LECTURE 08

DS-4735: Qualitative Research Methodology

Nuruzzaman
Lecturer
Department of Development Studies
Bangladesh University of
Professionals
 Topic

Research Design
 Research Design

❑ Science is an enterprise dedicated to “finding

out.”
❑ No matter what you want to find out, though,
there will likely be a great many ways of doing it.
❑ Ultimately, scientific inquiry comes down to
making observations and interpreting what
you’ve observed,
❑ Before you can observe and analyze, however,
you need a plan.
❑ You need to determine what you’re going to
observe and analyze: why and how. That’s what
research design is all about.
 Research Design

Although the details vary according to what you wish to study,

you face two major tasks in any research design.

First, you must specify as clearly as possible what you want to

find out.

Second, you must determine the best way to do it.

 Purposes of
Research

Three of the most common and useful

purposes are;
❑ exploration,
❑description,
❑ explanation.
 Exploration

• Much of social research is conducted to explore a topic, that is, to

start to familiarize a researcher with that topic.
• This approach typically occurs when a researcher examines a new
interest or when the subject of study itself is relatively new.
• Exploratory studies are most typically done for three purposes:
• (1) to satisfy the researcher’s curiosity and desire for better
understanding,
• (2) to test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study, and
• (3) to develop the methods to be employed in any subsequent study.
Exploratory studies are quite valuable in social science
research.

They’re essential whenever a researcher is breaking new

ground, and they almost always yield new insights into a
topic for research.

Exploratory studies are also a source of grounded theory.

 Description

A major purpose of many social science studies is to describe

situations and events.

The researcher observes and then describes what was observed.

Because scientific observation is careful and deliberate, however,

scientific descriptions are typically more accurate and precise than
casual ones are.
 • The U.S. Census is an excellent example of
descriptive social research.
• The goal of the census is to describe
accurately and precisely a wide variety of
characteristics of the U.S. population, as
well as the populations of smaller areas
such as states and counties.
Example • Other examples of descriptive studies are
the computation of age–gender profiles of
populations done by demographers, the
computation of crime rates for different
cities, and a product-marketing survey that
describes the people who use, or would
use, a particular product.
 Explanation

The third general purpose of social science research is to

explain things.

Descriptive studies answer questions of what, where, when,

how explanatory questions, of why.

In this case, the researcher is trying to identify the causes and

effects of whatever phenomenon is being studied.
 Units of Analysis

The what or who being studied.

In social science research, the most typical units of analysis are

individual people.

if the researcher is interested in exploring, describing, or explaining

how different groups of individuals behave as individuals, the unit
of analysis is the individual, not the group.
 In contrast, we may
sometimes want to study
Units of analysis in a
groups, considered as
study are usually also
individual “actors” or
the units of observation.
entities that have
attributes as groups.
Individuals

Social researchers tend

to describe and explain
As mentioned, individual
social groups and
human beings are
interactions by
perhaps the most typical
aggregating and
units of analysis for social
manipulating the
research.
descriptions of
individuals.
 Groups

01 02
Social groups can also be That is, we may be
units of analysis in social interested in
research. characteristics that belong
to one group, considered
as a single entity.
 •Formal social
organizations may also
Organizations be the units of analysis
in social research.
 Social Interactions

Instead of individual humans,

you can study what goes on
Sometimes social between them: telephone
interactions are the relevant calls, dancing, arguments,
units of analysis. fistfights, e-mail exchanges,
chat-room discussions, and
so forth.
 Social Artifacts

One class of artifacts

includes concrete objects
Another unit of analysis is the such as books, poems,
social artifact, or any product paintings, automobiles,
of social beings or their buildings, songs, pottery,
behavior. jokes, student excuses for
missing exams, and scientific
discoveries.
Research Methods

QUANTITATIVE QUALITATIVE MIXED METHODS

RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH
Quantitative Research

It can be used to find

Quantitative
patterns and averages,
research is the process
make predictions, test
of collecting and
causal relationships,
analyzing numerical
and generalize results to
data.
wider populations.
 Quantitative Research

Experimental designs Nonexperimental designs, such

as surveys
Survey Research provides a quantitative or numeric
description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a
population by studying a sample of that population. It
includes cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using
questionnaires or structured interviews for data
collection—with the intent of generalizing from a sample
to a population.
Experimental research seeks to determine if a specific
treatment influences an outcome. The researcher
assesses this by providing a specific treatment to one
group and withholding it from another and then
determining how both groups scored on an outcome.
 Qualitative Research

Qualitative research involves collecting and analyzing non-numerical data (e.g.,

text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can
be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for
research.

Qualitative research is the opposite of quantitative research, which involves

collecting and analyzing numerical data for statistical analysis.
Qualitative Research
❑ Narrative Research
❑ Phenomenological
Research
❑ Grounded Theory
Research
❑ Ethnography
❑ Case Study Research
❑ Narrative research is a design of inquiry from the humanities in which
the researcher studies the lives of individuals and asks one or more
individuals to provide stories about their lives. This information is
then often retold or restoried by the researcher into a narrative
chronology. Often, in the end, the narrative combines views from the
participant’s life with those of the researcher’s life in a collaborative
narrative.

❑ Phenomenological research is a design of inquiry coming from

philosophy and psychology in which the researcher describes the
lived experiences of individuals about a phenomenon as described
by participants. This description culminates in the essence of the
experiences for several individuals who have all experienced the
phenomenon. This design has strong philosophical underpinnings
and typically involves conducting interviews.
Grounded theory is a design of inquiry from sociology in which the researcher
derives a general, abstract theory of a process, action, or interaction grounded in
the views of participants. This process involves using multiple stages of data
collection and the refinement and interrelationship of categories of information.

Ethnography is a design of inquiry coming from anthropology and sociology in

which the researcher studies the shared patterns of behaviors, language, and
actions of an intact cultural group in a natural setting over a prolonged period of
time. Data collection often involves observations and interviews.

Case studies are a design of inquiry found in many fields, especially evaluation,
in which the researcher develops an in-depth analysis of a case, often a
program, event, activity, process, or one or more individuals. Cases are
bounded by time and activity, and researchers collect detailed information using
a variety of data collection procedures over a sustained period of time.
Mixed Methods Research

Mixed methods research combines elements

of quantitative research and qualitative research in order to
answer your research question.

Mixed methods can help you gain a more complete picture

than a standalone quantitative or qualitative study, as it
integrates benefits of both methods.
 Mixed Methods Research

Convergent parallel mixed methods

Explanatory sequential mixed

methods

Exploratory sequential mixed

methods
• Convergent parallel mixed methods is a form of mixed methods design in which
the researcher converges or merges quantitative and qualitative data in order to
provide a comprehensive analysis of the research problem. In this design, the
investigator typically collects both forms of data at roughly the same time and then
integrates the information in the interpretation of the overall results. Contradictions
or incongruent findings are explained or further probed in this design.

• Explanatory sequential mixed methods is one in which the researcher first

conducts quantitative research, analyzes the results and then builds on the results
to explain them in more detail with qualitative research. It is considered
explanatory because the initial quantitative data results are explained further with
the qualitative data. It is considered sequential because the initial quantitative
phase is followed by the qualitative phase. This type of design is popular in fields
with a strong quantitative orientation (hence the project begins with quantitative
research), but it presents challenges of identifying the quantitative results to further
explore and the unequal sample sizes for each phase of the study.
Exploratory sequential mixed methods is the reverse sequence from the
explanatory sequential design.

In the exploratory sequential approach the researcher first begins with a qualitative
research phase and explores the views of participants. The data are then
analyzed, and the information used to build into a second, quantitative phase.

The qualitative phase may be used to build an instrument that best fits the sample
under study, to identify appropriate instruments to use in the follow-up quantitative
phase, or to specify variables that need to go into a follow-up quantitative study.

Particular challenges to this design reside in focusing in on the appropriate

qualitative findings to use and the sample selection for both phases of research.
 CRITERIA FOR SELECTING A RESEARCH
APPROACH

Given the possibility of qualitative, quantitative, or

mixed methods approaches, what factors affect a
choice of one approach over another for the
design of a proposal?
References
• Chapter 01