Research Design and Methods Essay Responses

Research Design and Methods Essay Responses

Response 1.) Deborah Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world and consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible (Burkholder, Cox, et. al). Qualitative research is detailed and the qualitative designs bring about descriptions in various ways. There are five research designs: case study, ethnography, phenomenology, narrative, and grounded theory. I will be discussing ethnography and grounded theory in detail.

Ethnography is the study of a specific grouping within a culture. Researchers using this design will plunge themselves into the culture they are researching. The data is gathered through direct observation and interaction with participants who belong to that culture. Ethnography is used to support a designer’s deeper understanding of the design problem in hopeless of truly understanding the problem and therefore designing a good solution. An example of this would be a business consulting agency observing a group of employees interacting with customers outside of the workplace and how they act with others like behaviors, teamwork, and how professional they are.

Grounded theory is a qualitative method that enables you to study a particular phenomenon or process and discover new theories that are based on the collection and analysis of real world data. This theory is mainly focused on theory development and depends solely on the data collection methods such as interviewing participants with open-ended questions, observing participants in the field, and focus groups. This theory seeks to identify problems in social scenes and define how people deal with those problems. For example, when I was in undergrad at Alcorn State University, we did a study on the study habits of college students. My group came up with 10 questions and placed them on a questionnaire. We walked around campus and gave out the questionnaires and waited while the student completed. After gathering all the questionnaires, we compiled them and presented the numbers and responses.

Ethnography and Grounded Theory have very limited similarities. They both are qualitative research methods. The researcher studies the phenomenon in its natural context and uses a holistic approach to study the phenomenon. The third similarity between the two methodologies is that the researcher presents the reports from the perspective of who has experienced the phenomenon in the natural setting (Datt, S).

Ethnography and Grounded Theory have many differences. Ethnography is the detailed and systematic study of people and cultures whereas grounded theory is a methodology that involves developing theory through the analysis of data. Ethnography aims to understand a particular culture or community and grounded theory aims to develop theories in relation to the collected data. Lastly, in Ethnography researchers can consult literature before starting the field work and in grounded theory researchers don’t consult literature before analyzing data since it may influence their findings.

References:

Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., Crawford, L. M., & Hitchcock, J. H. (2019). Research design and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner (1st ed.). SAGE Publications.

Datt, Shruti (2014). Differences and similarities in Grounded Theory and Ethnography. Review from https://www.projectguru.in/grounded-theory-ethnogr…

Response 2.) Jayne

Qualitative research (Burkholder et al., 2019) is the initial research tool that begins with assumptions using an interpretive or theoretical framework. It is the activity that identifies the observer’s place in the world. Researchers use qualitative research to interpret phenomena in terms of the understanding people bring to them. Merriam and Tisdell (2016) suggested a more straightforward definition, stating that qualitative research is concerned with understanding people’s state of mind and experience in their current world at a specific time.

Similar to quantitative research, some scholars maintain different perspectives on the definition and purpose of qualitative research. For example, (Burkholder et al., 2019) Merriam and Tisdel (2016) focus are primarily on understanding the world. On the other hand, Schwandr’s (2015) definition is vague and provides surface-level knowledge. At the same time, Creswell (2018) prefers conducting qualitative research. However, qualitative research offers five commonly used designs: (Creswell et al., 2018) Case study, ethnography, phenomenology, narrative, and grounded theory.

Comparison

Among the five designs, the case study is one of the designs that would benefit my research the most. Burkholder et al. (2019) noted that “all qualitative is descriptive.” The case study (Merriam and Tisdell, 2016) identifies the interaction of the bound units. A bounded unit is an entity with boundaries. The examination can consist of a person, program, group, or specific policy. It also seeks to give a comprehensive view of a phenomenon.

In comparison, the phenomenology study focuses on a group of individuals who had the same experience. For example, in a case study, I would use an individual’s interaction in the pandemic, but I would include several individuals who experienced the pandemic in a phenomenology study. The commonality of the two is that they both analyze the experience of a given unit; in this case, it would be pandemic.

Contrast

The two designs differ in the number of units used in their stud, the case study requires a single unit, and the phenomenology requires a group.

The case study focuses on the interaction of the bounded unit, and phenomenology focuses on what type of experience causes the interaction.

A case study seeks to comprehensively analyze a bounded unit, whereas phenomenology would unit has no boundaries.

References

Burkholder,  G.  J., Cox,  K. A., Crawford,  L. M., & Hitchcock,  J. H. (2019). Research design and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner (1st ed.). Sage Publications. ISBN:  978-1544342382

Creswell, J.W., & Poth, C.N. (2018) Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE

Merriam, S.E., & Tisdell, E. J., (2016) Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed) San Francisco, CA:  Jossey-Bass

Schwandt T.A. (2015). The SAGAE dictionary of qualitative inquiry (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA. SAGE

Response 3.) Michael

A qualitative study consists of in-depth interviews with study participants to gather information about a particular phenomenon to answer a research question (Burkholder et al., 2019). The process of selecting the qualitative study participants is different from the selection process in quantitative research. It is necessary to identify the population in quantitative analysis and gather data from a representative sample that will be statistically significant (Burkholder et al., 2019). The focus of qualitative studies is not to represent a population but to focus on participants that are most relevant to the research question. Qualitative studies use nonprobability, or purposive sampling, to identify participants.

Two essential factors in qualitative sampling are (1) the criteria used to select participants and (2) the demonstration of the process to ensure the participants meet the selection criteria. Selecting participants begins with evaluating the research question to determine who would be most relevant to that question. For example, a researcher investigating a study about swimwear style preference concerning the use of social media would not be likely to select nursing home residents as participants.

It is essential to define terms to establish the relevance of the participants selected for a qualitative study (Burkholder et al., 2019). For example, an investigator surveying the resistance to telemedicine by female physicians that are mothers requires clarification of several of the terms. The term telemedicine could mean synchronous or asynchronous methods and video or audio-only interactions. The term physician may need to be clarified by specialty, whether the physician is a radiologist, pathologist, primary care, or cardiologist. Also, the term mother could be a mother with young dependent children or adult children. These clarifications are necessary because they can have implications for conclusions about the study findings.

Once the researcher determines the selection criteria, the next step is to find appropriate participants. There are several ways to identify participants, and these methods include snowballing, convenience, and opportunistic (Burkholder et al., 2019). The number of participants recruited for the study will depend on availability and accessibility, and geographic barriers are less significant with the rapid worldwide expansion of online video telecommunications platforms.

There is no standard number of participants required for a qualitative study that universally applies to all studies. However, the concept of saturation outlines two criteria used to determine the most appropriate number (Burkholder et al., 2019). The first criterion is adding participants to the study fails to yield new information, and the second criterion is the absence of unexplained phenomena. Participants can have diverse opinions, and the researcher will need to show that the study participants represent most, if not all, of the perspectives (Mason, 2010). In other words, the data collected must answer the research question sufficiently. Some research questions can achieve saturation more quickly than others. One way to estimate the number of participants needed is to review other studies involving the same research question.

Mason (2010) evaluated five hundred and sixty Ph.D. qualitative studies to examine saturation more closely. According to the survey, the average number of participants was thirty-one. The average number of participants across 179 studies was thirty-six for case study papers. Of 174 grounded theory studies, the average was thirty-two. The average number of participants in the twenty-five phenomenology studies was twenty-five.

Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., Crawford, L. M., & Hitchcock, J. H. (2019). Research design and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner (1st ed.). SAGE Publications. ISBN: 978-1544342382

Mason, M. (2010). Sample size and saturation in Ph.D. studies using qualitative interviews. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 11(3). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-11.3.1428

Response 4.) Korrickia

Singh et al., (2011) demonstrated the significance of efficient qualitative sampling methods and its impact on content creation with web users called text mining.  The argument proposed by the researchers determined that sampling method and size mattered to the selection of subsets which helped to classify the nature and relevance of insights obtained from data.  Accurate evaluation of size within populations displays specific diagnostic characteristics through random and stratified sampling methods for this research.

This view regarding the importance of population is readily downplayed by a majority on qualitative sampling methods.  Burkholder et al., (2020) further supports this perspective by stating the focus should be more on the questions being proposed through nonprobability or purposive sampling.  Schwandt (2015) states in order to gather the right participants for the study and for relevant data collection, two issues must be developed.  First, the researcher must establish the criteria or characteristics of the participants required for the study.  Secondly, a strategy must be devised to determine that participants meet the criteria.  Depending upon the subject topic and question which needs to be answered, this will help construct the proper criteria which identifies participants.  For example, the subject topic of nonprofit financial sustainability as social enterprise and hybrid structures will require participants fitting the description as male or female CEOs of traditional, non-social corporations and non-traditional, social enterprises nonprofits.  Purposive sampling participants can be recruited through snowballing, which receives inquiries and referrals from current client for new clients.  Other methods are through convenience or those available, and opportunistic, by chance leads.

According to the lectures, purposive study samples do not have to be attached to population while consisting primarily of smaller subsets.  No variables or survey instruments are needed.  Data is gathered through interviewing, observations, and utilizing open-ended questionings.

Quantitative Sampling

On the other hand, quantitative sampling requires focusing on populations which identifies characteristics the researcher needs from probability or random methods.  The subset must be determined from statistical data sets where calculations are directly related to the variables being studied.  For example, Bayat and Sezer (2018) collected a random sample of 203 individuals from the university’s staffing administration and students.  The researchers performed an analysis to explore variables related to life satisfaction and voluntary simple living with relatable value factors.

Sample Sizes

According to the lectures, sample sizes are comprised of individuals, groups, or organizations.  Qualitative sampling can range from one to two, but no more than fifteen organizations or participants necessary for a sufficient for a study.

Saturation

Burkholder et al., (2020) describes saturation in qualitative research as the amount of data retrieved from individuals or groups, as well as from the sources of information through documentation and observation. The researcher has two criteria they can depend upon to know if they are at a place of saturation.  Number one, when ongoing data analysis produces no new information.  Secondly, when research becomes void of new phenomenon.  Saturation can be vague.  Burkholder et al., (2020) suggests estimating the number of participants, documents, observations, and recordings to help gauge when saturation has been achieved.

Reference

Burkholder, G., Cox, K., Crawford, L., & Hitchcock, J. (2020). Research design and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner (1st ed.). SAGE Publications.

Bayat, M. & Sezer, A. (2018).  Evaluating individuals’ voluntary simplistic lifestyles and life satisfaction in terms of the traditon value: the example of Duzce University.  Turkish Journal of Business Ethics. 11(1), 83-87.  DOI: 10.12711/tjbe.2018.11.1.0009.

Singh, S., Hillmer, S., & Ze Wang. (2011).  Efficient methods for sampling responses from large-scale qualitative data. Marketing Science. 30(3), 532-549.  DOI: 10.1287/mksc.1100.0632.

Schwandt, T. A. (2015). The SAGE dictionary of qualitative inquiry (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.

Edited by Korrickia Petty on May 17 at 11:05pm

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