Designing a Qualitative Study

Natural Setting

In qualitative research, close interaction with your participants is important. Qualitative researchers often collect data in the field at the site where participants experience the issue or problem under study. They gather up-close information by actually talking directly to people and seeing them behave and act within their context.

Researcher as Key Instrument in Data Collection

Qualitative researchers collect data themselves from numerous sources and often use open-ended questions. They typically do not rely on questionnaires or instruments developed by others.

Multiple Methods

A qualitative researcher makes use of multiple sources of data, such as interviews, observations, and documents, rather than relying on a single data source.

Complex Reasoning Through Inductive and Deductive Logic

Qualitative researchers build their patterns, categories, and themes from the "bottom up." They work back and forth between the themes and the database until they establish a comprehensive set of themes.

Participant's Meanings

Qualitative researchers keep a focus on learning the meaning that participants hold about the problem or issue, not the meaning that the researchers bring to the table.

Emergent Design

The initial plan for research cannot be tightly prescribed. The key idea behind qualitative research is to learn about the problem or issue from participants and engage in the best practices to obtain that information.

Reflexivity

Qualitative researchers "position" themselves in a qualitative study. Your readers have a right to know about you – what prompts your interest in the topics you investigate, to whom you are reporting, and what you personally stand to gain from the study.

Holistic Account

Qualitative researchers try to develop a complex picture of the problem or issue. This entails reporting multiple perspectives, identifying the many factors involved in a situation, and generally sketching the larger picture that emerges

There is no set format for qualitative research, but it generally falls within the process of the scientific method, with common phases whether one is writing qualitatively or quantitatively. You can use the following guide as your starting point: