2.3.1: Qualitative Designs

Learning Objectives

1. Explain the purpose and key characteristics of qualitative research methods.
2. Differentiate between major qualitative methods, including interviews, observations, and case studies, and evaluate their strengths and limitations.
3. Identify ethical considerations and the role of researcher reflexivity in qualitative research.

Qualitative Methods

Qualitative methods seek to describe situations or phenomena. These types of designs often follow the following steps:

1. Begin with a broad area of interest.
2. Gain entrance into a group to be researched.
3. Gather field notes about the setting, the people, the structure, the activities, or other areas of interest.
4. Ask open-ended, broad “grand tour” types of questions when interviewing subjects.
5. Modify research questions as the study continues
6. Note patterns or consistencies.
7. Explore new areas deemed important by the people being observed.
8. Report findings. In qualitative research reporting, this is the only time it is acceptable to utilize first-person pronouns.

In this type of research, theoretical ideas are “grounded” in the experiences of the participants. The researcher is the student, and the people in the setting are the teachers, who inform the researcher about their world (Glazer & Strauss, 1967). Researchers should be aware of their own biases and assumptions, acknowledge them, and set them aside to prevent them from limiting the accuracy of their reporting. Sometimes qualitative studies are used initially to explore a topic, and more quantitative studies are used to test or explain what was first described.

Interviews

Interviews are conversations between a researcher and a participant where the researcher, or interviewer, asks questions to gather information about the participant's experiences, opinions, or motivations. Interviews often provide rich data because this type of design allows for the asking of open-ended questions, such as who, what, when, where, why, or how. These questions allow the interviewer and interviewee to build a rapport and probe deeper to understand the phenomenon. Interviews, with consent, may also be recorded using audio and/or video, which allows the researcher the opportunity to review and conduct further analysis in the future, as well as observe body language in addition to just recording what an interviewee says.

The limitation of interviews is that they are time-consuming, both to conduct and analyze.

Figure \(\PageIndex{1}\): Interview conducting an interview on site to understand the interviewees thoughts and opinions. Image by Bernhard Amann is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Observational Studies

Observational studies involve watching and recording the actions of participants. This may take place in a natural setting, such as observing children at play in a park, or behind one-way glass while they play in a laboratory playroom. The researcher may follow a checklist and record the frequency and duration of events (perhaps how many conflicts occur among 2-year-olds) or may observe and record as much as possible about an event (such as observing children in a classroom and capturing the details about the room design and what the children and teachers are doing and saying). In general, observational studies have the strength of allowing researchers to see how people behave, rather than relying on self-reports. What people do and what they say they do are often very different. A significant weakness of observational studies is that they do not allow the researcher to explain causal relationships. Yet, observational studies are useful and widely used when studying children. Children tend to change their behavior when they know they are being watched (known as the Hawthorne effect) and may not behave well.

Case Studies

Case studies involve exploring a single case or situation in great detail. Information can be gathered through observation, interviews, testing, or other methods to uncover as much as possible about a person or situation. Case studies are helpful when investigating unusual situations such as brain trauma or children reared in isolation. They are often used by clinicians who conduct case studies as part of their regular practice when gathering information about a client or patient coming in for treatment. Case studies can be used to explore areas about which little is known and can provide rich detail about situations or conditions. However, the findings from case studies cannot be generalized or applied to larger populations, because cases are not randomly selected and no control group is used for comparison.

Figure \(\PageIndex{2}\): Illustrated poster from a classroom describing a case study. Image by MaryGeorge is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

References, Contributors, and Attributions

Research Methods by Lumen Learning is licensed under CC BY 4.0

​​​​​​​Confidentiality and Informed Consent: Issues for Consideration in the Preservation of and Provision of Access to Qualitative Data Archives by Louise Corti, Annette Day & Gill BackhouseSource is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (modified by Jennifer Paris); "No thank you, not today": Supporting Ethical and Professional Relationships in Large Qualitative Studies by Lisa J. Blodgett, Wanda Boyer & Emily TurkSource is licensed under CC BY 4.0 (modified by Jennifer Paris)

Research Methods in Developmental Psychology by Angela Lukowski and Helen Milojevich is licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0