Notes on Five Methods of Qualitative Research

Methodological Memo #1 

Written 1/14/09

Narrative: studying a single life or experience, or a small group

•            Challenges: need a clear understanding of context, know your own personal biases as it impacts your ability to retell the story

•            Why is a narrative important? It may be difficult to write on the doctoral level. These should not be conducted as a first study.

Phenomenological: study a shared experience, moment, or epiphany 

•            Event does not have to be spectacular – in fact, many like to study a phenomena that is mundane (a long line at Starbucks, etc)

•            Must put aside own experiences and biases

•            Challenges: it is impossible for the researcher to separate themselves from the text, their own biases, etc

•            Alex does these, while some consider his to be more narrative in nature

Grounded Theory: Review the literature, interview participants, and see what emerges

•            If there is a gap in the literature, grounded theory is used

•            Finding a voice for the voiceless

•            Zigzag motion of gathering research, analyzing, going back to the literature, checking and rechecking, getting more data

•            Saturation: when the interviewees start to say the same thing

•            Challenges: difficulty of determining when saturation is reached, identifying a theory

•            Systematic approach to research

Ethnography: the study of culture

•            Uses observation instead of interviews, looks at shared patterns, life histories, etc

•            Researcher immerses themselves in the culture, studying the Other, understanding culture, finding a gatekeeper into the culture

•            Social justice oriented

•            Fieldwork

•            Reciprocity is important – the researcher has a voice, but there is a certain amount of respect for the Other

•            This should never be a colonial approach

•            Emic: view of the participant

•            Etic: the researcher’s interpretation of the views

•            Challenges: time, how does one really understand another culture?  

Case study: an exploration of a “bounded system” or “case” over time

•            Does it have to be about an extreme case or about something spectacular? Yes, but not every time.

•            Challenges: researcher must identify the cases, should one do single or multiple case studies?