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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