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Qualitative research can be defined as research where the data collected is not in the form of numbers and is mainly in the forms of words, for example, interviews, open questions on surveys, focus groups, etc (Punch 2009). Most educational researchers would subscribe to the view that individuals construct their understandings and meanings from the multiple social, historical, political and local circumstances they find themselves in (Cohen et al. 2007). It is therefore important that social science research should capture some of the richness of that reality, while not attempting to present it as objectively true and generalizable to all situations.
Qualitative methodological traditions include ethnography, narrative study, phenomenology, grounded theory, case study, action research and educational design research (Creswell 2013) These have different approaches and methods, but one general difference between quantitative and qualitative research is that theory is usually applied and tested in experimental studies within quantitative research, while theory is often emergent from the data in qualitative research (Cohen et al. 2007, Punch 2009).
Types of Qualitative Methodologies
Types of Qualitative Methodologies
Case Study: This is where a researcher investigates one case or a small number of cases in detail (perhaps one cohort of students in one module; one person’s journey through their physics degree; one Department of Physics’ adaptation to new assessment practices and so on). It is an in-depth study of the case, however defined, but is usually not generalizable.
Action research/practitioner inquiry: This is research conducted into your own practice as a teacher. It is aimed at improving or changing your practice, and is very personal to your context. It is an iterative process, usually taking in a number of investigative cycles, and it is often written up in the first person.
Narrative Study: Narrative research is research that that relies on the written or spoken words or visual representation made by individuals, usually focusing on their lives, and how they themselves relate their own stories or narratives.
Ethnography: Ethnography is an in depth study of a cultural phenomenon from the perspective of those experiencing it. Ethnography involves the examination of the behaviour of the participants in a given context or situation, with the researchers themselves often immersed in the situation.
Phenomenology: This approach to research aims to capture the essence of a phenomenon by exploring it from the perspective of those who have experienced it, in terms of what was experienced and how it was experienced.
Grounded Theory: This is both a strategy for research and a method of analysing qualitative data. The aim is to generate theory from data; hence the theory is grounded in the data. It involves a rather specific approach to analysing data.
Educational Design Research: In this approach the focus is to design and develop an intervention (such as new or revised programmes, teaching-learning strategies and materials, curricula) as a solution to a complex educational problem. Similar to action research it is an iterative process, consisting of cycles of research or prototyping and testing impact to refine the educational solution.
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