QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

DESIGNS

LENOR M. TUNAC
Most Essential Learning Competencies (MELCS) 

Chooses appropriate qualitative research design 

Learning Objectives: 

1. Explain the meaning of a research design. 

2. Familiarize oneself with the nature of each qualitative research
design. 
3. Compare and contrast various qualitative research design; and 
4. Conduct a doable or practicable research study which is
applicable to one qualitative research design. 
What I Know 
Directions: Read and analyze each item or situation carefully. Choose
the letter of the correct answer. Write your answer on a separate sheet
of paper. 
A. Case Study F. Design 
B. Ethnography G. Research Design 
C. Historical Study H. Sampling Design 
D. Phenomenology I. Instrumentation 
E. Grounded Theory J. Research Methodology 
Qualitative research

Qualitative research is based on assumption that individuals construct their

social reality in the form of meanings and interpretations. The use of data
collection methods in qualitative research aims to capture what people say
about these meanings and interpretations. The researcher analyzes massive
narrative data that were gathered using various data collection techniques
such as observation, interview, questionnaire, artifacts, and specimen
records. Narrative data are analyzed by looking for themes and patterns.
There are important factors to consider in designing a qualitative research
based on the questions, problems, method, scope of inquiry, nature of the
data and the creativity of the researcher in controlling the topic of
investigation. Thus, research design is critical and important. 
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS

There are five research designs that are commonly

used in a qualitative research but these are also
labelled as types of qualitative research by some books
on qualitative research because when you speak of
research design, you plan your methods or techniques
in collecting and analyzing data. Your research design
is realized by any of these types of qualitative research
that has its own data collecting technique.
Research Design
• A design in the field of research serves as a blueprint or
skeletal framework of your research study. It includes
many related aspects of your research work.
• A choice of research design requires you to finalize your
mind on the purpose, philosophical basis, and types of
data of your research, including your method of
collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting the
data.
• It is a plan that directs your mind to several stages of
your research work. (De Mey 2013).
Types of Qualitative Research

• Each type of qualitative research that has its own

data collecting technique:
• case study
• ethnography
• historical study
• phenomenology
• grounded theory
Types of Qualitative Research

1. Case Study
It centers on an individual or single subject matter.

To do a research study based on this research design is to describe a person, a

thing, or any creature on Earth for the purpose of explaining the reasons behind
the nature of its existence.

Aims to determine why such creature (person, organization, thing, or event)

acts, behaves, occurs, or exists in a particular manner.
The methods of collecting data for this qualitative research design are interview,
observation, and questionnaire. One advantage of case study is its capacity to
deal with a lot of factors to determine the unique characteristics of the entity.
(Meng 2012; Yin, 2012)
Case Study

-- the analysis is made through synthesizing experiences or discernible

patterns and themes. The outcome is an in-depth description of
experiences, with learning insights and important lessons as the main
message.
-*A study on a person’s life refers to biography. A biography that is
written by the person himself is known as autobiography.
Examples:
• Industry Analysis and Business Standards
• Consumer Organizations in the Philippines
• The Presidency and Pres. Rodrigo Duterte
• The Philippine Church: Opportunities and Challenges
Types of Qualitative Research

2. Ethnography
A qualitative research design called ethnography involves a study
of a certain cultural group or organization in which you, the
researcher, to obtain knowledge about the characteristics,
organizational set-up, and relationships of the group members,
must necessarily involve you in their group activities. Since this
design gives stress to the study of a group of people, in a way, this
is one special kind of a case study. The only thing that makes it
different from the latter is your participation as a researcher in
the activities of the group.
Ethnography

--requires your actual participation in the group members’ activities

realizing this design is living with subjects in several months.
• Examples:
• The Life of a Drug Addict
• Political Families in the Philippines
• Northern Tribes
• Life Inside the Prison
Types of Qualitative Research

2. Ethnography
Ethnography requires your actual participation in the group
members’ activities while a case study treats you, the
researcher, as an outsider whose role is just to observe the
group.

Realizing this qualitative research design is living with the subjects

in several months; hence, this is usually done by anthropologists
whose interests basically lie in cultural studies. (Winn 2014)
Types of Qualitative Research

3. Historical Study
Aims to determine the reasons for changes or permanence of things in
the physical world in a certain period (i.e., years, decades, or
centuries).
The period or time of changes is not a time shorter than a year but a
period indicating a big number of years.
It differs from other research designs because of the element peculiar to
it, the scope. The scope or coverage of a historical study refers to the
number of years covered, the kind of events focused on, and the extent
of new knowledge or discoveries resulting from the historical study.
Types of Qualitative Research
3. Historical Study
A clue about the scope is usually reflected by the title of the study such
as the following:
Examples:
• A Five-Year Study of the Impact of the K-12 Curriculum on the
Philippine Employment System
• The Rise and Fall of the Twenty-Year Reign of Former Philippine
President, Ferdinand E. Marcos
• Filipino-Student Activism from the Spanish Era to the Contemporary
Period
• Telephones from the Nuclear Era to the Digital Age
Historical Study

*Chronicling activities makes you interview people to trace series of

events in the lives of people in a span of time
Examples:
• The Evolution and Generation of Millennials
• The West Philippine Sea Conflict
• Colonization of Philippine Tribes
• Philippine Cinema
Types of Qualitative Research

3. Historical Study
The data collecting techniques used are biography or
autobiography reading, documentary analysis, and
chronicling activities.
Chronicling activities makes you interview people to trace
series of events in the lives of people in a span of time.
However, one drawback of historical study, is the
absence, or loss of complete and well-kept old records
that may hinder the completion of the study.
Types of Qualitative Research

4. Phenomenology
A phenomenon is something you experience on Earth as a person.
It is a sensory experience that makes you perceive or understand
things that naturally occur in your life such as death, joy,
friendship, caregiving, defeat, victory, and the like.
It will let you understand the ways of how people go through
inevitable events in their lives. Listening to people’s recount of
their significant experiences to be able to get a clue or pattern of
their techniques in coming to terms with the positive or negative
results of their life experiences.
Types of Qualitative Research

4. Phenomenology
Phenomenology aims at getting a thorough understanding of an individual’s
life experiences for this same person’s realistic dealings with hard facts of life
Ethnography aims at defining, describing, or portraying a certain group of
people possessing unique cultural traits.
Focusing on people’s meaning and making strategies in relation to their life
experiences, phenomenology is itself relevant or useful to people such as
teachers, nurses, guidance counselors, and the like, whose work entails giving
physical and emotional assistance or relief to people.
Unstructured interview is what this research design directs you to use in
collecting data. (Paris 2014; Winn 2014)
Phenomenology

Examples:
• Hugot Lines in the Philippines
• Gay language and meanings
• Drug Addiction
• Human Rights
Types of Qualitative Research

5. Grounded Theory
A research study adhering to a grounded theory research design aims at
developing a theory to increase your understanding of something in a
psycho-social context.
Such study enables you to develop theories to explain sociologically and
psychologically influenced phenomena for proper identification of a certain
educational process.
Research study following a grounded theory design takes place in an
inductive manner, wherein one basic category of people’s action and
interactions gets related to a second category; to third category; and so on,
until a new theory emerges from the previous data. (Gibson 2014; Creswell
2012)
Grounded Theory

-is done by a researcher wanting to know how people fair up in a process-

bound activity such as writing.
-collecting data is through formal, informal, semi-structured interview, as
well as analysis of written works, notes, phone calls, meeting proceedings,
and training sessions. (Picardie 2014)
*A return to the previous data to validate a newly found theory is a zigzag
sampling.

• Examples:
• Gender Rights of Transgenders
• Nature and Types of Prostitution
• Fashion Styles of Tribal Communities
• New Dengue Strains
Types of Qualitative Research

5. Grounded Theory
A return to the previous data to validate a newly found theory is a
zigzag sampling. Moving from category to category, a study using a
grounded theory design is done by a researcher wanting to know
how people fair up in a process-bound activity such as writing.
Collecting data based on this qualitative research design called
grounded theory is through formal, informal, or semi-structured
interview, as well as analysis of written works, notes, phone
calls, meeting proceedings, and training sessions. (Picardie
2014)
Case Study

General Focus and Objective Examples

In-depth description of the experiences of one  Management practices of XYZ Inc.

person, a group of individuals, family, group,  Industry Analysis and Business Standards
community, organization, industry or institution. It  Consumer Organizations in the Philippines
is often done through direct observation,  The Presidency and Pres. Rodrigo Duterte
interviews and archival research. The analysis is  The Philippine Church: Opportunities and
made through synthesizing experiences or Challenges
 Triumphs and Travails of the PacMan
discernible patterns and themes. The outcome is
 The First Filipino Senior High Schools: Stories
an in-depth description of experiences, with and Narratives
learning insights and important lessons as the main  Economic Performance of Malls in the
message. A study on a person’s life refers to Philippines
biography. A biography that is written by the  Informal Economy: An Evaluation of Tobacco
person himself is known as autobiography. Vendors in Metro Manila
Phenomenology

General Focus and Objective Examples

Description of people’s real experiences as they are  Hugot Lines in the Philippines
lived and the study of reality or social phenomenon  What is jejemon?
as perceived by those who are involved. It also  Gay language and meanings
examines the anatomy or evolution of a subject  Generation X
under study. There is no specific method of analysis  Drug Addiction
or data collection. Depending on the research  Human Rights
 Aswang in the Philippines
problem and objectives, phenomenological
 Expletives as cultural expression
research makes use of a combination of qualitative Filipino Time

or quantitative techniques. It also uses
philosophical technique through secondary
reflection.
Ethnography
General Focus and Objective Examples

Description and systematic study and  The Life of a Drug Addict

documentation of traditions, mores, norms,  Political Families in the Philippines
and behavior of people and cultures. The  Filipino Fixers
coverage of this design is broader in population  Northern Tribes
and longer time frames. The researcher – or  Life Inside the Prison
ethnographer – needs to be immersed also in  A Soldier’s Story
 Anatomy of Smuggling
the locale under study even live among and
 Coping Mechanisms of a War-Torn Barangay
interacting with the respondents for long in Maguindanao
periods, normally 3-5 years at the minimum.
The research lens is cultural studies and it
combines several research methods or
techniques.
 Grounded Theory
General Focus and Objective Examples

The focus is on theory development which can be  Gender Rights of Transgenders

theory construction or theory development  Nature and Types of Prostitution
deconstruction (disprove). It is an inductive research  Fashion Styles of Tribal Communities
design used to discover knowledge through themes,  Social Classes Among Prison Inmates
trends and patterns until a theory emerges or a  New Dengue Strains
concept is developed. Interestingly, grounded theory  Peace Talks in Conflict-Affected Areas
 Millennial Study Habits
is not strictly a qualitative design as it needs to
employ quantitative techniques in proving or
disproving a theoretical assumption. Thus, it is really
a general method using systematic and rigorous
research procedures leading to the emergence or
evolution of conceptual or theoretical perspectives.
Depending on the research problem and
topic, it is not uncommon that several
qualitative designs and corresponding
methods are combined.
Qualitative studies can also benefit from
secondary materials coming from
quantitative research.
Thank you!
Derivatives of qualitative research designs.

The most common are: biography (the study of a person’s life; a case
study of a person); archaeology (the discovery and study of material
culture and physical artifacts); demography (the study of population and
mobility of people such as migration, marriages, births and deaths);
ethno-history (combining historical and ethnographic designs);
hermeneutics (study of words, texts, poetics and meanings); semiotics
(the study of figures, designs, icons, signs and symbols); kinesis (a study
of body movements, motions, bearings, gestures and mannerisms);
policy analysis (study of policy implementation and gaps); and network
analysis (study of links, turfs, factions and hubs).

Derivatives combine one or more qualitative designs, methods and techniques depending on the research
problem and objectives.