A Practical Guide to Qualitative Research: A Guide for Research Students, Supervisors, and Academic Authors

CONTENTS

Introduction

MODULE 1: RESEARCH PARADIGM AND

PHILOSOPHICAL ASSUMPTIONS

Chapter 1     Philosophical Assumptions of Resea0rch

Chapter 2     Research Paradigm: Journey from Epistemology to Publishing Research Results

MODULE 2: BASICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Chapter 3     Qualitative Methods

Chapter 4     Major Types of Qualitative Research

Chapter 5     Quality and Rigor of Qualitative Research

MODULE 3: TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Chapter 6     Focus Group as a Research Methodology

Chapter 7     Phenomenological Research and Theoretical Perspective

Chapter 8     Grounded Theory: A Research Methodology and a Data Analysis Method

Chapter 9     Grounded Theory – Part Two

Chapter 10   Design Science Research (DSR)

MODULE 4: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 11   Literature Review: Basics

Chapter 12   Literature Review as Research Methodology

Chapter 13   Rigor and Quality in Literature Review

Chapter 14   Publishing in Academic Journals

Chapter 15   Refereeing Scientific Journal Article and Report

MODULE 5: RESEARCH DESIGN - BASICS,

CASE DESIGN, MIXED DESIGN

Chapter 16   Research Design - Basics and Types

Chapter 17   Design of Case Study Research (CSR)

Chapter 18   Mixed Method Research

MODULE 6: RESEARCH ARGUMENTATION,

THEORIZING, AND FRAMING

Chapter 19   Argument Development for Thesis and Journal Articles

Chapter 20   Role of Theory in Research (Theorizing)

MODULE 7: DESIGN SCIENCE RESEARCH (DSR)

Chapter 21   Design Science Research (DSR) Basics

Chapter 22   DSR Extensions and Variations

MODULE 8: QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Chapter 23   Basics of Quantitative Research and Relevance to Qualitative Researcher

Chapter 24   Recent Innovations in Data Analysis

MODULE 9: ‘FURURES RESEARCH’

AND ‘FUTURE OF RESEARCH’

Chapter 25   Future Trends in Research Methodology

Chapter 26   Futures Research (FR)

MODULE 10: WRITING THESIS

Chapter 27   Ethical Issues in Academic Research

Chapter 28   PhD Proposal and Grant Application

Chapter 29   Writing a PhD Thesis

INTRODUCTION

One unique feature of the Practical Guide to Qualitative Research is its sharp focus on the practical aspects of research, the latter being the product of author’s decades of involvement in both producing and managing research products and processes. The author has over thirty years of experience in teaching and learning principles of research methodology, has supervised many research students some of them are currently Professors in Australian and overseas universities, inside and outside Australian Universities, has published in the ‘Basket of Eight’ and A-A*-ranked academic journals, refereeing for high impact academic journals, and was awarded several research grants.

Due to the specific focus on practical aspects of the research, this practical guide has deviated from the traditional book format and instead has adopted more flexible ‘lecture note’ format that allows insertion of various references and associated links, clarifying notes, examples, and practical advice without being constrained by the traditional textbook formats. Discussions and examples of the book cover the entire range of basic to advanced concepts and issues with additional references provided for the benefit of more specialized investigation by the reader.

Preparation of ach of the 29 Chapters required several hours of research over several years. Such evolutionary process is also reflected in the structure of various Chapters when providing historical accounts of the topic wherever applicable. I believe such historical perspective is necessary for a rapidly growing subjects such as research methodology.

The typical audience of the Practical Guide to Qualitative Research include postgraduate research students, research supervisors, early-career researchers, potential referees of academic journal articles, and potential applicants of research grants. More specifically, the book covers basic to advanced methodological topics and relevant practical guides for writing a postgraduate proposal and thesis, applying for internal/external research grants, preparing an ethics clearance application, writing a journal article, and/or refereeing research articles. The book consists of ten modules each corresponding roughly to one major research threshold that the author has witnessed both as a research student, a lecturer, a supervisor, and as a referee of several high-impact journals.

To remain contemporary, the author will provide regular annual updates that will also be available to the purchasers of the book if this option is selected when purchasing the book. The main idea here is to collectively maintain the book’s relevance, recency, and practicality and as a result, to remain on the edge of latest innovations in the field of qualitative research methodology and thesis preparation. Also, despite the focus of this book being on qualitative research, basic knowledge of quantitative research is also discussed in various Chapters for (i) clearer scoping of the qualitative research, (ii) better understanding of the mixed research methodology, and (iii) guiding researchers towards appropriate choice of research methodology.

And finally, please email the author at [email protected] and share your comments, views, and ideas on the book or about your research project.

Farhad Daneshgar, PhD

Victoria University Sydney, Australia ([email protected])

February 2023

MODULE 1

Research Paradigm and

Philosophical Assumptions

MODULE 1 - Research Paradigm and

Philosophical Assumptions.

In this module the highly controversial topic of research paradigm is explained with several examples. Research paradigm is a single word or statement that incorporates various philosophical assumptions adopted by the researcher for the research. These assumptions are discussed in first Chapter in the module. A common research threshold that I have witnessed has been a lack of understanding by many students about research paradigm of their research. The module concludes with a Chapter on research paradigm and related voncepts and examples.

1

Philosophical Assumptions of Resea0rch

Scientific Research Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. Research philosophy is also referred to as ‘theoretical approach’ that provides an approach that researcher adopts for the development and/or testing scientific theories. For example, in the study of male superior power over women, the researcher can adopt a religious approach, or a cognitive approach. These approaches are different from the existing scientific theories in male superiority in the fields of sports sciences, nursing, and so on. The former is the philosophical assumptions purposefully adopted by the researcher to guide the researcher for studying the phenomenon, whereas the latter is the scientific theories that guides the methodological decisions of the research, such as data collection and analysis for extending and/or testing those theories about man’s superiority.

Scientific Research Philosophy is one major branch of philosophy that focusses on science. Other branches of philosophy include language, mind, society, and body. Our focus in research is on scientific research philosophy. In short, scientific research philosophy is a fundamental belief about the way we collect, analyse, and use data about a particular phenomenon. It involves the choice of (and not the actual) research strategy, research problem, data collection, data processing, and data analysis.

Benefits of Research Philosophy

Research philosophy enables the researcher to answer the following questions:

•What is the nature of reality in the research?

•What attitude and perspective should we adopt to achieve our research goals with greatest possible certainty, accuracy, and relevance? Examples are ‘being critical’, ‘being descriptive’, ‘focussing on one case only’.

•What forms of reasoning should we deploy for gaining a better understanding of phenomena around us? Examples are should a doctor test patient’s blood to be certain (positivist paradigm)? or ‘just observing few symptoms on the face and body would be sufficient (pragmatist paradigm)?’.

•What is the status of what we believe we know? how do we ascertain if what we believe we know is true or false? Examples are ‘do I really need to discuss the results with experts?’ or ‘there is no need for it?’.

•How do we justify our beliefs to others? For example, ‘should I justify myself in the first place?’, ‘should I hide it?’, ‘is it important to justify it?’.

•Are there any differences between knowledge acquired from a theory, and knowledge acquired through observation?

oAnswer: observation/measurement/experiment organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions; whereas a theory provides concepts to name what we observe and to explain relationships among those concepts. Theory allows us to explain what we see, and to figure out how to bring about change (or to solve a problem).

For more specific example of the benefits of research philosophy to Engineering research see Mitcham (1998). In Engineering research the researcher normally adopts engineering research philosophy that will provide the following benefits:

1 –to understand and defend him/her-self against philosophical criticism

2 –ethics, that is a branch of philosophy, is necessary for the researchers to deal with professional ethics problems. Ethics is a major requirement for all Engineering curricula in the United States.

3 –engineering philosophy (unknown to many engineers) may open new discoveries and/or applications in the field.

Fundamental Philosophical Assumptions in Research

Many researchers take for granted that they can apply research methodology principles and research methods without a careful examination of the assumptions underpinning their chosen methods. However, several philosophical assumptions need to be known and explicated before research begins. Without being aware of these assumptions and understanding their implications, research cannot proceed effectively, and will lead to inadequate research outcomes. Some of the major philosophical assumptions that researchers should address are:

The world is understandable (is it? Or not?) and therefore, we want to understand the world around us (or do we?). We want to adopt an open-minded approach to the research. I, the researcher, am capable of objective reasoning. Such reasoning is not influenced by my personal characteristics, feelings mor opinions on the subject. Our cognitive capacity is limited and changes over time. We can never incorporate in our research all the issues or variables concerned with the phenomenon we are studying. All of the above assumptions can be classified in four categories of philosophical assumptions in scientific research. These categories are: ontological, epistemological, axiological, and methodological assumptions, and are explained below.

Ontology

Ontology is the researcher’s attitude towards the nature of the components that make up a whole. The ‘whole’ in turn may be a system, event, or behaviour. Ontology defines the relationships among the above components and is expressed in a useful form such as words/concepts, models, theories, or any other abstract form. Ontology can also help to categorise the phenomena. Some examples of ontology are categories, taxonomies, and classes. Major types of ontology include: (i) Realism: only one reality exists and everyone sees it the same, e.g., a patient’s temperature reading; , (ii) Relativism: multiple realities exist each in the mind of each person in the form of individual interpretations, e.g., opinion about, and understanding of a particular movie; and (iii) both of the above, that is, one reality exists but is interpreted differently by each person.

Critical Realist believes that there is an external reality outside us, but we cannot fully access it directly. It corresponds to the Pragmatic Epistemology that says: be creative and do anything possible to get closer to the knowledge because accessing complete knowledge is difficult or impossible. Critical realism is a renewed emphasis on ontology by asking questions about how and why events or phenomena occur in the ever-changing world.

Example: Research on plants from a realist perspective would involve CO2, water, chemical reactions, and so on, all under a biological system and processes. This would indicate that a quantitative research methodology that deals with sampling and measuring the reality, testing the data to prove the point the study aimed to achieve. The same research under relativist assumptions would be about the capacity of the plant in receiving (that is, feeling, perceiving, and subjectively interpreting as opposed to objectively measuring) signals from environment, and communicating those signals to other plants (that also involves another layer of interpretation as signals go from one plant to another planet to be perceived and interpreted) to face up potential dangers. The understanding of such subjective chain of events can be done by the researcher observing the plants in their natural settings and develop his/her own interpretations of the phenomenon. This is in sharp contrast to the lab-controlled settings that produces results with no need for any interpretations by the researcher. Therefore, the most suitable research methodology for this type of research would be qualitative research methodology that interprets the reality rather than measures it. A critical realist may use both or parts of the quantitative and qualitative data through both measurement and interpretation, because the work needs to be done no matter what kind of ontological assumptions are adopted. A Historical Realist also believes that there is an external reality outside us, but we cannot fully access it directly unless by interpretation of history and historical events.

Epistemology

Epistemology explains how we should investigate the reality. Major types include Subjectivism, Objectivism, and Pragmatism.

Subjectivism corresponds to the Relativism ontology, and claims that to understand the (relative) reality you must understand how and what others know about the reality. Each person may have different understanding of the concept Wealth. To some, wealth is more spiritual than material, and vice-versa.

Objectivist on the other hand assumes that the understanding of the reality can be achieved by taking samples, observe and measure them, and come up with a generalisable conclusion that applies to the whole reality; the latter is only one, and is perceived equally by others, and therefore, there is no need for interpretation.

Pragmatist assumes that the success of a theory or belief depends on the practical use, and the outcome of that theory/belief. Therefore, to understand reality use any accessible tools that you have. In other words, if the researcher wants to know the truth s/he must observe how the reality works. For example, in the field of Education, all experiential learning theories are based on the assumption that learners acquire skills on how to do experiment, how to solve problems, how to practice scenarios, and to participate in classroom activities. In other words, a pragmatist does not care about solid wall that exists between Objectivists and Subjectivist; in fact, a pragmatic assumes both of those assumptions are valid. Therefore, let us not waste time and just do what is necessary to provide best skills to students so they can work in a particular profession.

Research Methodology (RM)

The third component of the research philosophy is RM; it is the sum of all methodological assumptions and decisions that the researcher adopts in relation to the research. It usually includes the following:

•Assumptions regarding (or, the reality of) the Research Problem and Research Questions

•Assumptions/realities about the Researcher’s skill set

•Available Resources (funding, sources of data, etc.)

•Methods used for data sampling, collection, and analysis.

Types of Research Methodology: By mistake, some textbooks say that four types of RM are: observational, experimental, simulation, and derived. This, in my opinion, is a wrong classification because such division is based solely on the type of the collected data and not based on the collected data as well as the analysis of the data. Others by mistake confuse types of research context with research methodology type and they categorise research methodology as: Experimental, Correlation, Naturalistic Observational, Survey, and Case Study. And yet some others classify research methodology into qualitative and quantitative, that is mostly based on the type of data and partially to the method(s) used to analyse the data.

A comprehensive categories of research methodologies are:

•Quantitative Research (a summary is provided in Module 8 of this book)

•Qualitative Research (the subject of the current book)

•Descriptive Research: primarily focuses on describing the nature of a demographic segment, without focusing on why a particular phenomenon occurs.

•Analytical Research: involves critical thinking skills and evaluation of facts and information surrounding the research phenomenon.

•Applied Research: designed to answer specific questions aimed at solving practical problems.

•Fundamental Research: also called basic research or pure research. This type of research methodology does not usually generate findings that have immediate applications at a practical level.

•Exploratory Research: It explores research questions that have not previously been studied (in depth).

•Conclusive Research: It provides information that is useful in reaching conclusions or decision-making. It tends to be quantitative in nature where various attributes of the phenomenon are measured, quantified and summarized.

Axiology

In Greek, the word ‘ethics’ means value or worth, and is primarily concerned with classifying things as good and bad. That is, what to do and not to do to generate valuable and worthwhile research. Ethics is the philosophical study of the goodness or the worth of something. Research Ethics is the fourth set of philosophical assumptions in research. Research Ethics are the taken-for-granted assumptions and facts that need to be considered when planning a research proposal. It is the philosophical approach to making decisions about the ‘value’ generated by the research, the ‘right’ things to do, and the ‘rights’ of people and animals involved in the research. In another Chapter the Research Ethics is discussed in more details.

Research Onion

Some of the above discussions and relationships among them can be presented by the research onion. Research Onion describes the different decisions researchers need to make when developing a research methodology. Many versions of research onion exists that more or less say the same thing. Below Figure shows one version of the research onion, that is followed by a brief description of various layers:

Figure 1.1 Research Onion - Adopted from Melnikovas (2018).

Layer 1 - Research Philosophies (combination of Ontology and Epistemology, also called research Paradigm): Positivism, Realism, Interpretivism, Pragmatism, Interactionism, Functionalism, Radical Humanist, Radical Structuralist, Critical Realist, Feminism, Post-Modernism, ….

Layer 2 - Research Approaches: It is about the approach the researcher adopts for reasoning. Types include:

Deductive (Quantitative) approach: Takes two true statements and