LibGuides: Qualitative Research: Methods

Table of Contents: Methods Section

Duke Resources

Duke's Office of Assessment:

Assessment Resources (qualitative and quantitative)

FHI 360

Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector's Field Guide
Downloadable how-to guide covers the mechanics of data collection for applied qualitative research; appropriate for novice and experienced researchers.

Sampling

In qualitative research, only a sample (subset) of a population is selected for any given study.Three of the most common sampling methods are:

Purposive sampling
Participants are grouped according to preselected criteria relevant to a particular research question; sample sizes often determined by theoretical saturation (new data doesn't bring additional insights)

Quota sampling
While designing a study, it is determined how many people with which characteristics need to be included as participants

Snowball sampling
Participants or informants use their social networks to refer the researcher to other people who could potentially participate in the study, often used to find and recruit “hidden populations"

Choosing a Method for Collecting Qualitative Data

Method	Overall Purpose	Advantages	Challenges
Surveys	Quickly and/or easily gets lots of information from people in a non threatening way	can complete anonymously inexpensive to administer easy to compare and analyze administer to many people can get lots of data many sample questionnaires already exist	might not get careful feedback wording can bias client's responses impersonal may need sampling expert doesn't get full story
Interviews	Understand someone's impressions or experiences Learn more about answers to questionnaires	get full range and depth of information develops relationship with client can be flexible with client	can take ime can be hard to analyze and compare can be costly interviewer can bias client's responses
Observation	Gather firsthand information about people, events, or programs	view operations of a program as they are actually occurring can adapt to events as they occur	can be difficult to interpret seen behaviors can be complex to categorize observations can influence behaviors of program participants can be expensive
Focus groups	Explore a topic in depth through group discussion	quickly and reliably get common impressions can be efficient way to get much range and depth of information in short time can convey key information about programs	can be hard to analyze responses need good facilitator for safety and closure difficult to schedule 6-8 people together
Case studies	Understand an experience or conduct comprehensive examination through cross comparison of cases	depicts client's experience in program input, process and results powerful means to portray program to outsiders	usually time consuming to collect, organize and describe represents depth of information, rather than breadth