QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN

What is a research design?

Similar to building a house, a research design is your guide for you to finish your research. This may
include answering the 5W’s:

What? Why? Who? Where? When?

Dawson (2002) explains the importance of these questions on how you are going to get the answers for
your research questions.

What is your research all about? What do you want to find out? What problems do you want to solve? It
is important to have answers to these questions in the very beginning of your research. Answers to
these questions will give you guide on how you are going to approach your research topic.

Why do you want to do your research? This question should be answered at the significance of the
study. It may be that you want to do your research because it is a requirement. However, there are
other reasons as to why you chose that specific topic. Whatever the reason may be, it is important to
have a clear vision on why you want to continue your research.

Who will take part in your research? Who will participate in your study? You should have a clear
indication on the specific type of people that will take part in your study (age, gender, economic status,
etc.).

Where will you gather all information needed for your research? This part of your research should take
into consideration your capabilities as a researcher. If you think that your data and participants in
research will be too far away, then it’s much better to change your topic. You will learn more about this
in the following discussions.

Finally, when are you going to start gathering information for your research? When will you do
interviews? When will you interpret and analyze your data? This should be answered immediately
knowing that you only have a short time in completing your work.

How do we relate the 5W’s to research design?

Knowing how to answer those questions in your own topic saves you a lot of time in thinking about your
research as a whole. You need to have a clear indication what your research is all about, why you want
to do it, who will be your respondents, where are you going to get the information and when will you
get it.

Choosing the appropriate research design There are 4 approaches in research design:

● Ethnography
● Case Study
● Phenomenology
● Historical Approach
● Grounded Theory
Ethnography

From the word ethno=people and graphy= writing. Ethnography translates to writing about
people. This type of approach to qualitative research aims to study a particular group of
people in their natural settings. This particular study wants to describe and interpret the
behavior of different kinds of people, culture or population. This can pertain to a specific type
of culture, community, school, or workplace.

For example, you may want to study a particular type of indigenous people, or you may want to study
about the behavior of students in a classroom. This type of approach is the most appropriate for your
research.

Case Study

If you want to learn deeper and more specific details of a certain situation, group of people or an
individual, you may want to use case studies. The difference of case study with other approaches to
qualitative research is that it gives a more in-depth analysis to a topic with a use of more data
gathering procedures at the same time. The problem with case studies is that it’s more difficult to use
especially if it is your first time making a research paper.

Phenomenology

This type of approach to qualitative research wants to study the phenomenon or experiences of
people. The purpose of this approach is to give an idea on how individuals or a group of people react
or experience a certain phenomenon.

A phenomenon can be a rare occurrence or an experience of an individual that is not common. An

example of this can be applied when we want to study about the experiences of teenagers to bullying
or physical abuse.

Historical Approach

To give you a proper explanation of this type of approach, think of the 1986 EDSA Revolution; think
about World War II or the past presidential elections. Historical approach is a systematic collection
and evaluation of information which have occurred in the past. This can be in a form of documents,
stories, artifacts, videos, etc. What you want to do is to examine the validity of these documents, or if
you want to add more information about a past event that hasn’t yet emerged. You might want to ask
questions like “What is the purpose of the document?” “Are there other forms of documents or
information that I can add?”

SAMPLING
In gathering data for your research using different data gathering instruments, you
would want to choose only a few people to interview or be part of your study. That is the
concept of sampling.
 Population - the complete group of people, animals or objects that have the same
characteristics that the research needs

Sample - a group of individuals that represent the population. The process of

choosing a sample is called sampling.

STEPS IN SAMPLING

1. Identify the population of interest

If you want to focus your study on the reasons why teenagers are dropping out from schools, then what
will be your population of interest? When choosing your population of interest, you should think WHO
will be directly affected from this study and WHO will be the potential respondents. In this case, your
population of interest should be teachers and out of school youths. However, it still too broad to say
that teachers and youths will be your population because there are lots of schools in our province alone.
Therefore, we need to proceed to the next step.

2. Specify a sampling frame It’s very difficult to say that your population will be teachers
and out of school youths. Teachers from what school? Out of school youth from what place? If we
simply say those are your population, then it will be difficult for us to identify who will be your
respondents. Therefore, we need to specify WHO we want to include in our study. You may want
to choose your sampling frame to a place where you are residing so that it will be easier to gather
respondents.

For example: I am currently residing at Valencia City, Bukidnon. I would want my sampling frame to be
taken from a population in Valencia City, Bukidnon. More specifically, I would like to take samples at
Valencia National High School because it is near where I am. Thus, my samples will be taken from
teachers working at Valencia National High school and out of school youth at Valencia City.

3. Specify a sampling method

There are many types of sampling method for qualitative research. Here are some of the most common
and easiest sampling methods to be used. You can either choose one method to use or have a mix of
two or more methods:

Snowball sampling- this is done by asking relevant people if they know someone who will be willing to
participate in your research. You can put criteria or other qualifications for your respondents. You can
use social media for “crowd sourcing” or ask someone in your community on who is willing and qualified
to participate in your research.
Opportunistic Sampling- this is a type of sampling that takes sample or respondents that are readily
available. For example, you may choose respondents in your community where you can just pick anyone
within a close range. Refer to the image below:

Convenience Sampling- using this kind of sampling technique involves selecting people that are the most
convenient for you as a researcher. You may use someone you already know as a respondent because it
will save you time and effort in looking for someone who will participate in your study.

These sampling methods are SOME of the methods that you can use for your research. There are many
methods to choose from, but it is important to keep your methods simple to avoid any confusion and
complications.

4.Determine your sample size

A book on high school research by Clemente R. F., Julaton A. B. E. and Orleans, A. V. discusses how to
determine your sample sizes. There can be two approaches to determine your sample size:

a. You determine your sample size depending on whether your data will reach its
saturation point.

What does saturation point of a data?

When you conduct face to face interviews with your respondents, you may notice that there will be
patterns and similar answers to your questions as you increase the number of people that you are
interviewing. If you realize that there are no new answers and the pattern seems to be the same on,
let’s say, the 10th interview, then it can be assumed that it will be your sample size because you have
reached the saturation point of your data.

b. Another way to choose sample size depends on the type of approach that you are going
to use for your research. It was cited from Creswell (2013) that 1-10 subjects are
recommended for phenomenology. Dukes (1984) stated that there should be 2030
individuals for grounded theory and Charmaz (2006) indicated that there should be 4-5
respondents for case studies and a single culture-sharing group for ethnography.

Therefore, your sample size is the number of individuals that you are going to use for your study, and it
is up to you to determine which approach you are going to use in choosing your sample size.

5.Implement the plan That’s it! If you follow the steps correctly, with a little help and guidance,
you can now implement your sampling techniques and select respondents that can be a part of
your research. It is important to take note of all the details because you need to write it down in
your research paper.

THE DATA AND DATA COLLECTION

What is data?

Your data is all the information that you will gather throughout your research.

How do we collect our qualitative data?

 One way to collect qualitative data is to gather your data from different sources of
information. Some of these sources can include books, encyclopedias, websites and first-
hand information from people.

There are two classifications of data based on their use and source.
PRIMARY DATA refers to first-hand information based on actual experiences or
observations. This kind of data is more reliable to use because it is gathered by the
actual researchers. Say you want to ask people in the community if they agree to a
certain law that is being implemented by the local government. Their answers can
be considered as primary data.

Examples of primary data includes: data taken personally through interview,

personally observing people to get visual data.

SECONDARY DATA are data that are gathered from secondary sources, meaning
it is not you that have obtained the information but rather, it comes from previous
research, audio recordings or books. One advantage of secondary data is that it is
readily available to use, comparing it to primary data where you have to gather the
information yourself.

Examples of secondary data includes: information from your barangay census on

the number of population in the area
DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENTS
These are the tools that you need to use so that you can gather your primary data when
you conduct your research. You can even choose one or more instruments to use.

The important thing is that you are knowledgeable to use these in such a way that it will not
become a hindrance in completing your research.
1. Interview
In qualitative research, doing interviews is the most common type of
instrument that is being used. Interviews are done by having a set of questions to
your respondents and letting them answer as truthfully as possible. There are mainly
three types of interview:
• Structured Interview- this type of interview has a set of predetermined
questions that are ready to use. If you are using a structured interview as your
instrument to gather data, take note that you should not ask beyond what is
written in your interview questions.
• Unstructured Interview- this type of interview is the opposite of structured
interview. You are not required to make a set of pre-made questions, but rather
make an OUTLINE or what kind of questions you want to ask your respondents.
Dawson (2002) calls this type of interview as life history interview. That is
because you want to understand the point of view of your respondents, hence it is
not advisable to use a pre-made questions. You want them to tell you a story,
your respondents are free to talk about what they want to share with a little guide
question from you as a researcher.
 • Semi-structured Interview- this type of interview is a mix of structured and
unstructured interview. It may be one of the most common types of interviews.
You have to prepare a set of questions; however, you are also free to ask to
follow up questions to your respondents if you want to clarify something or add
information that is not available to you. This type of interview is also flexible that is
why it is preferred to be used by most researchers.

2. Observations
Another data gathering instrument that is being used most in ethnography is
observations. This happens when a researcher observes and takes notes of the
behavior of people that they want to be a part of their research. There are three types
of observations:
Naturalistic Observation- this happens when a researcher observes the behavior
of a group of people in their natural setting. For example, you want to observe the
behavior of students inside a classroom without putting any external disturbances on
them then you are using naturalistic observation.
Participative Observation- this observation happens when a researcher takes
part on the activities of the group of people that they are observing. Say for example
you want to study the daily routine of a Lumad community. To have a better
understanding of what their everyday activities are, you as a researcher decided to join
a community so that you can immerse yourself in their daily life. This is utilizing
participative observation.
Non-naturalistic Observation- this type of observation happens when you take
your respondents out of their natural environment and put them in an environment of
your choice. You observe how people behave when they are not in their usual settings.
One situation for this is taking a group of high school students and letting them attend
one or two college classes where you must observe their learning behaviors. Non-
naturalistic observation is where you as a researcher decides what is the “ideal”
environment for you to complete your research.

3. Questionnaires
Questionnaires are also one of the most common types of instruments that is being used by
qualitative researchers. This is somewhat similar to interviews based on the format of
questions that is being used. There are three types of questionnaires:
Closed-ended questionnaires- this type of questionnaire is similar to a structured
interview. This is mostly used when you want to conduct surveys on your
respondents. This is mostly for statistical purposes and the questions are already
prepared for your respondents to answer. These types of questionnaires usually
have boxes for the respondents to put a check mark.
Open-ended questionnaires- unlike close-ended questionnaires, this type of
questionnaire leaves a blank space for the respondents to give their point of view
about a specific question.
 Combination of both- this type of questionnaire combines both the close-ended
and open-ended questionnaires. For example, you may want to ask a yes or no
question to your respondents and also want them to explain why they have
answered yes or no.

4. Focus Group Discussion

This type of data gathering instrument focuses on groups of people being
interviewed at the same time. This relies on the respondents to give a discussion
amongst themselves on the questions that you, the researcher, give. You will serve
as the moderator or facilitator. Put three or more people around a table and give
them guide questions for them to discuss among themselves. Your role as the
researcher and facilitator is to take note of their discussions.

GATHERING YOUR DATA

There are several steps in the observation process as discussed by Creswell (2007).

● Select where you want to conduct your observation. This can be a classroom,
community or a home where you want to observe the different behavior of the participants
for your research. To do this, you need to make a communication letter to the concern
authorities so that you will be allowed to have access to a particular place of observation.

Note: it is important to ask permission to who is in-charge of a particular place where you will conduct
your observation. Some place may not allow you to take pictures or record videos, therefore, it is
important to make a formal letter to avoid unnecessary problems.

● Find the means to gather your observed data. This can include recording devices like
cameras or phones or the more traditional recording devices like taking down notes on what
you, as the researcher, have observed first-hand.

● Take your time to write down the important details. You may be overwhelmed the
number of things that you will be observing. Try to focus on the important details that relate
to your research question. Make sure that you have your field notes with you where you will
need to write the things that can be useful for your research.
● What kind of observation will you be using? Will it be a naturalistic observation?
Non-naturalistic? Or participative observation? You need to have a clear indication on what
will be your role as an observer.

● Politely thank the participants.

How do we conduct a proper interview?
• Find out what type of interview you will be using. If you think that there is still lacking
data from your observation, try to find out if you may need to use other interview methods
 so that you can gather more information for your research. You may choose to use either
structured, unstructured, or semi-structured interview.

• Secure a letter of communication to the people that you want to interview. With the
same protocol for the observation method, you need to have a formal letter asking for
permission to conduct an interview with the participants.

• Make sure that you have your interview questions. Do not forget to prepare your
guide questions before conducting a proper interview. These guide questions should be
based on your research questions so that you can get all the information that you will need
for your study.

• Have the right equipment. Make sure that you have audio recording devices that are
fully charged. You cannot take note of every answer of the participants so it’s better to
have devices that can record the exact answer of your participant.

• Let the participant choose where they want the interview to be conducted.

• Politely thank the participants afterwards.

How to establish a good relationship and communication with your participants?

• Treat your participants with respect.

• Wear proper and formal outfit during the interview.

• Maintain eye contact and do not be afraid to engage in a conversation with your
participant.

• Do not ask personal questions that are not related to your research.

Do not forget to thank them for their time and participation