QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROCESS &

POSTULATING RESEARCH QUESTIONS

PREPARED BY:
Muhammad Zahiruddin Bin Mohamad Hussin (M20191000263)
Muhammad Nor Syafiq Bin Mohd Sanusi (M20191000675)
Questions for Discussion

What we do in qualitative research?

What is required to undertake this type of research?
How do researchers design a qualitative study?
How to develop research questions based on type of
qualitative research?
WHAT WE DO IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?

• We rely on data collected from interviews, observations,

and content analysis of newspapers, books, video, case
records and other already developed documents.
• We may try to develop new theories based on what
happens in specific situations.
• We do not test the hypothesis or previous theories.
• We do not try to generalize our findings.
• We do not know or try to develop response categories
prior to conducting the study.
CONT..
• In qualitative research you are seeking to discover,
explore, identify or describe.
• You are not seeking to prove , influence, relate or
measure.
• Answer research questions rather than test a hypothesis.
• Examine the perceptions, actions and feelings of
participants.
• Examine what happens in specific situations and try to
develop new theories based on that situation.(Creswell,
1998)
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROCESS

It is use to gain an
Qualitative research understanding of
process is primarily underlying reasons
exploratory. opinions and
motivations.
Definition

It provides insights into

the problem helps to
develop ideas or
hypotheses for potential
qualitative research
 The Process of Designing a Qualitative Study
• All researchers typically:
Inquiry

Writing and
Research Questions
Reporting

Data analysis Design of study

Data handling Instruments

Recruiting and
Data collection
sampling
Phenomenon/Inquiry
• What is interesting about it?
• Why is it important to study this?

Research questions
• What areas are you particularly interested in
studying?
Design of study
• Literature
• Framework
• Ethic concerns
• Time span
• Amount of data needed
• Type of study/ methodology
• Researcher positionality
Instruments
Creation of instruments (Protocols)
• Interview
• Observations
• Surveys

Recruiting and Sampling (Finding & selecting

participants)
• Snowball and purposeful
Data collection
• Materials
• Protocols
• Consent forms
• Equipment selection
• Use of voice recorders/video cameras
Data handling
• Transcriptions
• Cleaning
• Quality control
• Confidentiality
• Storage
Data analysis
• Back to framework
• Codebook
• Retrieval and categorizing software (atlas, Nvivo etc)
• Old style (highlighting/cutting and pasting)

Writing and Reporting

• Representation and distribution
TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Ethnography Grounded Theory

Phenomenological Case Studies

Research Research
 ETHNOGRAPHY
DEFINITION

• Ethnography (Greek ethnos=folk/people and graphien=writing) is a qualitative research

method often used in the social sciences, particularly in anthropology and in sociology.
• It is often employed for gathering empirical data on human societies/cultures.
• It is also appropriate if the needs are to describe how a cultural group works and to
explore the beliefs, language, behaviors, and issues such as power, resistance, and
dominance.

DATA COLLECTION Participant observation, interview, questions, etc

To describe the nature of those who studied through writing.

AIMS
Focuses on the culture of group of people.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN: ETHNOGRAPHY
 GROUNDED THEORY
DEFINITION

• Grounded theory is an inductive technique developed for health –related topics by

glaser and strauss (1967). It emerged from the discipline of sociology.
• The term grounded means that the theory developed from the research is
“grounded” or has it s roots in the data from which it was derived
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN: GROUNDED THEORY

Interview
Question Theoretical transcribing and
formulating sampling contact
summary

Developing Data chunking &

Constant
conceptual data naming –
comparison
categories Coding

Growing
Analytic
theories
 PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
DEFINITION

• A phenomenological study describes the meaning for several individuals of their lived
experiences of a concept or a phenomenon.
• Phenomenologists focus on describing what all participants have in common as they
experience a phenomenon (e.g., grief is universally experienced)

To reduce individual experiences with a phenomenon to a

description of the universal essence (a “grasp of the very nature
AIMS
of the thing”,van Manen, 1990)

To understand people’s perceptions, perspectives, and

understandings of a particular situation. In other words, what is
it like to experience such and such?
 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN: PHENOMENOLOGICAL THEORY

-Determines if the research problem is best

examined using a phenomenological approach.
Method
-Type of problem best suited : understand several
- Almost exclusively limited to lengthy interviews
individuals' common or shared experiences of a
with a carefully selected sample of participants.
phenomenon
-Participants must have had a direct experience with
-The researcher may have had the experience related
the phenomenon being studied.
to the phenomenon in question and wants to gain
better understanding of the experiences of others.

Data Analysis Steps

1) Identify statements that relate to the topic Research Report Content
2) Group statements into “meaning units” -No specific structure for the report
3) Seek divergent perspectives
4) Construct a composite
 CASE STUDIES RESEARCH
DEFINITION

• Stake (2005) states that case study research is not a methodology but a choice of
what is to be studied,i.e. a case within a bounded system (a case).

• Creswell (1998) view this research as a methodology, a type of design in qualitative

research, or an object of study, as well as a product of the inquiry.
 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN: ACTION RESEARCH RESEARCH

Identify the case or cases.

Determine if a case study Method
approach is appropriate to the These cases may involve an
individual, several individuals, a 1) Gather Case Study Data
research problem.
program, an event, or an activity. 2) Gather Context Information

Data Analysis Steps Research Report Content

1) Organize details about case 1) Case study rationale
2) Categorize data 2) Detailed description of the facts related to the case
3) Interpret data 3) Discussion of found patterns
4) Identify Patterns 4) Connection to the larger scheme of things
DEVELOPING QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH QUESTION
TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Phenomenological Grounded Theory

Case Studies Ethnography

PROCEDURE (PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH)
• Determines if the research problem is best examined using a phenomenological approach.
• Type of problem best suited for this research : understand several individuals' common or shared
experiences of a phenomenon

• Knowing some common experiences can be valuable for groups such as teachers, therapists and
health personnel and can involve a streamlined form of data collection by including only single or
multiple interviews with participants.

• A phenomenon of interest to study such as anger, professionalism or what it means to be

underweight.
• Data are collected from the individuals who have experienced the phenomenon.

• The participants are asked two broad, general questions : What have you experienced in terms of
the phenomenon? What contexts or situations have typically influenced or affected your
experiences of the phenomenon? This questions will provide an understanding of the common
experiences of the participants. Other open-ended questions may also be asked.
• Aim : The objective of uncovering their instructional self-regulation
experiences and processes.
• Research Question : How teachers develop these abilities may be vital to
understanding and promoting the growth of authentic and effective teaching
craft.
• Central Research Question : What role does self-regulation have in driving
the innate teaching abilities of two nationally recognized elementary
mathematics teachers in their poverty majority, limited English-speaking
classes?
• Respondent : Both finalists teach in a school where the majority of students
come from poverty and approximately half are learning English.
 PROCEDURE (GROUNDED THEORY RESEARCH)

Determine if grounded theory is best suited to study the research problem.

Grounded theory is a good design to use when a theory is not available to
explain a process.

Researcher develops a theory from examining many individuals who share in the
same process, action, or interaction.
Participants are not likely to be located in the same place or interacting so
frequent.

Research questions will focus on understanding how individuals experience the

process and identifying the steps in the process

After that, the participants will be asks more detailed questions that help to shape
axial coding phase such as: What was central to the process? (the core phenomenon);
What influenced or caused this phenomenon to occur? ; What strategies were
employed during the process? ; What effect occurred? (consequences)
• Aim : To identify the social and sociomathematical norms that belong to different
mathematics learning environments within this framework as a multiple-case study
based on the qualitative design
• Research Question : What are the social norms in an undergraduate mathematics
content course classroom and in mathematics education course classrooms?
• Research Question : What are the sociomathematical norms in an undergraduate
mathematics content course classroom and in mathematics education course
classrooms?
• Respondent : Two faculty members and 54 students of a secondary mathematics
education department from a state university in Turkey

• Social norms can be researched in any classroom but sociomathematical norms pertain
to mathematical activities, they can only be researched in classrooms that conduct
mathematical activities. Therefore, the courses must include mathematical activities,
discussions, and discourses.
PROCEDURE (CASE STUDIES RESEARCH)
• Determine if a case study approach is appropriate to the research problem. A case study is a good approach
when the inquirer has clearly identifiable cases with boundaries and seeks to provide an indepth understanding
of the cases or a comparison of several cases.

• Researchers next need to identify their case or cases. Types of qualitative case studies are distinguished by the
size of the bounded case, such as whether the case involves one individual, several individuals, a group, an entire
program, an event or an activity.

• The case can be single or collective, multi-sited or within-site, focused on a case or on an issue.
• Creswell (2005) prefer to select cases that show different perspectives on the problem, process, or event that he
want to portray called “purposeful maximal sampling” but he also may select ordinary cases, accessible cases, or
unusual cases.

• Yin (2003) recommends six types of information to collect : documents, archival records, interviews, direct
observations, participant-observations and physical artifacts.
• Aim : Aim of this study was to explore lower secondary school students’
experiences of using the school grounds as a learning environment.

• Research Question : How secondary school students experience long-term

regular outdoor learning

• This research was a small-scale study, from only one school, and hence with
limited generalizability. However, the findings from this study may be used as a
basis for further hypothesizing and theory-building in the field of regular
outdoor learning.
 PROCEDURE (ETHNOGRAPHY RESEARCH)
Determine if ethnography is the most appropriate design to use to study the research
problem.
Ethnography is appropriate if the needs are to describe how a cultural group works and to
explore the beliefs, language, behaviors, and issues such as power, resistance, and
dominance.

Ethnography is a qualitative design in which the researcher describes and interprets

the shared and learned patterns of values, behaviors, beliefs, and language of a
culture-sharing group. An ethnographers will spend time talking with and observing
this group.

As a process, ethnography involves extended observations of the group, most often

through participant observation, in which the researcher is immersed in the day-to-
day lives of the people and observes and interviews the group participants.

Group is one that has been together for an extended period of time, so that their
shared language, patterns of behavior, and attitudes have merged into a discernable
pattern.

Select cultural themes or issues to study about the group. This involves the analysis
of the culture-sharing group. The themes may include such topics as enculturation,
socialization, learning, cognition, domination, inequality, or child and adult
development.
• Aim : The influence a “successful” Black male mathematics
teacher had on Black male high school students’ perceptions of
teacher care.

• Research Question : How, if at all, a Black male mathematics

teacher might influence their perceptions of teacher care
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