Qualitative Procedures 179

,,~ Researcher

maybe seenas intrusive.

" Private

.information

may beobserVed that

researcher.

cannot report.

... Researcher

may nof

have good

attendingand

. ..~observing skills.

'. Certain

participants

(e.g., children)

may present

. special

. problems

in gaining

rapport.

Provides

iDdirectinformation

filteredthrough

the views of

interviewees.

. Provides.

information in

a designated

place ratherthan the

natural field

setting... .Researcher's

presence

may bk1s .

responses.

" Not allpeople

are equally.

articulateand

perceptive.

(ContinUfJ(j)

180 Designing Research

NOTE:Thistable includes material taken from Merriam (1998), Bogdan & Blklen (1992), and Creswell

(2007).

Data Collection OptionsWithin Advantages ofI LimitationsofTypes Types theType theType

Documents . Public . Enables a . Not all peopledocuments, such researcher to are equallyas minutes of obtain the articulate andmeetings, or language perceptive.newspapers and words of . May be. Private participants. protecteddocuments, such . Can be accessed informationas journals, at a time unavailablediaries, or letters convenient to to public

researcher-an or privateunobtrusive access.source of . Requires theinformation. researcher to. Represents data search outwhich are the informationthoughtful in that in hard-to-findparticipants have places.given attention to . Requirescompiling them. transcribing. As written or opticallyevidence, it saves scanning fora researcher the computertime and expense entry.of transcribing. . Materials may

be incomplete.. Thedocumentsmay not beauthenticor accurate.

Audio-VisualI . Photographs

. May be an . May beMaterials . Videotapes unobtrusive difficultto. Art objects method of interpret.. Computer collecting data. . May not be

software . Provides an accessible. Film opportunity for publicly orparticipants to privately.directly share . The presencetheir reality. of an obseNer. It is creative in (e.g"that it captures photographer)attention visually. may be

disruptiveand affectresponses.

Qualitative Procedures 181

. Qualitative observations are those in which the researcher takesfield notes on the behavior and activities of individuals at theresearch site. In these field notes, the researcher records, in anunstructured or semistructured way (using some prior questionsthat the inquirer wants to know), activities at the research site.Qualitativeobserversmay also engage in rolesvarying froma non-participant to a completeparticipant.. In qualitative interviews, the researcher conducts face-to-faceinterviews with participants, interviews participants by tele-phone, or engages in focus group interviews, with six to eightinterviewees in each group. These interviews involve unstruc-tured and generally open-ended questions that are fewin numberand intended to elicit views and opinions from the participants.

. During the process of research, the investigatormay collectqual-itative documents. Thesemay be publicdocuments (e.g.,newspa-pers, minutes of meetings, officialreports) or private documents(e.g.,personal journals and diaries, letters, e-mails).

. A final category of qualitative data consists of qualitative audioand visual materials. Thisdata maytake the formof photographs,art objects,videotapes, or any forms of sound.

. In a discussion about data collection forms, be specific about thetypes and include arguments concerning the strengths and weaknessesofeach type, as discussedin Table9.2.

. Include data collection types that go beyond typical observationsand interviews. These unusual forms create reader interest in a proposaland can capture useful information that observations and interviews maymiss.For example,examine the compendium of types of data in Table9.3that can be used, to stretch the imagination about possibilities,such asgathering sounds or tastes, or using cherished items to elicit commentsduring an interview.

DATA RECORDING PROCEDURES

" Beforeentering the field, qualitative researchers plan their approach to~, datarecording.Theproposalshouldidentifywhatdata the researcherwillf record and the procedures for recording data.!tICi. Usea protocolfor recordingobservationaldata. Researchersoften8\,engage in multiple obs~rvations during the cours~ of ~ qualita~ve atu~yI~,'(lnduse an observatIOnal protocol for recordmg mformation while- . c. ,.. ,. ,. ~ LL- _'-LI1-

182 Designing Research

SOURCE:Adapted from Creswell (2007).

events, or activities) from reflective notes (the researcher's personalthoughts, such as "speculation, feelings, problems, ideas, hunches,

impressions, and prejudices" Bogdan &Biklen, 1992, p. 121). Also writtenon this form might be demographic information about the time, place, anddate of the field setting where the observation takes place.

Qualitative Procedures 183

. Use an interview protocol for asking questions and recordinganswers during a qualitative interview. This protocol includes the follow-ing components:

. A heading (date, place, interviewer, interviewee)

. Instructions for the interviewer to followso that standard proce-dures are used from one interview to another

. The questions (typically an ice-breaker question at the beginningfollowed by 4-5 questions that are often the subquestions in aqualitative research plan, followed by some concluding statementor a question, such as, "Who should I visit with to learn moreabout my questions?"

. Probes for the 4-5 questions, to follow up and ask individuals toexplain their ideas in more detail or to elaborate on what theyhave said

. Space between the questions to record responses

. A final thank-you statement to acknowledge the time the inter-viewee spent during the interview (see Creswell, 2007)

. Researchers record information from interviews by making hand-written notes, by audiotaping, or by videotaping. Even if an interview istaped, I recommend that researchers take notes, in the event that record-ing equipment fails. If audiotaping is used, researchers need to plan inadvance for the transcription of the tape.

. The recording of documents and visual materials can be based onthe researcher's structure for taking notes. Typically,notes reflect infor-mation about the document or other material as well as key ideas in thedocuments. It is helpful to note whether the information represents pri-mary material (Le.,information directlyfromthe peopleor situation understudy) or secondary material (Le.,secondhand accounts of the people orsituation written by others). It is also helpfulto comment on the reliabilityand value of the data source.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Discussionof the plan for analyzing the data might have several compo-nents. The process of data analysis involvesmaking sense out of text andimage data. It involvespreparing the data for analysis, conducting differ-ent analyses, moving deeper and deeper into understanding the data(some qualitative researchers like to think of this as peeling back the lay-ers of an onion), representing the data, and making an interpretation ofthe larger meaning of the data. Severalgeneric processes might be stated