Worksheet 5

PRACTICAL RESEARCH 1 QUARTER 2 – MODULE 5: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

DESIGN AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

Activity 1. Let’s check your prior knowledge…

Directions: Read each item carefully. Write TRUE if the statement is true and FALSE if it is
false. Write your answers in your activity notebook.

1. The main purpose of sampling is the choice of appropriate participants to enable the focus of the
study to be correctly researched.
2. Wrong sampling approaches may totally affect the results and outcomes of a study.
3. In the case study, the data could be collected primarily through in-depth interviews with
individuals.
4. In the Ethnography, an equal number of individuals from 2 cultures could be in random.
5. Case study is in-depth analysis of a person, situation or event. Hence, it is difficult to operate.
6. Conducting a study that involves high-performing police department who uses questionable
methods, department that does not take much risks, and a police department that has a close
relationship with the community is an example of qualitative multicase study.
7. A phenomenological viewpoint pays attention to the perceptions and feelings of people associated
with what they experienced.
8. The grounded theory methodology is used to develop a theory about a phenomenon from data
inductively.
9. In grounded theory, the data will be collected primarily through interviews.
10. The study that will use theory of culture is phenomenological theory.

Activity 2
Directions: Read carefully the descriptions below and choose your answers from the box. Write
your answers in your activity notebook/sheets. Grounded Theory, Phenomenology, Case Study
design, Ethnographic study.

1. It is an expended observation of social research and social perspective and the cultural values of an
entire social setting.
2. In this study, the entire communities are observed objectively.
3. This study requires the researcher to spend more time to the participants.
4. The data from in-depth interviews as well as activity on the social media websites will be used.
5. It is the direct description of a group, culture, or community.
6. It is a research methodology for discovering theory in a substantive area.
7. It is a development of theory directly based in the data collected by the researcher.
8. It is used for a research approach with specific boundaries and can
be both qualitative and quantitative.
9. It is an entity studied as a single unit, and it has clear confines and
a specific focus and it is bound to context.
10. It is the straight explanation of a group, culture or community.

Qualitative researches are designed to provide the researcher a means of understanding phenomenon
either concepts, opinions, or experiences by observing or interacting with the participants of the study
(Denzin & Lincoln, 2008). Therefore, qualitative researcher’s concern is on exploring and/or
explaining phenomenon as they occur in the natural setting. This means that qualitative researchers
investigate things in their natural settings, trying to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of
the meanings people bring to them (Newman & Benz, 1998). One of the greatest strengths of
qualitative methods is that they have the potential to generate rich descriptions of the participants’
thought processes and tend to focus on reasons “why” a phenomenon has occurred (Creswell, 2009).

Types of Qualitative Research Design

Ethnographical Research. Ethnographic research is probably the most popular and applicable type of
qualitative research. In ethnography, you engage yourself in the target participants' environment to
understand the behavior, cultures, challenges, motivations, and themes that occur. Ethnography has its
roots in cultural anthropology where researchers engage themselves within a culture, often for years
rather than relying on interviews or surveys; experience the environment first hand; and sometimes as
a “participant observer”. The goal of the standard ethnography qualitative method is to “learn about a
culture from the people who actually live in that culture” (Pleong, 1999).

Purpose: To describe a culture's character

Outcome: Description of culture

Case Study. Case study involves an in-depth examination of a single

person or single individual or single institution/organization. The goal of a
case study is to provide an accurate and complete description of the case;
the principal benefit of a case study is that it can expand our knowledge
about the human behavior or attitude. It is also useful when the case is too
complex and need special attention. Case study often includes in-depth
interviews with participant, review of his/her previous record, and
observation. It provides an opportunity for the intensive analysis of many
specific details, which are often overlooked by other methods. A case study
involves a deep understanding through multiple types of data sources. Case
studies can be explanatory, exploratory, or descriptive.

Purpose: To give an in-depth description of the experience of one

person, family, group, community, or institution
Outcome: In-depth description of the experience

Phenomenological Research. When you want to describe an event,

activity, or phenomenon, the phenomenological study is an appropriate
qualitative method. In a phenomenological study, you use a combination of
methods, such as conducting interviews, reading documents, watching
videos, or visiting places and events, to understand the meaning that
participants place on whatever is being examined. You rely on the
participants’ own perspectives to provide insight into their motivations.
Phenomenology is useful for learning about “a phenomenon that has little
research by exploring the experiences of people in their natural environment
rather than confirming or denying a preconceived theory” (Powell, Gray, &
Reese, 2013).

Purpose: To describe experiences as people lived (e.g., examines

uniqueness of individual’s lived situations)

Outcomes: Findings described from subject’s point-of-view

Researcher identifies themes.

Structural explanation of findings is developed.

Grounded Theory. While a phenomenological study looks to describe
the essence of an activity or event, grounded theory looks to provide an
explanation or theory behind the events. According to Ralph, Birks, and
Chapman (2015), grounded theory is “methodologically dynamic” which
provides a means of constructing methods to better understand situations
that humans find themselves in. This means that you primarily use
interviews and existing documents to build a theory based on the data.

Purpose: To develop a theory

Outcome: Theory supported by examples from data

Narrative/Historical Research Design. A synonym of the term

‘narrative’ is ‘story’ or ‘history’ (Kramp, 2004). Narratives are related with life
stories. Moen (2006) defined it as “a story that tells a sequence of events
that is significant for the narrator or audience or her/his audience”. This
means that the narrative approach weaves together a sequence of events,
usually from just one or two individuals to form a cohesive story. You
conduct in-depth interviews, read documents, and look for themes; in other
words, how does an individual story illustrate the larger life influences that
created it. Often interviews are conducted over weeks, months, or even
years, but the final narrative doesn't need to be in chronological order.
Rather, it can be presented as a story (or narrative) with themes, and it can
reconcile conflicting stories and highlight tensions and challenges which can
be opportunities for innovation.

Purpose: To describe and examine events of the past to understand

the present and anticipate potential future effects
Outcomes: Select means of presentation—biography, chronology,
issue paper

Sampling Techniques
The primary purpose of sampling is the selection of suitable
participants to enable the focus of the study to be appropriately researched.
As with all types of research, effective sample selection is a vital part
of the research design process. Inappropriate sampling approaches may
seriously affect the findings and outcomes of a study. There are a number of
types of sampling procedures that can be adopted and the choice of the
qualitative research design will often guide that process.

Types of Sampling

Sampling in qualitative research is termed non-probability sampling.

Unlike probability sampling used in quantitative research, non-probability
sampling does not involve randomization. This means that members of a
qualitative study population do not have an equal chance of being selected.
Instead, they are often ‘specifically’ picked by the researchers. Whitehead
and Whitehead (2016) identified four main types of sampling of nonprobability sampling, as follows:

1. Convenience Sampling
This is the most common form of qualitative sampling, and it
occurs when people are invited to participate in the study because
they are conveniently (opportunistically) available with regard to
access, location, time, and willingness. Convenience sampling is a
relatively fast and easy way to achieve the sample size needed for the
study. While it may be the most common form of sampling in
qualitative research, the main limitation of using convenience
sampling is that it could suffer from either under-representation or
over-representation of particular groups within the population.

2. Purposive Sampling
Purposive sampling is a popular approach in qualitative
research. Participants are recruited according to pre-selected criteria
relevant to the research aims/questions of a given study. Purposive
sampling is designed to provide information-rich cases as participants
are those who have the required status, experience, or knowledge of
interest to the researcher.
Two further types of sampling sit under the umbrella of
purposive sampling; quota sampling and maximum variation sampling.
In quota sampling, the researcher decides on both the number of
participants required and the characteristics of interest. These may be
age, gender, profession, diagnosis, ethnicity, and so forth. The
population is segmented into the groups of interest, for example, men
under the age of 45 years and men >45 years. The researcher would
then select men from each group to represent the proportion of each
group in the wider population. If the desired sample size was 20 men
and the proportion of men >45 years in the population was 75%, then
the sample would consist of 5 men under 45 years and 15 men >45
years. Quota sampling is therefore more specific with respect to
representing proportions of the sub-samples of interest in a given
research study. Maximum phenomena variation sampling is an
approach used to ensure that the full range and extent of the
phenomena are represented—such as ensuring people who are
experiencing mild symptoms in relation to a particular condition are
included as well as those experiencing severe symptoms (and all those
in-between).

3. Snowball Sampling
Also known as ‘chain referral’ or ‘networking’ sampling,
snowball sampling occurs when the researcher starts gathering
information from one or a small number of people and then requests
to put the researcher in touch with others who may be friends,
relatives, colleagues, or other significant contacts. This type of
sampling is especially useful in recruiting ‘hidden populations’, for
example, marginalized or stigmatized individuals, where those
individuals are not easily accessible to researchers, such as drugusers, prostitutes, or those not
registered with a medical practice
(Babbie 2014).
Some limitations of snowball sampling are that the researcher
needs to rely on referrals from initial contacts to generate additional
participants. The participants, therefore, are often not considered to
be representative of the overall population being studied.

4. Theoretical Sampling
This form of sampling is mostly used in grounded theory studies
but is increasingly being used to gather data for the purpose of theory
generation. The research starts from a homogeneous (small) sample
and moves to a heterogeneous (larger) sample (Babbie 2014).
Sampling occurs sequentially and alongside data analysis. Analyzed
data guides the areas to be explored further in the next round of data
collection and the focus of the sample in order to achieve this. The
initial participants are usually purposively chosen or conveniently
available.
It is possible however, to use more than one form of sampling in a
single study. For example, in a study by Zhou (2014), purposive sampling
was initially used to select participants. When categories were tentatively
established, theoretical sampling was then employed.

Activity 4. Let’s do it…

Directions: Read and understand the following questions. Write your
answers on your activity notebook/sheets.
1. Among the sampling techniques mentioned above, what technique is
suitable for your research study? Why?
2. Describe your specific group of participants as focus of your research
study.

Activity 5. Let’s reflect…

Directions: Write a short reflection in your activity notebook.
I thought _________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
I learned that ____________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Activity 6. Let’s prove it…

Directions: Give what is asked for in each item. Write your responses in
your notebook.
1. Identify the type of qualitative research design in your study.
2. Do you think your chosen type of qualitative research design is suitable
to your chosen topic? Explain.