Introduction to

Qualitative Research Method

Ambuj Anand
[email protected]
 An introductory exercise
You wanted to understand the changing meanings and uses of
the greeting cards among young single adults aged 18–30 - a 1. Survey research administered online
culturally diverse population. 2. Focus group discussions
3. Observational research
You know that e-cards are increasingly popular, but wonder
4. Individual depth interviews
whether both e-cards and traditional paper cards are likely to be
5. A study of online material in forums
seen as old fashioned by this target group.
6. Discussion groups, and social media
The answer is likely to differ over various card-giving occasions 7. Archives of the records of a
and non-occasions as well as over different types of relationships. subscription service offering online
greeting cards and gifts
How might you go about answering your question? See if you can
think of at least one study using each of the following methods:
Getting started with
qualitative research
Few initial choices

1. What research questions to answer drawing on what empirical phenomena

2. What qualitative research traditions will underpin the work

3. What kinds of data to be certain to collect

Choosing research question
Original, Important and Interesting

1. Look for some characteristic or dynamic that is particularly salient in that context.
2. If you are going to invest in studying a context or set of behaviours, you want to be able to argue that while
yours may be an extreme case, the dynamics or properties you are focusing on can indeed be found
elsewhere and are therefore worth explaining.

3. Look for concepts or constructs that are ‘taken for granted’ but that have not been examined systematically.

4. Look for assumptions that are routinely made, but not applicable in every setting.

5. Look for processes that have been ignored or incompletely understood.

A few terms

Ontology - The core knowledge

Epistemology - How is knowledge created? The right way

of doing research.

Axiology - Deals with ethics and value

A few research traditions

1. Existential phenomenology

2. Hermeneutics

3. Postmodernism

4. Critical

5. Semiotics

6. Neopositivism
Existential phenomenology
The appropriate focus of research is on the life- Given these assumptions, the kinds of research
questions that are appropriate to the existential
world of individuals and that the meanings of
phenomenological tradition tend to ask about the
people’s experiences are always situated in their nature of people’s lived experience.
current experiential context and coherently related
to their ongoing life projects

We are not seeking some universal understanding A typical ‘answer’ to such a question is a description of
thematic patterns (e.g., automobile as freedom;
of a phenomenon like consumers’ first automobiles,
automobile as extended self; automobile as sexual
but instead are seeking a deep understanding of symbol)
what your first automobile means to you, with the
‘you’ here being a specific focal consumer.
Hermeneutics
All understanding is based on language. The kinds of research questions that are
appropriate to the hermeneutic tradition ask how
cultural notions are shaping specific kinds of
We, as researchers, belong to a cultural world
experiences and actions.
entailing an accumulation of beliefs, theories,
codes, metaphors, myths, practices, institutions,
and ideologies.
Typically, theoretical contributions within this tradition
This cultural world shapes our understandings and entail analyses of cultural elements that are influential in
those of the people or authors of texts that we seek shaping thought or behaviour.
to understand.
Postmodernism
It is distinguished by tenets such as the following: The kinds of research questions that are appropriate to
‘meta-narratives’ (widely shared cultural accounts the postmodern tradition ask how taken-for-granted
understandings of phenomena can be challenged.
that offer explanations for how societies work, such
as the notion of the free market and the law of
supply and demand) are unwarranted
universalisms; these universalisms masquerade as Answers to such questions may offer alternative (albeit
scientific or value-neutral systems of thought and not authoritative or universal) accounts for the
are oversimplifications that need to be unsettled, phenomena of interest.

but not replaced with competing meta-narratives;

why brands and the practices of branded goods
all knowledge, including our sense of ourselves, is a marketers ‘cause trouble’ in society.
socially constructed product of language and is
contestable.
Critical
Those working within critical traditions tend to ask what
Studies in critical traditions, like those in
factors contribute to the oppression or
postmodern traditions, are committed to critique of marginalisation of some group of actors and/or how
that which is taken for granted. One of the key these conditions could be alleviated.
differences between work in these two genres,
however, is that work explicitly positioned within a
critical tradition is committed to examining taken-
For example, in Rob’s ethnography of Burning Man, he
for-granted assumptions and practices that sustain
framed research questions about the extent of
the oppression of marginalised groups within
consumer emancipation that can be achieved and the
society, and also to identifying possibilities for types of social practices that can be used to enable
change. consumers to escape from aspects of contemporary
markets they find oppressive.
Semiotics
Semiotic analysis focus on the structures of The kinds of questions raised in semiotic analysis
meaning-producing events, both verbal and non- tend to ask how specific words, phrases, gestures,
verbal, and investigate the sign systems or codes myths, images, products or practices within a
that facilitate the production and interpretation of symbol system acquire meaning.
signs or symbols. They make the assumption that
there is an intimate connection between human
sense making and language; that signs are
arbitrarily associated with the things they signify
within any language system; and that different
language systems divide conceptual categories in
distinct ways.
Neopositivism
Qualitative work within neopositivist traditions is Work within this tradition will typically ask questions
grounded in assumptions such as the following: regarding the factors that help to explain a particular
phenomenon, or the consequences that may arise
while mechanistic, causal, predictive accounts of
when a particular phenomenon occurs.
social phenomena are untenable, relational and
probabilistic explanations of patterned regularities
in social phenomena are possible and desirable;
the pursuit of such explanations requires that
constructs that help to explain, or that are in need
of explanation, be clearly specified; the goal of
research will often be to identify both the likely
relationships among a set of constructs, and the
contingent conditions under which those
relationships might occur.
Few thoughts on research traditions
It is extremely common for work to span two or sometimes even three research traditions, emphasising
some but not all elements of each.

Research traditions are not set in stone. They evolve over time; practices that originated within one tradition
may be adapted to suit the purposes of another.

The majority of these traditions have historically focused primarily on the spoken or written word – on what
people say rather than what they do. Yet observational methods begin with the assumption that what
people say is very often discrepant with what they do.
Data collection within a research tradition
Qualitative data can be collected via interviews, Since phenomenology is focused on the life-worlds
projective techniques, archival sources, of individuals, it would be difficult if not impossible
ethnography, netnography, or observations (on- or to get insight into these without carefully crafted,
off-line). And neither research questions nor non-directive interviews. Introspection can also be
research traditions strictly prescribe or proscribe a source of data for a phenomenological approach
the use of particular types of data. However, it is (Giorgi 1985). As supplements, diaries or letters
worth briefly noting that the research traditions in might be useful. Observational data, for example,
which your questions are situated may make it simply cannot provide the kinds of access to
desirable for you to plan to collect certain kinds of reflective thought that is the main target of analysis
data. in phenomenological work, though it can be a useful
complement to interviews and introspection
Data collection within a research tradition

Work situated in a hermeneutic tradition can draw Observations alone would rarely be sufficient for
on interviews, texts produced by relevant people or projects rooted in a hermeneutic tradition since
groups, and on ethnography or netnography. Note, they require access to understandings as articulated
however, that the kind of interviews appropriate for by informants. However, observations can be
work in the hermeneutic tradition are different from extremely useful supplements to interview data as
those situated in the phenomenological tradition. they can help researchers to appreciate
As Moisander et al. (2009) argue, psychologically understandings that are taken-for-granted but not
oriented interviews are appropriate for articulated by those being studied.
phenomenological research, but hermeneutic
research requires interviews that do more to
explore the cultural categories and discourses that
inform people’s views and actions.
Data collection within a research tradition

Postmodern tradition, it is likely that texts will be a Work within critical traditions will often draw upon
primary source of data. interview and ethnographic data to help to
understand the experiences of marginalisation or
The meta-narratives that are the typical target of powerlessness that people experience, and their
postmodern analysis will be enshrined in texts of efforts to understand and alleviate that which they
varying kinds, ranging from advertisements to the find objectionable.
writings of other scholars. Interview data may be
supplementary to textual data, as the things people Archival data that sheds light on the conditions
say are inevitably influenced by metanarratives and giving rise to patterns of power and control will
taken-for-granted understandings that can be often be useful, as will relevant historical,
deconstructed in order to reveal these influences sociological and cultural analyses of the context
and their logics. under consideration.
Data collection within a research tradition

Those working in semiotic traditions will typically Work within neopositivist traditions may draw on
study archival texts (verbal or visual) that have been virtually any and every kind of data. It would be
deliberately created for some communicative rare for work in these traditions to rely on interview
purpose, such as advertisements. However, texts data alone, but it is common for interview data to
that are created in response to questions, such as be included in the set of data collected for such a
interview data, have also been deployed within the project. Work in these traditions will often seek
semiotic tradition. triangulation across data sources, so comparing
insights from one data source (e.g., interviews) with
insights from another source (e.g., archival media
data) is common.