ;
• what was meant by response – also called latent level of
analysis

25. Analyzing qualitative data cont.
• Content analysis involves the following steps:
1. Read the transcript and make brief note of interesting or
relevant information
2. Make a list of the different type of information from the
notes
3. Categorization of the listed items
4. Identify the categories that are some how linked to each
other (major categories or themes)
5. Compare and contrast various categories

26. 6. Repeat the process from stage 1-5 on next transcripts
- Identify new categories of information
- Accommodate data in the existing categories
- Color code different categories and review
7. Collect together all the extracts from the transcribed
interviews that you have put into one category
8. Review different categories and move items if required
from one category to another
9. Review and check if two or more categories can fit
together
10. Check the initial notes, consider if any previously
excluded data is relevant and should be included in results

27. Presenting the results of qualitative research
• Look at themes and categories and structure of the results
accordingly
• The structure can be set out at the beginning as a list or
diagram
• Themes are the main findings of the study
• To support findings, evidence are presented at direct
quotations from respondents

28. Presenting the results of qualitative research cont.
• A range of quotations should be selected
– Strength of opinion or belief
– Similarities between respondents
– Differences between respondents
• Link between different categories
• Conclusion
• Some qualitative data can be dealt with in quantitative
way
• Using qualitative and quantitative techniques for analysis
of data can strengthen analysis