Lecture Communication research: Asking questions, finding answers (4e) Chapter 14: Introduction to qualitative research

Chapter 14

INTRODUCTION TO
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH








Preserves the form and content of interaction
Contextually situated
Discourse is the data
Analyzed for its qualities – empirical, inductive, and
interpretive
Aims for subjectivity
Allows interactants’ voices to be heard

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WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?


Intersubjectivity
 The

social accomplishment of how people coconstruct and co-experience their social life and
rules for doing so

How do people understand and interpret
communication processes?
 How is communication socially situated?


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MUTUAL SIMULTANEOUS SHAPING







The here and now
Everything influences
everything else
Emphasis on process
and the holistic frame of
interaction
Plausible explanations
built on what is
observed
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INDUCTIVE ANALYSIS


From the specific to the general



Explanations and theories emerge from the
data



Propositions formulated continuously
throughout the data collection and data
analysis process

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MODEL FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
•
•
•
•
•

Interdependent stages
Not linear
Cannot be planned in
entirety
Top circle reflects
design of the project
Bottom reflects
activities in the field
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CREDIBILITY IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH


Extent to which data interpretations are
 true
 correct
 dependable



Allows for multiple interpretations by asking
“What’s plausible?”

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ENHANCING CREDIBILITY




Triangulation: use of several kinds of methods or data

to enhance credibility


Data triangulation



Investigator triangulation



Interdisciplinary triangulation

Member validation


Taking research findings back to individuals who provided
data
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CONCEPTUALIZING RESEARCH QUESTIONS
FOR QUALITATIVE RESEARCH


Based on previous literature



Broadly stated



Nondirectional



Gives researcher latitude in following interesting paths



Specific to the interaction context

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ASSESSING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUESTIONS




Should ask how or

what?
Should reference the
research site?
Does the
research
question --













Focus on a specific type of
interaction?
Discover how meaning is
developed/shared?
Reveal naturally occurring
communication not suitable for
study in an experiment?
Reveal unanticipated
phenomena/influences?
Reveal process that occur over
time?

Explore the influences of the
context?

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WHAT COUNTS AS QUALITATIVE DATA?


Anything that can be observed or captured



Interpreting meaning





Researcher construction



Subjective valuing



Contingent accuracy

Level of evidence


Microlevel, midlevel, macrolevel

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ADVANTAGES





Documents the unseen
Provides information
about those who cannot
or will not speak for
themselves
Supplements
information from
quantitative studies

LIMITATIONS








Communication
environment must be
accessible
Interactants may change
their behavior
Observations filtered
through the researcher
Time consuming

WHY CHOOSE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?


THREATS TO CREDIBILITY


Inaccuracy or incompleteness of data



Problems of interpretation




Whose interpretation is being imposed?

Theoretical validity


What about data that fail to fit the interpretation?



Selection bias



Reactivity bias
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Education. All rights reserved. No
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