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Qualitative Research Methods For Solving Workplace Problems: Collecting Information

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40 views14 pages

Qualitative Research Methods For Solving Workplace Problems: Collecting Information

Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Available Formats
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TUTORIAL SUMMARY

r Focuses on qualitative research methods for


practitioners
r Covers formulating researchable questions,
addressing credibility and practicality, collecting
qualitative information, and determining an
information collection plan

Collecting Information:
Qualitative Research Methods
for Solving Workplace Problems
KIM SYDOW CAMPBELL

INTRODUCTION Because mastering qualitative methods like case stud-

C
urrent editor of Technical communication, ies is often incorrectly assumed to require little expertise,
George Hayhoe, published an editorial in 1997 my goal here is to provide a foundation for collecting
in which he stated information using qualitative methods, especially (though
not exclusively) targeted for those within industry. First,
however, I need to establish a definition of qualitative
. . . I’ve frequently been asked what research is most research methods.
needed in our field. . . . I usually respond that our
greatest needs are reliable and thorough reviews of re- What are qualitative research methods?
search . . . and an authoritative introduction to methods The simplest way to define qualitative research is to note
of research in technical communication. (p. 19) that the results are primarily expressed with words (as
opposed to quantitative research in which results are
Perhaps one indication of this need is MacNealy’s finding primarily expressed with numbers). For example, Wixon,
(1992) that the highest percentage of research-based arti- Pietras, Huntwork, and Muzzey describe their applied re-
cles in a single volume of STC annual conference Proceed- search involving product development at Digital Equip-
ings over a 20-year period was a disappointing 10%. But ment Corporation by noting that only qualitative research
why is this important? allowed them to discover “exactly what users and custom-
Spyridakis (1992) provides a useful definition of ers want and do” (1996, p. 61). Thus, their qualitative
research: research provided them with verbal or visual descriptions
of their customers’ wants and needs.
Research is a systematic approach to provide answers to In contrast, the same group of researchers describe
questions, answers that may be abstract and general, as their use of quantitative methods to provide measures of
is often the case in basic research, or concrete and importance (that is, numbers) for each user need and
specific, as is often the case in applied research. (p. 607) product feature (1996, p. 65).
Some authors equate qualitative research with natural-
Thus, MacNealy’s findings mean that the wisdom of istic inquiry or ethnography. In contrast to naturalistic in-
technical communicators captured in the STC annual con- quiry, qualitative research is not always carried out through
ference Proceedings was not clearly developed in any sys- observation in the natural environment—in other words,
tematic way. In brief, her analysis suggests that technical you might develop a verbal/visual description of your au-
communicators rely primarily on anecdotes and intuition to dience’s needs and wants through telephone interviews. In
answer workplace questions. Reliance on such unsystem- contrast to ethnography, qualitative research does not al-
atic approaches is costly: technical communicators are con- ways provide a holistic account of a whole workplace
tinually reinventing the wheel and are often viewed as
workers of “magic” rather than as professionals relying on Manuscript received 21 August 1999; revised 23 June 1999;
a foundation of evidence-based knowledge. accepted 12 July 1999.

532 TechnicalCOMMUNICATION • Fourth Quarter 1999


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group or scene—in other words, you might develop a marketing coursework. Marketing majors usually become more
verbal/visual description of your audience’s needs and sophisticated in the use of research methods in upper-level un-
wants about only the camera function of your ultrasound dergraduate marketing coursework. Undergraduate information
product. system majors, as well as computer science and engineering
The main point here is that there is evidence that our undergraduates, are increasingly exposed to some of these meth-
profession is not necessarily well prepared to carry out ods in coursework related to computer-human interaction, inter-
research projects using qualitative methods. For example, face design, or even human factors engineering.
Locker contends that an analysis of articles in early issues Thus, social science resources offer technical commu-
of the Journal of business communication nicators much insight into answering questions in the
workplace systematically. To that end, the remainder of
. . . fail[s] to identify one case study, ethnography, this discussion covers two areas:
discourse analysis, history, or any other qualitative 1. Fundamental issues (for example, formulating re-
research article based on empirical data—that is, search questions, and addressing quality and practicality in
workplace or classroom data rather than anecdotes or workplace research)
one’s own thoughts. (1998, p. 37) 2. Collecting qualitative information (involving ob-
servation, artifacts, and interviews, as well as determining
As another example, in MacNealy’s study analyzing the specifics of an information collection plan)
research articles in STC annual conference Proceedings Although of equal importance, the topic of analyzing
from 1972 through 1991, she notes that case study research information after it is collected is not covered here. Readers
(which often uses qualitative methods) should be aware that my choice to separate the topics of
collecting and analyzing information in qualitative research
. . . is not well understood by technical communicators. is somewhat controversial because some argue that the
Entries in the . . . proceedings are frequently labeled collection and interpretation of qualitative information are
“case study” by their authors, but on close examination, indistinguishable. While collection and interpretation are
the entries turn out to be either retrospective reports on clearly iterative within a single qualitative study, I see great
how something was done, or descriptions of how things value in focusing on each aspect of the research process to
are usually done, at the place where the author works. enhance the quality of research in workplace settings. In
. . . While a report on how something was done could be fact, precisely because of the importance of both aspects of
based on research, all too often it is not. The difference the research process, collecting and analyzing information
is methodology. (1992, p. 539) should occupy separate and equally detailed analyses.

One of the things that this led MacNealy to do was to FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES
write specifically about how to conduct quality case studies This section introduces some background concepts related
(1997, 1998). My goal here is broader—to provide infor- to answering questions by doing research. First, I consider
mation about the fundamentals of collecting information in how to formulate a research question arising in the context
any type of qualitative research study. That is, in any of the workplace. Second, I address the issue of what
systematic attempt to answer workplace questions in the counts as good qualitative research in the workplace.
form of verbal/visual descriptions.
How do you get from your present
What will you learn about situation to a researchable question?
qualitative methods here? Research begins with a question. However, not every
Methods for doing qualitative research are well developed question requires research. For example, if a new co-
within the social sciences. The most obvious advantage of
learning about methods commonly accepted within social
science is that technical communicators will then be able to My goal here is broader—to
provide systematic descriptions of the qualities or charac-
teristics of the audiences of our work. provide information about the
One of the less often acknowledged advantages of learning
about methods commonly accepted within social science is that fundamentals of collecting
technical communicators will then share a vocabulary (if not a
world-view) with many of our colleagues in the workplace. For information in any type of
instance, almost every undergraduate business major in the U.S.
is exposed to methods for conducting qualitative research in qualitative research study.
Fourth Quarter 1999 • TechnicalCOMMUNICATION 533
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Campbell Qualitative Research Methods for Solving Workplace Problems

worker asks you, “How do I submit my trip report?” you more time thinking about the four questions, and you
might provide a good answer without collecting and even discuss some of them with your co-workers. Based
analyzing any information (beyond what you’ve got on an experience while visiting one of the subsidiary
stored in your own head). On the other hand, let’s companies 6 months ago, you decide that an answer to
suppose you have often considered the current policies the following question would probably go farthest in
and procedures about submitting trip reports to be helping you achieve your current goal of improving
counter-productive—you suspect that these reports add work processes involving your department:
little value within your organization. Let’s also suppose
you have the time, authority, and desire to seek an Is documentation available within subsidiaries?
answer to the question, “Is our current procedure for
submitting trip reports adding any value within our or- Although you have narrowed your field of interest consider-
ganization?” Now you have a question that will be almost ably by choosing this single question, it is entirely possible
impossible to answer without collecting information and that you will end up narrowing it further as you go forward
analyzing it—in short, conducting research. with your research project. For instance, before (or after) you
Forming quality research questions requires both knowl- begin collecting data, you may decide to restate it as
edge and practice. Poor research questions produce research
results with little value. Let’s turn our attention to a hypothet- What documentation is available within European
ical workplace scenario. The point will be to figure out how subsidiaries? Where is the most recent documentation
you move from your present situation (where you have many located?
questions relating to your professional practice) to one in
which you can formulate a question that can be answered Such a revision might take place because before you begin
through research that produces high quality results that are collecting information about available documentation from
practical within a workplace environment. personnel at subsidiaries, you begin to suspect that every-
one has some documentation but that the most recent
The workplace scenario You are a senior documenta- documentation appears to be hoarded within the organi-
tion manager working for a large, multinational company zation. Moreover, you realize that you don’t have the re-
within a division that custom-designs software for its sources to include all subsidiaries in your study. Note that
subsidiary companies. You have both time and money focusing your research question is crucial to the success of
available for improving the work processes within your your project. It is important to limit your study to a suffi-
company. You are interested in a variety of areas; based on ciently narrow question (Bauersfeld and Halgren 1996,
your experience, you have brainstormed a list of questions p. 188) so that you will know when you are “finished”
related to documentation. After some time passes, you constructing an answer to your question.
decide that the four listed here are most important to you: In sum, you begin your research project by focusing
r Is documentation available within subsidiaries? and refocusing questions. This occurs in two steps: brain-
r What version (printed versus online) of the docu- storming questions based on your professional problem/
mentation is available? What version is used? situation and then focusing those questions down to a
r Is documentation used differently by installers, ac- manageable number.
count managers, and seniors/juniors? How is docu- It’s important to recognize that this is an iterative process—in
mentation used differently by them? other words, you may find yourself brainstorming and focusing
r Do references to documentation during training or after you’ve done quite a bit of reading during your search of the
support calls have any effect? When? With whom? literature or even after you’ve collected information. The point is
to focus your question as much as is possible at this point so that
Focusing and refocusing your questions Despite the you have a clear notion of the answer your question will prompt
fact that you have narrowed your list of questions to and the value of that answer for addressing your workplace
four, you still have more questions than you can prob- challenges. If you want to learn more about different types of
ably tackle in one research project. You spend some research questions common in qualitative research, see Maxwell
(1996, pp. 52–59).

In sum, you begin your research How do you guarantee that you do good research?
This section discusses what constitutes good qualitative
project by focusing and refocusing research in a workplace environment. First, I’ll take up the
topic of credibility. And then, I’ll address the importance of
questions. business practicality.

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When conducting research in a As an example, you could implement many techniques


for improving the reliability and validity, and hence the
workplace environment, credibility credibility, of your results in our workplace scenario. For
example, you would be more certain that your information
is not the only factor that defines (that is, the list of documentation products) is valid (that is,
credible) if you developed your lists by both asking people
the quality of your research. to send you a list and conducting an unannounced visit at
their worksite to corroborate that list.
Similarly, you could be more certain that your lists
It is nearly impossible to discuss quality in research would be the same even when developed by someone
without using the terms “reliability” and “validity.” My goal other than yourself at another point in time if you spelled
here is to minimize their use. Nevertheless, you will need a out precisely what counts as a documentation product. For
basic understanding of these concepts to get the most out instance, I might include only “official” documentation on
of the many strategies and techniques that I discuss for my list. Conversely, you might include official and unoffi-
enhancing the credibility of qualitative research throughout cial (that is, self-produced) documentation on your list.
the remainder of this discussion. Thus, if we clearly define what counts as documentation
Kirk and Miller provide the best example I’ve seen for before we collect our information, we will end up with
defining and contrasting reliability and validity in the use of more reliable (that is, credible) information.
a measurement instrument: I will present many techniques for increasing research
credibility as I discuss specific methods for collecting qualita-
A thermometer that shows the same reading of 82 degrees tive information. For now, it’s important that you see why you
[Fahrenheit] each time it is plunged into boiling water gives should implement such techniques when you do qualitative
a reliable measurement. A second thermometer might give research in technical communication—because these tech-
readings over a series of measurements that vary from niques will result in more credible answers to the professional
around 100 degrees [Fahrenheit]. The second thermometer problems you’re trying to solve with your research.
would be unreliable but relatively valid, whereas the first When conducting research in a workplace environ-
would be invalid but perfectly reliable. (1986, p. 19) ment, credibility is not the only factor that defines the
quality of your research. As Cooper and Emory put it,
In this case, a thermometer is the instrument used to “Some tradeoff is usually needed between the ideal re-
measure the phenomenon of interest (that is, temperature). search project and the budget” (1995, p. 156). As one
But in qualitative research you usually use people (includ- example, Graf (1996) describes a research project whose
ing yourself) to measure the phenomenon of interest. For goal was to answer the question: What can Dun &
instance, to answer the research question about the loca- Bradstreet Software Services do to make the notebook
tion of documentation from our workplace scenario, you PC-based workstation used by marketing representa-
might ask people to list the documentation in their office tives, technical product representatives, junior/senior
and send the list to you by e-mail. In this case, the avail- sales personnel, and managers more acceptable to all
ability of a specific documentation product is measured (as these users? Graf states:
present or absent) by the judgments of a person; that is, the
person is the measurement instrument. . . . We decided to study users in their world. I proposed a
On the surface, using people as measurement instru- study in which I and a team representative would accom-
ments makes the application of concepts like validity and pany users on actual sales calls. This was rejected by the
reliability a little more difficult to grasp in qualitative research. sales manager as being too intrusive to the sales process.
I use “validity” in the same sense as Maxwell, who explains We settled on a plan to interview satisfied and dissatisfied
primary users at their site and watch how they interacted
I use validity in a fairly straightforward, commonsense with the system. I felt that a field study was essential to
way to refer to the correctness or credibility of a descrip- obtain a thorough understanding of the realities of sales
tion, conclusion, explanation, interpretation, or other sort and the benefits of mobile computing. (p. 116)
of account. . . . the idea of objective truth isn’t essential to
a theory of validity that does what most researchers want it In this case, the researcher had to temper his desire for
to do, which is to give them some grounds for distinguish- the most credible results with the practicality of intervening
ing accounts that are credible from those that are not. Nor in a sales call.
are you required to attain some ultimate truth in order for In sum, how good your qualitative research will be is
your study to be useful and believable. (1996, p. 87) determined by your ability to focus your project so that you

Fourth Quarter 1999 • TechnicalCOMMUNICATION 535


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Campbell Qualitative Research Methods for Solving Workplace Problems

Because you want the most credible able sources of existing research.) Because you want the most
credible answer to your question, focus your literature search
answer to your question, focus your on sources that contain results from empirical research. Re-
member that other kinds of publications may look more
literature search on sources that attractive to you because of their clear applicability and con-
ciseness, but empirically based research publications are far
contain results from empirical more likely to provide you with answers to questions that
meet quality standards for research. Krull (1997) provides a
research. description of the myriad of journals that publish research
relevant to technical communication.
The first point I want to make about collecting infor-
collect information of the greatest credibility that is practi- mation in a literature search relates to your choice of tools
cal within your business environment. for conducting a literature search. Unfortunately, there is
no single authoritative database that abstracts or indexes all
COLLECTING QUALITATIVE INFORMATION the relevant, high-quality research publications for those of
No matter what your research question is, you’ll need to us interested in technical communication. The best tool for
collect some information to get a quality answer (that’s your project will probably be one of the electronic sub-
basically the definition of “research” question). The total scription services that provide a searchable database of
possible number of methods for collecting qualitative in- research publications from the Web (for example, UnCover
formation in technical communication comprise four basic at http://uncweb.carl.org/ or FirstSearch at http://www.
types: oclc.org/oclc/menu/fs.htm). Of course, even if you locate
r Literature search titles and abstracts, you will still need copies of the actual
r Observation publication. Fortunately, services such as UnCover are be-
r Artifact search ginning to deliver articles by fax or even electronic files to
r Interviews your desktop for a fee.
I will focus on each method’s general character rather than The second point is that the best technique I know
specific techniques. My goal is to present the basic princi- of for completing your literature search efficiently is to
ples of collecting information with any of these general write your research question on a small index card or a
methods so that you are more likely to get quality results sticky note, and keep it in your pocket or, most prefer-
from the use of any specific techniques. ably, next to the computer screen while you’re listing
Your situation can be described by one of these three sources during your search. Every time you locate a
possibilities: source that sparks your interest, look at your research
r Someone has asked the same (or a similar) research question and ask yourself how this source might help
question, found an answer, and made it public. you answer that question. If you’re like most busy folks,
r Someone has asked the same research question, you can’t really afford to look at every source that seems
found an answer, but didn’t make it public. interesting. You need to limit yourself to those sources
r No one ever asked this research question, or no one that look interesting and are clearly relevant to answer-
has found an answer. ing your research question.
You’ll have to conduct a literature search of existing re- In addition, having a copy of your research question
search before you’ll know which of these possibilities de- on a small piece of paper nearby should help you focus on
scribes your current situation. A literature search serves two taking notes related specifically to your current project.
purposes. Your first goal will be to determine whether your Every time you locate a piece of information in a source
research question has already been answered. If it has, that captures your interest, look at your research question
your research will begin and end with your review of and ask yourself how it will help you answer that question.
existing research. If your question hasn’t been answered, Keeping accurate and complete bibliographic information
your literature search will serve a secondary purpose—to and other notes about the literature you’re using is essential
provide you with ideas about how to collect and analyze so that you can then share your experience in a profes-
information that will help you develop your own answer. sional publication or provide a way for others in your
workgroup to retrace your steps.
What do you need to know about collecting If you want more specific advice about conducting a
information in a literature search? literature search, both Zimmerman and Muraski (1995, pp.
Your first step in a research project is to conduct a literature 41– 66) and Porter and Coggin (1995, pp. 119 –136) provide
search. (In this usage, “literature” refers to all publicly avail- detailed discussions of the use of electronic resources in

536 TechnicalCOMMUNICATION • Fourth Quarter 1999


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Qualitative Research Methods for Solving Workplace Problems Campbell

literature searches related to technical communication issues. brief, you will have to persuade them that they have some-
If you can’t locate the answer to your research question thing to gain from your research activities. This will often
in the existing literature, then you’ll have to construct your involve ethical and legal considerations, which are briefly
own answer by gathering information (called “primary covered a little later in this section.
data”) through observation, artifacts, or interviews. Quali-
tative researchers sometimes call these collection methods Step 2: Familiarize yourself with the observation site
“the big three” (Cassell and Symon 1994, p. 10). Choosing where and when you will observe your research
participants is an important consideration. For example,
How do you collect information Brown (1996) describes some of the challenges involved in
through observation? observing technicians using ultrasound equipment in their
Observation can be a very powerful way of collecting workplaces outside the U.S.:
information that will answer research questions arising in
workplace contexts. For instance, in a book titled Field r Their work hours can differ from those in the U.S. This is
methods casebook for software design, the editors of the important to know when planning site visits to avoid
collection write, waiting long hours before users begin their work.
r We lost information during translation because the in-
We hear a lot these days about the need to succeed in an terpreters did not understand our goals. Next time we
increasingly competitive global market, and the need to are going to take a written script of our goals and what
enhance the productivity of our workers. We might add to we would like users to do, and give it to the interpreters
these concerns a desire to empower workers and to create and the users.
pleasure in work. To help us achieve these goals in system r At some sites the examination rooms were too small for
design, we need to know as much as possible about the more than one observer, or for setting up a
people and the contexts for which we are designing. We tripod for the video camera.
need to ground our designs in workplace realities, and r Voltages and access to electrical outlets are often un-
discover better design in the limitations or unmet needs known, so it is safer to use batteries for the video camera.
experienced by the user in the user’s world. Product devel- (1996, p. 165)
opment processes built on field research can help us
achieve these goals. (Wixon and Ramey 1996, p. xxxix). The potential for such difficulties is why Lindlof recommends
“casing the scene” of an observation site before your official
For our purposes, I’ll define observation as the act of observation (1995, p. 82). You must be as prepared as possi-
collecting information by watching and listening (and, for that ble for the realities of the observation experience to get the
matter, smelling, tasting, or touching). An example of how most from your information collection activity.
observation has been used by technical communicators to
find answers to a professional problem is offered by Dray and Step 3: Conduct the observation Steyaert and Bouwen
Mrazek (1996) when they describe Hewlett-Packard’s efforts (1994) describe a study in which they wanted to learn how
to understand the global family computer market. As these organizations implement innovation. The researchers used
authors explain, teams of observers representing marketing, multiple methods, including observation of 18 project meet-
engineering, and human factors visited families in their homes ings within a manufacturing company. In this study, a single
to observe family members use their computer. (They also observer attended all meetings as a silent participant. Steyaert
collected information using interviews and surveys, and by and Bouwen provide illuminating evidence of the iterative
collecting artifacts.) nature of data collection and analysis in qualitative research:
There are several areas for you to consider while plan-
ning to collect primary data through observation. If you are We would call the period after the participation in the
interested specifically in conducting site visits, Hackos and meeting more important than the participation itself. On
Redish (1998) is a comprehensive resource. The steps for
gathering qualitative information through observation
listed here are adapted from Lindlof (1995). Use of a coding form can help
Step 1: Negotiate access to the site You will need to ensure that the observer records
negotiate access to a workplace site through the gate-
keeper and also with the prospective participants of your information he or she might
observation. A thorough discussion of strategies for nego-
tiating access is well beyond the scope of this discussion. In otherwise have missed.
Fourth Quarter 1999 • TechnicalCOMMUNICATION 537
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Campbell Qualitative Research Methods for Solving Workplace Problems

returning to the research team, the first thing the re- through the careful planning of the study and the use of an
searcher did was check his notes, completing and rewriting informed consent form.
them. Second, the researcher discussed with colleagues The Department of Psychology at the University of
what he had been up to. Asking the very general question Calgary provides a Web-accessible handbook for con-
of what had happened there, in the context of the research structing informed consent forms, along with samples
question. This discussion of first impressions and ideas (1998). If you want to learn more about this topic, visit the
already constitutes an initial interpretation of the data. Web site of the Office of Human Subjects Research at the
(1994, p. 135) U.S. National Institutes of Health at http://helix.nih.gov:
8001/ohsr/, where you will find an online training course,
After the next project meeting, the observer would again as well as other relevant materials.
join his research team for a “debriefing” and preliminary
analysis. How do you collect information
Depending on the level of focus in your research through an artifact search?
question, you may want to use a “coding form” to record Because research questions in our field revolve around
data during an observation. Silverman (1993, pp. 40 – 41) communication, existing communication artifacts are often
provides an example of a coding form used in a study an excellent source of data for constructing answers. Butler
involving patient visits to a pediatric cardiology unit. That and Tahir note that sample application files and hardcopy
form included 21 items for the observer to report on, printouts are particularly useful as they try to answer ques-
including observations of the physical environment. Use of tions about the kind of work their users do (1996, p. 253).
a coding form can help ensure that the observer records Their analysis of such artifacts provided them with a source
information he or she might otherwise have missed. The of questions for interviews conducted at a later time with
use of such a form obviously enhances the credibility of the some users.
information you collect from an observation. However, as I’ll define a workplace artifact as a physical specimen
Silverman says, while “this ‘grid’ is very helpful in organis- created within the normal course of activities in the workplace
ing the data analysis, it also deflects attention away from environment. Common examples include the following types
uncategorised activities” (1993, p. 39). Silverman also ex- of specimens:
plains that his form was developed only after he and his r Texts (for example, memos/letters, e-mail, policies
co-researcher made more than 10 visits to the kinds of and procedures manuals, documentation manuals,
clinics they would be observing in their study. performance appraisals, sales reports, brochures,
Observation usually means “observation of human annual reports, design specifications, employment
participants.” Therefore, you must consider how best to application forms, and so forth)
protect those participants’ rights and still get quality an- r Visuals (for example, organizational charts, logos,
swers to your research questions. The problem, of course, photographs, screen captures, drawings, and so
is that when people know they are being observed, they forth)
may alter their behavior. Many researchers call this phe- r Audio- or videotapes (for example, training films, voice
nomenon “reactivity.” On the other hand, clandestine ob- mail messages, help line conversations, and so forth)
servation is usually considered unethical. All research Because many technical communicators are unaccustomed
methods involve ethical and legal decisions on your part. to thinking about such communication artifacts as “data,” it
Certainly one of the most important of these concerns the may be instructive to think of the way artifacts are used by
use of human participants. researchers like archeologists who want to study civiliza-
The most influential document covering the use of hu-
mans in research is The Belmont report (National Commission
for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Because research questions in our
Behavioral Research 1976). There are three basic principles
set forth in that document: field revolve around
1. Respect for persons—allowing the participant to
choose what will or will not happen communication, existing
2. Beneficence—avoiding unnecessary physical,
psychological, or social harm and protecting the partici- communication artifacts are often
pant’s privacy, dignity, and feelings of personal worth
3. Justice—not discriminating against the sick, poor, an excellent source of data for
institutionalized, and so forth
The primary means for protecting human participants is constructing answers.
538 TechnicalCOMMUNICATION • Fourth Quarter 1999
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Qualitative Research Methods for Solving Workplace Problems Campbell

tions that no longer exist. For instance, they might locate a not allowed to make copies of these sensitive types of
piece of pottery and observe that the qualities of this documents (1994, pp. 154 –155).
particular artifact provide evidence of the interaction be-
tween the culture under study and another well known Step 2: Collect information from artifacts Ideally,
culture. Similarly, you might locate early and final drafts of you’ll be given permission to take exact copies of artifacts
design specifications for an information system and use with you for later analysis. However, if you are allowed only
these artifacts as evidence of the influence of writers on the on-site access to artifacts and you have a fairly focused re-
design phase of the system. The point here is that artifacts, search question, you’ll probably want to use a form for col-
even when they take the form of written documents, rep- lecting information rather than simply taking notes. This form
resent a different kind of data from the documents you find can be similar to the coding form used to assist you in col-
when doing a search of the existing literature. lecting information during an observation. Similarly, it will be
Workplace artifacts can provide invaluable information useful to record contextual information about the artifact on
about many aspects of the workplace: your form that might not be evident from the artifact itself (for
example, the artifact’s creator, date of creation, number of
What an organization produces and how it certifies certain review cycles resulting in this version of the artifact, technol-
kinds of activities, (e.g., a license or a deed), categorizes ogy used to create the artifact, and so forth).
events or people (e.g., a membership list), codifies procedures
and policies (e.g., rules for using equipment), instructs a How can you collect information with interviews?
readership (e.g., an operating manual), explains past or fu- Interviewing is perhaps the most common method for col-
ture actions (e.g., memoranda), and tracks its own activities lecting information in the workplace. One example of the use
(e.g., minutes of meetings). (Lindlof 1995, p. 208) of interviews in collecting workplace information is given by
Bauersfeld and Halgren, who interviewed software users to
There are two steps to collecting information via artifacts in learn about their daily tasks and frustrations (1997, p. 180).
the workplace. I will define interviewing as a conversation between
two or more people for the purposes of eliciting informa-
Step 1: Obtain permission to access artifacts There tion. “It is talk that is organized so as to give one person
are obviously ethical and legal aspects involved in obtain- (the interviewer) greater control over the other (the re-
ing permission to use artifacts from the workplace. Unlike spondent)” (Denzin 1978, p. 113). Thus, interviews can be
the archeologist studying an ancient civilization, technical conducted face-to-face or by telephone or e-mail. Despite
communication researchers are usually dealing with arti- the fact that respondents can be allowed considerable
facts whose creators or owners are still around. Thus, you latitude in what they contribute, the researcher dynamically
must consider how best to protect those people’s rights and controls the flow of the conversation in an interview. Six
still get quality answers to your research questions from types of information are best collected with interviews:
their artifacts. As you conduct research within the work- r Facts (for example, biographical information about
place, you will no doubt become privy to information that the respondent, descriptions of events)
is governed by intellectual property law. You will want to r Beliefs about facts (for example, attitudes about
ensure that you protect your own legal rights and those of events, beliefs about a product)
your employer or client. In fact, you’ll probably need to r Feelings and motives (for example, description of
assure your employer or client of your willingness to do so feelings during an event, statements about motive
(with a nondisclosure agreement) before you will be given during an action)
access to the information you want. r Standards of action (for example, prescription for
If you want to learn more about intellectual property law, how to act during an event)
Intellectual Property Worldwide maintains a Web site with many r Present or past behavior (for example, description of
types of information and links at http://www.ipww.com/. If actions during an event)
you’re interested only in copyright, use the Copyright Manage- r Conscious reasons (for example, explanations for a
ment Center’s site at http://www.iupui.edu/it/copyinfo/. prescription or an action) (Selltiz, Jahoda, Deutsch,
Note that the support of senior management is crucial and Cook 1964)
in gaining access to workplace artifacts. Although certain The steps for collecting qualitative information through
types of documents related to strategic planning and per- interviews that are listed here have been adapted from
formance appraisals were considered “sensitive” by the King (1994).
management at a major retail company, Steyaert and Bou-
wen were given permission to read all that they wanted in Step 1: Develop the interview guide The interview
some research they conducted in 1988; however, they were guide serves as the interviewer’s blueprint for completing his

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A great many issues are involved in You will also need to decide how you will capture a
record of the qualitative information given to you by the
constructing a good interview guide interviewee. As MacNealy notes, “a tape recorder (which
you have tested in advance) is the most reliable source of
and in using the best wording for data collection, since you can’t possibly record every word
[of an interview] by hand” (1998, p. 205). However, using
your questions and prompts. an audio- or video-recorder is not without problems. For
instance, Zimmerman and Muraski note that the presence
of recording equipment during an interview may affect the
interviewee’s behavior and that the time involved in tran-
or her conversation with a research participant just as the scribing a recording is likely to be two to four times as long
coding form does for completing an observation of a research as the interview itself (1995, p. 97).
participant. The topics included on your interview guide will When you interview people, you should use an in-
be determined by your research question. For example, in a formed consent form. You will need to explain how you
study of general practitioner (GP) referrals in England, King will protect the respondents’ rights, including their ano-
and Bailey (1992) had two research questions: nymity. Once again, researchers should use this opportu-
1. What factors influence GPs when they are mak- nity to explain their own obligations or those of the par-
ing decisions about referring patients to specialists? ticipant regarding any proprietary or sensitive information
2. How do individual GPs differ in their referral that is revealed during data collection.
decision-making styles?
The interview guide in that study relied on three sources Step 3: Starting and ending the interview Researchers
for developing questions: (a) a search of the existing liter- usually recommend that you begin and end an interview
ature, (b) reflection on personal experience working in the with questions that the interviewee will find easy to an-
area, and (c) impressions from preliminary conversations swer. For instance, you might begin with requests for
with some GPs (King 1994, p. 19). factual or descriptive information like “How long have you
It’s important to note that the interview guide is a living worked at Company ABC?” and end with an invitation like
document that may need to be altered as your interviews “Is there anything you would like to say about X that we
proceed. The point is that the guide ensures that there is haven’t covered in our interview?”
some comparability between the data collected during in-
terviews conducted by various interviewers with different IMPLEMENTING YOUR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECT
participants at different times. However, the degree of Now that I’ve discussed the fundamental steps involved
comparability can vary widely. in collecting qualitative information using observation,
For an unstructured interview, your interview guide artifacts, and interviews, it’s time to address how you
may simply list topics for your use during an interview. choose a method for constructing an answer to the
Such a guide provides you with some sense of when you question that drives your research, how you choose
have collected all the information you need but does not examples to study, how you guarantee the quality of the
dictate the exact wording or even the order and arrange- data you collect, and how you obtain management sup-
ment of questions. In contrast, the most structured inter- port for your research.
view guide (associated with something often called the
“respondent interview”) “resembles the traditional survey How do you decide how, who,
in its standardized protocol, high content comparability, what, and how much to study?
and relatively large samples of interviewees” (Lindlof 1995, Deciding the specifics of your research plan is obviously of
p. 171). critical importance (for example, which of the three general
A great many issues are involved in constructing a collection methods is right for answering your question?
good interview guide and in using the best wording for Who will provide the information you need? Where should
your questions and prompts. Cooper and Emory provide you go to collect information?). To understand how to
authoritative advice on constructing questions (1995, pp. answer such questions, let’s return to our hypothetical
302–317). workplace scenario. The following steps for determining
the specifics of your information collection plan are
Step 2: Plan the qualitative interview You’ll need to adapted from Burgoyne (1994).
think through where and when to conduct your interviews. It
would be prudent to “case the scene” of a planned interview Step 1: Focus on the research question Our research
just as you would when conducting an observation. question is

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What documentation is available within European sub- Knowing, then, that one cannot study everyone every-
sidiaries? Where is the most recent documentation located? where doing everything, even within a single case, how
does one limit the parameters of a study? (1984, p. 36)
Step 2: Determine results required for a useful re-
sponse to the question To answer this question you Thus, in our workplace scenario, you will have to decide
might use a simple frequency count of the documentation whether the cost of observation is warranted or whether you
products available to determine which are widely available can get information of high enough quality through telephone
and which are rarely available. You might also decide you interviews. One of the ways in which you can manipulate the
need to know certain characteristics of the available docu- cost of your research study is through your decisions about
mentation (for example, whether it is the most recent avail- choosing examples to study. In other words, in our scenario
able, whether it is officially produced, and so forth). In addi- you would need to determine the costs versus benefits of
tion, you might use a description of the locations of the most visiting all subsidiaries. I’ll take up the question of choosing
recent versus older versions of the documentation products to examples (or samples) to study in the following section.
learn whether there is a pattern to their location.
How do you choose examples to study?
Step 3: Determine what data is needed and from Forster provides some insight into how a researcher decides
whom You require two verbal lists to get the responses what people or data to use as examples for a research project:
you need to answer your question: (a) available documen-
tation products and (b) locations of documentation prod- The choice of documents was determined by the re-
ucts. The information you need is available at each of your search questions we were trying to answer. For example,
corporation’s subsidiary sites. had we wanted to look at stress at work, it would have
been appropriate to access as much documentation as
Step 4: Specify the practical steps to get and record possible on absenteeism and even employee medical
this data Let’s consider how each of the three major records. In this particular study, we needed to access
methods for collecting qualitative information might apply company documentation which would cast light on a
in this situation. First, observation would certainly be useful variety of organizational planning issues: commitment
in developing your lists. You might visit each European to [Human Resource Management] training, succession
subsidiary and search for documentation products at that planning, career development policies, company cul-
site or note which documentation products are being used ture(s), people management, and the management of
by whom during your observation. Second, artifacts might employee job moves. (1994, pp. 154 –155)
be useful in developing your lists, especially if you find that
some self-produced documentation has been created by Obviously, your choice of examples to collect is driven
workers at that site. Third, interviews would be useful in by your research question. But let’s suppose you locate a
developing your lists as you could ask workers at the total of 40 different artifacts that fall into the category
subsidiaries what documentation is available to them and described by Forster in the example above. You now need
where. Thus, all three methods seem likely candidates for to decide which of these 40 you will collect for analysis.
applicable research methods. With so many artifacts available, you could implement
The applicability of multiple collection methods is of- random probability sampling—say you think you’ll have
ten the case in qualitative research projects. However, one time and money enough to analyze 5 of these documents—
of the areas in which you will definitely have to balance then you (randomly) assign numbers to each of the 40
research credibility with business practicality will be in documents and then pick every 8th one for collection (that
choosing the methods and examples for your study. Miles is, documents numbered 8, 16, 24, 32, and 40).
and Huberman state the researcher’s problem very clearly: There are certainly many other possibilities in such a
scenario. Because this discussion focuses on doing qualitative
research, where the number of participants or artifacts to be
studied is often small, I’ll concentrate on a number of strate-
. . . begin and end an gies for choosing examples in such situations.

interview with questions that Strategy 1. Ensure that your examples represent the
variety found in the whole population of interest
the interviewee will find (Maximum Variation Sampling) Lindlof explains that
in this technique, “cases are usually selected serially, with
easy to answer. each adding a different, contrasting element to the overall

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sample” (1995, p. 126). To illustrate, in our workplace This section lists other techniques for enhancing the cred-
scenario you might use this strategy when choosing inter- ibility of your collected information.
view participants from the population of all workers in
your company’s European subsidiaries. You might improve Collection Technique 1. Use more than one method
the quality of your research by choosing (a) both male and for collecting information and more than one strat-
female workers, (b) both technology novices and experts, egy for choosing examples for study (Triangulation)
and (c) workers from the range of job descriptions that use One common technique for improving the credibility of
your products. qualitative research is called triangulation, the collection of
Clearly, the success of this technique lies in your ability information from more than one method or source of
to identify the relevant variations of participants or artifacts information. Sometimes this technique is phrased so that it
with regard to the question driving your research. also specifically includes Strategy 1 (maximum variation
sampling) (for example, Denzin 1970); in other words,
Strategy 2. Ensure that your examples represent the choosing a set of participants that represent the diversity of
typical participant, artifact, or situation in the whole the population of interest can be categorized as a type of
population of interest (Typical Case Sampling) “A triangulation.
typical case can be thought of in a number of ways: as the Triangulation is exemplified when Rantzer describes
most frequent case, as the average of a distribution range, the “Delta Method,” in which interviews and observa-
or as the composite ideal of a phenomenon (albeit not tions are used in combination to determine usability
ideal in the sense of ‘best’)” (Lindlof 1995, p. 129). This requirements for a software product (1996, p. 91). This
strategy might be used for choosing participants for obser- specific methodology provides highly credible informa-
vation in our workplace scenario. For instance, if you know tion by combining information gathered from multiple
that workers in a single job description make up the vast general methods: interviews, naturalistic observation,
majority of your products’ users, then you improve the laboratory observation, and perhaps even experiments.
quality of the information you collect by choosing to ob- If you get the same information from both interviews and
serve workers with that job description. observation, then you will be more certain about the
accuracy of that information.
Strategy 3. Ensure that your examples represent the
most critical population of interest (Critical Case Collection Technique 2. Use more than one person to
Sampling) On the other hand, if in our workplace sce- collect information about the same example An-
nario you know that a small but important subset of your other technique for improving the quality of qualitative
products’ users make purchasing decisions, then you im- research results is to use more than one observer for the
prove the quality of your collected information by choos- same event (or more than one interviewer for the same
ing to observe workers from this other job description. This participant). For instance, in a Hewlett-Packard study, the
example demonstrates the use of “a case that exemplifies a researchers used a minimum of three observers for each
theoretical or practical problem” (Lindlof 1995, p. 130). In visit to a family home. The information noted by more than
other words, you focus your information collection activi- one researcher had greater credibility than that noted by a
ties on examples that serve as the most critical test for your single observer.
product and its documentation.
All of the strategies outlined here constitute an attempt Collection Technique 3. Ask some of your partici-
to make systematic and rational choices about the exam- pants to assess the quality of your collected informa-
ples used in collecting qualitative information to enhance
the value of your research efforts.
One common technique for
How do you guarantee the credibility
of collected qualitative data? improving the credibility of
In addition to strategies for choosing examples for study,
there are a number of additional techniques that can be qualitative research is called
used to plan collection activities to obtain the most credible
information possible. For instance, to combat a common triangulation, the collection of
complaint about interviews and observation (that is, that
different researchers get different information, hence dif- information from more than one
ferent results), many researchers recommend use of an
interview guide or coding form, as I have noted earlier. method or source of information.
542 TechnicalCOMMUNICATION • Fourth Quarter 1999
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Qualitative Research Methods for Solving Workplace Problems Campbell

The bottom line is that the more How do you guarantee the business practicality
of your information collection plan?

real you make your pilot test, the All research costs money (whether from labor, materials,
delays in time to market, and so forth). And techniques for
more likely that you won’t be improving credibility will almost certainly add to the cost of
research. Thus, your information collection plan needs
unpleasantly surprised during your management support.
Wixon, Pietras, Huntwork, and Muzzey provide a com-
actual research activities. pelling example of the net financial gain realized when
they spent some money to visit their customers to collect
information while designing a product:
tion (Member Checks) Katz reports her attempts to
control the quality of her collected information in a study A relatively small investment in customer visits led to a
by soliciting feedback from the same participants she had change in direction that not only saved resources, but
observed and interviewed (1998, p. 109). While informa- increased the product’s chance of success. As the devel-
tion from so-called member checks is obviously valuable, opment supervisor said: “Without this process we would
that information must be carefully interpreted because have spent 18 months and 2 million dollars producing
your participants’ opinions about what is going on may or a noncompetitive product.” (1996, p. 86)
may not be more credible than your own (Lindlof 1995, p.
94). In other words, member checks provide an additional The basic tool for determining business practicality of
but not infallible source of information. any project, including a research project, is the financial
business case. Schmidt provides this definition:
Collection Technique 4. Do a practice run using your
methods with real people (Pilot Studies) Pilot studies A business case is a tool that supports planning and
are an important technique for planning to collect credible decision-making—including decisions about whether to
information during qualitative research. For instance, John- buy, which vendor to choose, and when to implement.
son and Briggs describe the importance of a pilot study Business cases are generally designed to answer the
when using verbal protocols (a combination of interviews question: What will be the financial consequences if we
and observations) to ensure that asking participants to choose X or do Y? A good business case shows expected
verbalize while doing a task is a realistic expectation and cash flow consequences of the decision, over time, and it
that the participants’ performance of the task is not seri- includes the rationale for quantifying benefits and costs.
ously influenced by the requirement that they verbalize Critical success factors and significant risks will be dis-
their thinking (1994, p. 64). The single most important cussed, if relevant. The case also describes the overall
thing you can do to ensure that your tools and materials impact of your proposal in terms that every financially
will allow you to get the best possible qualitative informa- astute manager looks for: discounted cash flow, payback
tion is to perform a pilot study. In other words, get all your period, and internal rate of return. (1997, p. 1)
things together and actually go through the whole proce-
dure you plan to use to collect information. Your business case must show that your information collec-
Obviously it’s most helpful if you perform your pilot with tion plan will have desirable consequences in at least one of
representative participants, but even if you can’t do that, you three financial areas over the next few months/years:
should find someone to act like a participant for you. For exam- r Reducing costs
ple, Brown notes that a pilot test was conducted with internal r Increasing returns
marketing people who previously held the same job as the target r Accelerating returns
users; in this case, one of the benefits of doing the pilot study was If you do not yet know how to develop and present a
the collection of information about how different the mental business case, you need to learn. A great starting point is
models of the marketing people were compared with the actual The Business Case Web Site at http://www.solutionmatrix.
users (1996, p. 168). The bottom line is that the more real you com/index.html, which includes a number of free white
make your pilot test, the more likely that you won’t be unpleas- papers on developing business cases.
antly surprised during your actual research activities. In sum, there are a number of techniques for building an
For detailed and practical help in preparing your in- information collection plan that will enhance the credibility of
formation collection plan, use Hackos and Redish’s tem- your activities. However, if you cannot build a business case for
plate for conducting a site visit to support interface design carrying out your plan, you cannot expect management to sup-
activities (1998, pp. 447– 454). port that plan no matter how credible the end product. On the

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Your business case must show that nical communicators who participated in a Web-based course on
qualitative research methods during the summer of 1997, and who

your information collection plan generously shared the benefit of their time and expertise during the
initial development of the material presented here. The author also

will have desirable consequences in acknowledges the expert feedback of three anonymous reviewers
on an earlier version of this article.

at least one of three financial areas REFERENCES

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