Five Qualitative Approaches To Inquiry
Five Qualitative Approaches To Inquiry
Five Qualitative Approaches To Inquiry
that define its boundaries. Not all narrative projects contain these elements, but
stories may emerge from a story told to the researcher, a story that is co-
constructed between the researcher and the participant, and a story intended
participant(s).
Narrative stories tell of individual experiences, and they may shed light on
becomes important for the researcher’s telling of the story within a place.
Narrative stories are gathered through many different forms of data, such as
through interviews that may be the primary form of data collection but also
data.
made about what was said (thematically), the nature of the telling of the
Narrative stories often are heard and shaped by the researchers into a
chronology, although they may not be told that way by the participant(s).
their experiences and their lives. They may talk about their past, their
organizing structures for recounting the story including the lead-up and
There are several features that are typically included in all phenomenological
studies:
relationship.”
quantitative research.
phenomenon. This does not take the researcher completely out of the study,
but it does serve to identify personal experiences with the phenomenon and
to partly set them aside so that the researcher can focus on the experiences
of the participants in the study. This is an ideal, but readers learn about the
without bringing himself or herself into the picture. Giorgi (2009) sees this
then cites other aspects of life where this same demand holds. A juror in a
criminal trial may hear a judge say that a piece of evidence is not
supported but then note that the results do not support it van Manen
reflection.
A data analysis that can follow systematic procedures that move from the
steps or phases that occur over time. Thus, a grounded theory study has
theoretical categories that are arrayed to show how the theory works. For
example, a theory of support for faculty may show how faculty are
researcher writes down ideas as data are collected and analyzed. In these
memos, the ideas attempt to formulate the process that is being seen by the
comparing data gleaned from participants with ideas about the emerging
theory. The process consists of going back and forth between the
the categories becomes the theory (called selective coding). This theory can
discussion (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Data analysis can also be less
The culture-sharing group must have been intact and interacting for long
material activities, such as how they behave within the group as expressed
another way, the researcher looks for patterns of social organization (e.g.,
2008a).
an insider emic perspective and reports them in verbatim quotes and then
ethnographies, not much is known about how the group functions (e.g., how
a gang operates), and the reader develops a new, and novel, understanding
of the group.
“What do people in this setting have to know and do to make this system
mostly caught rather than taught, how do those being inducted into the
group find their ‘way in’ so that an adequate level of sharing is achieved?”
(p. 74).
A review of many qualitative case studies reported in the literature yields several
Case study research begins with the identification of a specific case that
Typically, case study researchers study current, real-life cases that are in
progress so that they can gather accurate information not lost by time.
The key to the case identification is that it is bounded, meaning that it can
for bounding a case study are such the specific place where the case is
The intent of conducting the case study is also important to focus the
composed to illustrate a unique case, a case that has unusual interest in and
case (Stake, 1995). Alternatively, the intent of the case study may be to
understand a specific issue, problem, or concern (e.g., teenage pregnancy)
and a case or cases selected to best understand the problem. This is called
understanding.
The selection of how to approach the data analysis in a case study will
differ. Some case studies involve the analysis of multiple units within the
case (e.g., the school, the school district) while others report on the entire
case (e.g., the school district). Also, in some studies, the researcher selects
multiple cases to analyze and compare while, in other case studies, a single
case is analyzed.
study in each case. A complete findings section of a case study would then
involve both a description of the case and themes or issues that the
researcher has uncovered in studying the case. Examples of how the case
analyzed across cases for similarities and differences among the cases, or
Case studies often end with conclusions formed by the researcher about the
overall meaning delivering from the case(s). These are called assertions by