Qualitative methods

Examining approaches

Qualitative Methods

Rely on researcher as instrument Introduces certain issues

Inherent subjectivity and bias Consistency in data collection and

interpretation Impact of researcher on environment (esp.

when studying people) How do we control for reliability and validity?

Qualitative Methods

QUALITATIVE METHODSInteracting with people/environments

Case Study

In-depth review of a single situation: program, process, phenomenon

Might be descriptive or explanatory in approach

Might also form the basis of theory development, or modification of existing theories

Case studies are usually built on one or more of the following methods.

Qualitative Study: Observation

Attempt to understand activities/ behaviors Role of the observer:

Complete participant Effects on the environment/process Genuine or not?

“Going native” Present self as participant not researcher Ethical implications?

Observer and participant Effects on process?

Observation

Complete observer Lessen effect on environment (perhaps) Less likely to fully appreciate situations/contexts

Other choices How much time/frequency on-site Focus- comprehensive or narrow

Issues Relations to subjects

Qualitative Study: Interviews

Attempt to gain in-depth knowledge on a topic In a less structured format, interviewer may

act more as facilitator, asking open ended questions and drawing the participant out.

Structured, semi-structured, or unstructured? Format- in person, telephone, email?

Interviews

Types of questions: Experience/ behavior Feeling Opinion/ value Knowledge Sensory Demographic

Interviews

Issues Logistics Building trust Delicate questions/ situations- ensuring

honesty Accuracy of transcripts

Advantages and disadvantages? Appropriate uses?

Qualitative Study: Focus Groups

Attempt to learn about the attitudes/ beliefs/ feelings of groups and how those influence behavior

Why groups? One individual’s comments can trigger important responses from others.

Can explore large ranges of topics

Focus Groups

Issues How structured? Importance of facilitator’s role- how well

trained? Building trust Finding reliable representative volunteers Ensuring accuracy of transcription- audio/

video tape? Outside observation? Facilities

Qualitative Study: Think-Aloud

Asks respondent to verbalize their thoughts while performing an assigned activity or task

Attempt to gain more insight into thought processes

Correct for mistakes/ assumptions of observer

Think Aloud

Requires participants that are highly verbal in nature

Adding this layer of feedback may affect their cognitive processes and behaviors- more “self-concious.”

How to transcribe while observing? Accuracy?

Appropriate use of clarifying questions? Appropriate uses?

Qualitative Study: Ethnographic

Tools developed in the field of cultural anthropology

Attempt to better understand people/ behavior by observing it within natural setting

Can study observable material items, individual behaviors and performances, or ideas

Requires careful attention to detail within cultural context

Ethnographic

Possible Tools: Observation in context Key informant interviewing Drawing pictures Taking photos Using maps to track activities Videotaping

Ethnographic: Examples

Susan Gibbons and Nancy Fried Foster of University of Rochester: Understanding Users to Develop Better Library Services (ACRL/NEC 2006) User-centered studies of library use… Mapping Diaries Photo Elicitation Interviews

Photo Elicitation

Mapping Diaries

Qualitative Study: Delphi Method

A “systematic interactive forecasting method.” Involves interviewing/ surveying of experts

within a field- generally 9 to 99 Experts are provided with hypotheses, trigger

statements, scenarios, etc. and asked to respond.

First round responses are shared with the group anonymously, so participants can revise earlier statements, react to responses.

Delphi Method

After several rounds, hypotheses may be refined, group may reach “consensus”

Facilitator reviews responses to each round- can filter out irrelevant content, choose presentation of information, ask questions.

Advantages and disadvantages?

QUALITATIVE STUDIESInteracting with Artifacts

Types of Documents?

Policy Manuals Digital reference transcripts Comment/ complaint cards Job ads Published Literature Blogs, listserv postings, etc. Open-ended responses

Evaluation Research

Published Books Journal articles Conference proceedings Theses/dissertations Web ALA. ACRL. CIP Notes CLIR.

www.clir.org/pubs/pubs.html ARL Other

Peer ReviewPeer Review

Unpublished Internal reports Local use only reports

Qualitative Analysis: Examining Documents Focus on:

Word choice Word frequency Word sequence Intensity of feeling/ expression (how to

measure?) Key word in context

Typology of concepts/ categories?

Qualitative: Examining Documents

Systematic review of text/ images: content analysis

Classifies textual or visual material Uses analytical constructs or rules to draw

inferences about recurring aspects of text.

Qualitative Study: Diaries

Participants record activities, thoughts, reactions, etc. daily (weekly, etc.) over a set period of time.

Blogs- equivalent? When to use? Issues

How faithful are participants? How can you help ensure full participation?

How much guidance to give? Too much/ too little detail.

Advantages and disadvantages?

Examples

Nicole Henning/ Photo Diary Study (MIT) 16 students tracked their information seeking

behavior for one week. Used diaries and screen shots to record their

thoughts and actions Hernon et. al.

Track library directors to identify leadership and management behaviors

Used diaries to record activities for two months

Grounded Theory

The attempt to derive theories from an analysis of patterns, themes, and common categories discovered in observational data.

Relies on a systematic set of procedures (i.e. systematic coding, reliability and validity)

Qualitative Study: Citation Analysis

Systematic review of bibliographies/ references within published literature.

Focus on Authorship Form of publication (periodical, monograph,

etc.) Class of material (primary, secondary, etc.) Language Subject Currency

Citation Analysis

What can citations tell us? How scholarly is the cited literature? How current are the citations? How research-oriented is it? How interdisciplinary is it? How writes the literature? How collaborative? Where does the literature appear?

Citation Analysis

Growth of literature on a subject Dispersion of writings on a subject across

form and journals Obsolescence of literature Scholarly networks: who cites whom? Publishing productivity

Citation Analysis

Advantages Shows what is cited Does not involve

interaction with subjects

Profiles a literature Shows changes in a

field over time?

Disadvantages How complete is the

work from which citations are drawn?

How accurate are citations?

Are all materials cited? Choosing easy to find/

retrieve items over better quality?

How easily retrievable are works?

Citation Analysis: Issues

From where are citations drawn? How far can you generalize findings?

Does citation reflect use? Self-citations and/ or gratuitous citations Half-life Impact factor (to what extent are recent articles in

journals cited?) Calculated annually: divide the number of current

citations a journal receives to articles published in the previous two years by the number of articles published in those same years

Web Citations

How “prestigious” are different online sources- ejournals, open access, etc.

References to and from a Web site Retrievability

Sweeping Studies

A type of spatial data analysis Useful for mapping out the physical spaces of

a library and investigating how people use those spaces

Qualitative Study: Concept Mapping

“Any process that represents ideas in pictures of maps.”

A method of organizing the ideas and thoughts of a group to form a common framework

Can be used to integrate ideas from less structured activities such as brainstorming

Concept Mapping

Typical steps: Focus: determine desired outcomes/ questions to be

addressed Generating ideas: Brainstorm, use trigger statements,

ask questions Analysis: Sort ideas into large sets

Unstructured idea sorting: ask individuals to sort ideas into groups and label

Sorting by stakeholders: organize ideas by group that generated those ideas

Ratings: assign values to ideas (importance, feasibility, etc.)

Concept Mapping

Map analysis: generate map based on idea sorting (could use statistical software, or do by hand)

Interpret map: Share with other groups to obtain understanding

Example: IR and IL

QUALITATIVE DATACollection and Analysis

Qualitative Data

Systematic collection of data is important Recording observations

Separating “fact” from feelings and impressions

Empirical observations and interpretation Deep, thick description Don’t rely on memory- record as much as

possible Take notes in stages

Qualitative Data

Validity Field research tends to be more valid than

experimental or survey measures. Why? Reliability

Researcher is the tool- biases and assumptions can influence analysis

Helps to identify and acknowledge those biases and assumptions beforehand, be aware of them throughout

Qualitative Data Analysis

Interplay of theory and analysis- rechecking data against existing theories/modes of thinking

Discovering patterns: Frequencies Magnitudes Structures/Types Processes Causes Consequences

Qualitative Data Analysis

Grounded theory- generating theory solely from examination of data

Usually progresses in four stages (constant comparative method): Comparing incidents applicable to each

category Integrating categories and their properties Delimiting the theory Writing the theory

Qualitative Data Coding

Coding- classifying or categorizing individual pieces of data Choosing a concepts to code Physically coding- by hand or with software Creating codes Open coding- naming and categorizing

phenomena through close analysis of the data. Categories arise from the data

Qualitative Data Coding

Memoing- writing notes to yourself as you code data

Code notes- identify code meanings and labels Theoretical notes-reflections on meanings,

relationships among concepts, theoretical propositions, etc.

Operational notes- notes on methodological issues, data-collection circumstances, etc.

Sorting memo- attempt to discover or create meaning in the data

Integrating memo- ties it all together