Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research Methods• Its aim is to give a complete, detailed

descriptions of the phenomena to be studied• Objective facts + values • Key philosophical assumption -

understanding how people make sense of their worlds and the experiences people have

• Key concern - knowing or understanding from the participants’ perspectives

• Key focus - understanding (rather than predicting or controlling) social settings or social phenomena

Qualitative ---•In qualitative research, the researcher

constructs knowledge in collaboration with research participants through interaction and reflection

•Knowledge is considered as a social construct•Tries to include values and motives of the

actors in the Knowledge Construction Process •Focus is to have a deeper understanding of the

selected phenomena in its holestic state

Nature of Qualitative Research•the problem is general and ask general

questions about the phenomena being studied

•As the researcher gets increasing understanding of the phenomena, he/she asks specific questions

•The methodology is decided over the course of investigation

Qualitative Data •Mostly words, phrases, sentences and

may include visual images, audio and video recordings.

•Obtained from recordings of interviews, field notes of observations, and analysis of documents as well as reflective notes of the researcher.

•Mass of qualitative data is organised, summarised, described and interpreted

When to choose?1. Describe the phenomena2. Build a theory

a) To gain new insights about a particular phenomena

b) Develop new concepts or theoretical perspectives about the phenomena

c) Discover the problem that exists in the phenomena3. Verification – to test the validity of certain

assumptions, claims, theories or generalization with the real world

4. Evaluation – to evaluate the effectiveness of a particular policies, design artifacts, programs, etc

Define problem

Review literature

Collect Data

Data Analysis

Write Research report

Conceptual framework/Proposal

Theory

Build Theory Or

Framework

Type of Qualitative Research1. Case study2. Phenomenological study3. Ethnography4. Grounded theory5. Content Analysis6. etc

4.1.1 Case study• Used to study in depth a particular program,

individual, software and hardware and event for a period of time▫What is the impact of computer in the organization?▫How computer affects the organization

performance?• To study a single group and inform practices for

similar situations – Single Case Study • Also used to study two or more groups that are

different in certain key ways – Cross Case Study ▫To make comparison▫Build theory or propose generalizations

• To learn more about a little known or poorly understand situations

Case Study - Procedure 1. Identify the problem2. Select the Research case3. Proposition, if any 4. Its Unit of Analysis – individual,

organizational, etc

Case study …5. The Logic linking the data with the

propositions • Common method is pattern matching. It is a

way of relating data with theoretical propositions

▫ Time series analysis •Yin (2003) recommended two identify two

patterns from the data and compare with theoretical proposition (“effects” and “no effect”)

•One fits best than the other

Case …6. The Criteria for interpreting the finding

▫How do we judge one pattern matches than the other

▫Data in qualitative research represents a single data so that one can not calculate variance or other statistical test

▫No precise method so far ▫More it is the researchers judgment , the pattern of

data fits well than the other▫Good to develop precise benchmark such efficiency

will increase by 30% after using a computer

Used for Theory Development •In a Study of MIS implementation Case

Research, they develop the following theory

•The case study will show why implementation only succeeded when the organization was able to re-structure itself, and not just overlay the new MIS on the old organizational structure (Markus, 1985)

Ethnographic Research•It is a qualitative research, used by

anthropologists•Used to the study a culture of the people•consists of origins, values, roles, and

material items associated with a particular group of people

•The researcher describes the different aspects and norms of a cultural group to enhance understanding of the people

Contin…•The researcher lives with the community

while he/she does the research•The researcher may have an experience

or no with the culture being studied•employs cyclic data collection and

analysis•E.g if your data identify resistance to use

the new software, you need to study the cause in the second round data collection

Grounded Theory•Refers to theory that is developed

inductively from a corpus of data •Glasser and Strauss (1960s) were the

pioneers •Starts with data collection and analysis•It begins by analyzing the first interview

data and continue with the second to confirm the first, add new concepts and so on

•Stops when new data is found in the field visit – theoretical saturation

•Use triangulated data sources

Grounded …• Has a framework to analyze data

▫ Context, cause, actions, intervening conditions, strategies and consequences

• Begins with a theory or without theory • The ability to perceive variables and

relationships is termed "theoretical sensitivity" • Builds a theory• Compares new theory with existing theory for

analytical generalization

Data collection Method •Collect data using interview, observation,

documents, past records and audiovisual materials

•Spent an extensive period of time on the site and interact regularly with the people

•Record about the context surrounding the case including information about the physical environment, and any historical, economic, and social factors

Data Collection Methods for Qualit.•Researchers use any methods that is appropriate

•Common data sources are 1. Interviews 2. Observations/Field notes – when

users use computer in the office Organizational documents

3. Audio tapes4. Sketch notes5. Photographs6. Or any other suitable means

Interviews …•Interviews are rarely structured in

qualitative study•Prepare open ended or semi-structured

revolving around a few central questions•Unstructured interviews are more flexible

and allows the researcher to ask new questions which he did not think before

•Try to identify story through your interview•Try to address who, how, when, why, where

and with what consequences

Observation •You can do with observation check list or

without •Recommended to use observation check

list•For example

▫How users solve when they encounter software crash – what feeling they show, what they do, whom they ask, how colleagues were supportive, what consequences observed, etc

Type of data to be collected•Provides great deal of information•Ask questions related to the following

▫Facts (biographical)▫People’s beliefs and perspectives about the

facts▫Feelings▫Motives▫Present and past behaviors▫Standards for behavior (what people think

should be done in certain situations)▫Conscious reasons for actions or feelings (why

people think engaging in a particular behavior is desirable or undesirable)

Stages in Qualitative Data Analysis

Familiarisation Transcription Organisation

Coding

Grounded

theoryReport Writing

Framework

analysis

Transcription Interview

Coding • Coding is the process of examining the raw

qualitative data in the transcripts and extracting sections of text units (words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs) and assigning different codes or labels so that they can easily be retrieved at a later stage for further comparison and analysis, and the identification of any patterns. Codes can be based on:

 Themes, Topics Ideas, Concepts Terms, Phrases Keywords

• found in the data

Example • You have uncovered eight descriptions of the

principal’s behaviour in staff meetings and the following codes are assigned.

•   B1 – hot tempered; B2 – lost his cool B3 – refused to listen B4 – just went on and on B6 – scolds B7 – ridiculed for questioning B8 – one man show

Analysis …•Next you may want to recode the eight

descriptions into one or two categories. • the category emerges from the data. •Assign a name for the category. •From the above example B3 and B8 could

be recoded to A1 and assigned the category or theme “autocratic”.

•Repeat until you have exhausted the data in terms of developing any new codes.

Data Analysis in GT•Take one piece of data (one interview, one

statement, one theme) and comparing it with all others that may be similar or different in order to develop conceptualizations of the possible relations between various pieces of data.

•If new theme extracted from data that does not fit with existing themes, then a new code is added to the list

Analysis …•In the process of comparison, the researcher

asks analytical questions •For example, by comparing the accounts of

two different people computer user behavior, a researcher asks why this is different from that? and how are these two persons related?

•Try if it used - object oriented analysis method – common patterns approach, noun phrase approach, etc can work for qualitative analysis

Analysis …Interpretation • Aggregate concepts or categories identified from

raw data into themes• Identifying relationships between categories or

themes▫Causal relationship –

A causes B, but does not exist at the same time

▫Temporal relationship Software use results in higher productivity

•You may also build a theory

Barriers to Effective KM

DFM – Design for Manufacturability

Qualitative research and computer science •Used to understand user problems for

design such in diagnosing user problems and needs

•Used in artifact evaluation- researchers qualitatively evaluate a product by interviewing and observation

•Used to uncover non-technical factors affecting the adoption and evolution of a new software product and other IT systems

•Used to develop theories such as HCI theory

Application of Qualitative - Example• System Development Research Process that

Nunamaker, et al (1991) proposed five stages or activities 1. construct a conceptual framework, 2. develop a system architecture,3. analyze and design the system,4. build the (prototype) system, and 5. observe and evaluate the system.

• The last stage explicitly includes “Develop new theories/models based on the observation and experimentation of the system’s usage”

Review Questions •What is the nature of qualitative research•What are the different types of qualitative

methods•How one method differs from the other?•What are the main data collection

methods•What is the procedure for qualitative data

analysis•When do you qualitative methods in

computer science research?

Summary