QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPING QUESTIONS + WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT
Research Questions:
§ Why do we need a research question?
§ How to develop research questions
Research Methodology:
§ What is qualitative research?
§ Different forms of qualitative research
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AGENDA
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS
§ Frames the study
§ Narrows the scope of the research
§ Enables the researcher to ensure the research project is manageable
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WHY DO WE NEED A RESEARCH QUESTION?
Ask yourself:
§ What are we trying to examine?
§ What do we or our client want to learn from this research?
§ What is the purpose of this research?
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DEVELOPING A RESEARCH QUESTION
§ Begin with how? or what?
§ Use language such as: discover, generate, explore, identify or describe
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WORDS TO USE WHEN DEVELOPING RESEARCH QUESTIONS
§ Is the question easily and fully researchable?
§ What type of information do we need to fully answer the question?
§ Is the scope of the research question reasonable?
§ Given scope, is the question too broad or too narrow?
§ Do I have access to the necessary sources?
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RESEARCH QUESTION CONSIDERATIONS
§ What research has been done previously?
§ How can we expand or improve upon pre-existing research?
§ What is the timeframe of study?
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OTHER RESEARCH QUESTION CONSIDERATIONS
§ We can use these same steps when designing a new research project for a client
§ Research questions will allow us to be more focused on exactly what the client is looking to have answered
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WHY IS ALL THIS IMPORTANT?
§ Research Objective
§ Research Budget
§ Project Timeline
§ Data Timeframe (i.e. 6 month historical, 12 month historical, monthly monitoring)
§ Target Demographics
§ Project Focus (products, events, consumers)
§ Main Question to be Answered through Research
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INFO NEEDED FOR NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS
§ What are the shared experiences of female fans of Major League Baseball?
§ How do the experiences of female MLB fans differ from each other?
§ How do female fans of MLB perceive other female fans?
§ How do female fans of MLB believe male fans perceive them?
§ How do female fans of MLB believe other female fans perceive them?
§ What effect do societal gender norms have on female fans?
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SAMPLE QUESTIONS
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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
§ We have our research question, now what do we do?
§ The next step is to design a research study that will answer the necessary question(s)
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NOW WHAT?
§ First we need to define qualitative research
§ When you hear someone mention “qualitative research” what comes to mind?
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
Grbich, 2007
§ Seeking to understand human behavior and the reasoning behind that behavior
§ Focuses on the why and how
§ Generally used in the social sciences and for market research
§ Sample size is often small and focused (10-12)
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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IS…
§ Iterative (hermeneutic): seeking meaning and developing explanations through feedback and repeated process
§ Subjective: focuses on the researcher and what takes place in their mind
§ Investigative: understanding signs and symbols within a cultural context
§ Enumerative: classifying items by percentages, frequencies, ranks
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DIFFERING APPROACHES TO QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Grbich, 2007
§ Grounded Theory: theory emerges from the analysis of the data
§ Ethnography: describe or examine a culture or cultural phenomenon
§ Phenomenology: explore lived experiences to understand their meaning
§ Feminist Theory: focus on gender inequalities present in society
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ANALYTICAL APPROACHES
Grbich, 2007
§ Interviews (one-on-one, focus groups, etc.)
§ Observations
§ Open-ended survey
§ Written documents
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METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION
Grbich, 2007
§ Narrative Analysis
§ Content Analysis of Text
§ Discourse Analysis
§ Visual Interpretation (film, art, news images, photos, etc.)
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TYPES OF ANALYSIS
Grbich, 2007
§ When coding we focus on whatever is necessary to answer our research question
§ This may require: emotion coding, holistic coding, in vivo coding, initial coding, etc.
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ANALYSIS: CODING
Saldana, 2009
Theming of the data:
§ Reducing data into meaningful and manageable groups
§ May focus on repeated words or phrases
§ Evidence that answers the research question
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ANALYSIS: THEMING
Grbich, 2007; Saldana, 2009
§ Use additional information to support your findings
§ The final research presentation can vary based on the needs to the project
§ In research it is now acceptable to submit findings visually, as a poem, a narrative or even a script
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RESEARCH: NEXT STEPS
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