UNIVERSITY OF DUBLIN
TRINITY COLLEGE
Department of Sociology
Data Analysis, Modelling and Research
Methods: Qualitative Methods I
MSc in Economic Policy Studies
Dr. Daniel Faas
6th March 2015
Agenda
• Research design: case studies and comparative designs
• Non-probability (purposive) sampling
• Asking questions and conducting interviews
• Discussion of interview exercise for workshop
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
2
How to structure a methodology chapter?
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
Design
Access and sampling
Data collection tools (research methods)
Data analysis technique
Ethical issues
Also reflect on your own positioning and reflect on the fieldwork
process and design overall: reflexivity is key.
Source: Thomas, G. (2009) How to do your Research Project, London: Sage.
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
3
What is a research design?
• A structure or framework to guide data collection and analysis.
There are five main research designs: experimental, cross-sectional,
longitudinal, case study and comparative
• e.g. search for causality, understanding, or generalization
• Research paradigm --> research design --> research method
• Research method refers more to data collection tools/instruments
such as interviews, questionnaires, observations
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
4
Types of research designs
Five main research designs:
1. experimental
2. cross-sectional / survey
3. longitudinal
4. case study
5. comparative
Source: Bryman, A. (2008) Social Research Methods (Chapter 2)
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
5
What is a case study?
A case study is an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary
phenomenon in depth and within its real-life context, especially when
the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly
evident. The case study inquiry copes with the technically distinctive
situation in which there will be many more variables of interest than
data points, and as one result relies on multiple sources of evidence,
with data needing to converge in a triangulation fashion, and as
another result benefits from the prior development of theoretical
propositions to guide data collection and analysis.
Source: Yin (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, London: Sage
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
6
The role of theory in case-study research
The complete research design embodies a theory of what is being
studied. This theory should by no means be considered with the
formality of grand theory in social science, nor are you being asked to
be a masterful theoretician. Rather, the simple goal is to have a
sufficient blueprint for your study, and this requires theoretical
propositions. (…) Then, the complete research design will provide
surprisingly strong guidance in determining what data to collect and
the strategies for analysing the data. For this reason, theory
development prior to the collection of any case study data is an
essential step in doing case studies.
Source: Yin (2003): 29; Yin (2009): 35f.
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
7
Different types of case studies
Discipline or area-based typology
(Historical, psychological, sociological,
ethnographic )
Descriptive
Explanatory
Exploratory
provide narrative
accounts
test existing
theories
help to generate
new theories
Single or multiple case studies
Source: Yin (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, London: Sage
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
8
Ambiguities and opportunities in case studies I
• Some say that only qualitative methods should be used in a case study
(e.g. John Creswell) whilst others also advocate the use of quantitative
methods (e.g. Robert Yin). Case studies are more holistic.
• most frequent objection to case studies is its low generalisability (i.e.
external validity) given that only one or a few cases are studied.
• Some question the researcher’s role in relation to the results because of
the methods used which can be linked to the personality of the
researcher (e.g. participant observations, in-depth interviews).
• The use of a single case can have severe limitations, both in terms of
data analysis and generalisability, hence the tendency to compare.
Source: Verschuren (2003) ‘Case study as a research strategy: some ambiguities and opportunities’,
International Journal of Social Research Methodology 6(2): 121-139.
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
9
Ambiguities and opportunities in case studies II
• Triangulation an important aspect of a case study; and the holistic
approach includes looking at the object as a whole and the open-ended
approach of the researcher (i.e. questions).
• no a priori codes for interview guides but these gradually emerge from
your data analysis and you can either do content analysis or discourse
analysis (as we shall discuss later).
• research design emerges and evolves and researcher carries out many
activities in a rather unplanned way depending on how things go rather
than in a linear-serial structured way as in an experiment or survey. You
continuously move back and forth in your design and project stages.
Source: Verschuren (2003) ‘Case study as a research strategy: some ambiguities and opportunities’,
International Journal of Social Research Methodology 6(2): 121-139.
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
10
Comparative design
• Using the same methods to compare two or more meaningfully
contrasting cases;
• Can be qualitative or quantitative;
• Often cross-cultural comparisons
e.g. Faas (2010): political identities of ethnic majority and
Turkish minority youth across different schools in Europe
• Includes multiple case studies;
• Problem of translating research instruments and finding
comparable samples
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
11
Equivalence in comparative case studies
The concept of
equivalence
Different types of
equivalence
Pragmatic solutions
to equivalence
• What sort of compromises are necessary to achieve equivalence?
• Can we compare like with like in cross-national case studies?
• Is equivalence different from notions of comparability?
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
12
Different types of equivalence
Linguistic
Equivalence
• refers to the problem
of translation
• importance of pretesting in the local
culture
Conceptual
Equivalence
• refers to the question
whether the concepts
under study have
equivalent or any
meaning in the
cultures which are
being considered
Equivalence of
measurement
• refers to the challenge
of developing
equivalent indicators
• importance of sensitive
topics, equivalent
databases
• importance of
conceptual definitions
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
13
Toward linguistic equivalence
• Particular
care is needed when translating questionnaires and interview
schedules; importance of piloting and paraphrasing
• What are you a citizen of?
Wo fühlt ihr euch als Bürger zugehörig?
• Do you have friends from other ethnic backgrounds?
Habt ihr Freunde, die anderer Herkunft als ihr seid?
• To what extent should minority ethnic people give up part of their
customs and traditions to fit in?
Inwieweit sollten Migranten einen Teil ihrer Kultur und Tradition
aufgeben um in die deutsche Gesellschaft zu passen?
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
14
Toward equivalence of measurement
• Different
organisational structures of the German (three-tier system in
Baden-Württemberg) and English secondary school system (two-tier
system of comprehensives and grammar schools
• Germany has mainly recorded data based on nationality (some changes
since 2005 microcensus law). England has collected data based on
ethnicity and race (e.g. Chinese, white)
- From ‘white youth’ to ‘native youth’ and national majorities
- ‘What about Karagöz? He is German!’; different school databases
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
15
Toward conceptual equivalence
Germany
England
Interculturalism
Multiculturalism
• originated in France
• employed in Council of Europe and
European Commission documents
• emphasis on dialogue and interaction
• orginiated in Canada
• employed in the United States (racebased) and Canada (more integrative)
• emphasis on collectivities
Citizenship
Citizenship
• based on ius sanguinis (birth)
• education based on political knowledge
and called community studies (BadenWürttemberg) or social studies (Bavaria)
• based on ius solis (territoriality)
• citizenship education based on personal,
social and health issues as well as topics
around rights and duties
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
16
Example of comparative case study design
Level 1: European
and nation-state
The European and national educational responses
to the European and multicultural political agendas
Germany
Level 2:
Region
England
Multiethnic
Stadtbezirk in Stuttgart
Level 3:
Institution
Tannberg
Hauptschule
School policy
documents
29.07.2017
Multiethnic
borough in London
Goethe
Gymnasium
Millroad
Comprehensive
Darwin
Comprehensive
Questionnaire
survey
Focus group
interviews
Semi-structured
interviews
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
17
Non-probability (purposive) sampling I
1a. Convenience/opportunistic sampling
• the most easily accessible individuals
• useful when piloting a research instrument
• may be a chance to collect data that is too good to miss
1b. Snowball sampling
• researcher makes initial contact with a small group
• these informants lead you to others in their network
• useful for qualitative studies of deviant groups
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
18
Non-probability (purposive) sampling II
2. Sampling special or unique cases
• critical cases (single archetypal case)
• criterion sampling (must have a certain feature)
• sampling politically important cases
Note that mixed methods sampling can creatively combine both
purposive and probability sampling techniques (e.g. qualitative and
quantitative strand of a multi-phase study)
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
19
How do social scientists get their data?
Source: http://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/yanomami
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
20
Different kinds of ‘truth’
• Key activity in the humanities is to understand, key activity in the
natural sciences is to explain or describe.
• Distinction between the sciences (true/false criterion) and
humanities
(appropriate,
convincing/non-appropriate,
nonconvincing criterion) since the second half of the 19th century.
• Similar dichotomy between quantitative and qualitative methods;
today, a number of academics are in favour of uniting these two
fields again; hence our focus later on mixed methods research.
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
21
Deductive and inductive approaches
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
22
Quantitative and qualitative approaches
Quantitative
29.07.2017
Qualitative
Hard data
Statistical
Soft data
Exploratory
Larger samples
Random sampling
Smaller samples
Purposive sampling
Positivism
Interpretivism
Questionnaires,
structured interviews
Participant observation,
focus group interviews
Fixed research design
Experiment, survey
Emergent research design
Ethnographies
Theory testing,
deductive analysis
Generating new theories
and hypotheses
Is there/does variance
questions
How/why process
questions
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
23
Conducting (structured) interviews I
• Know your way around the schedule
• Introduce the research
- spoken or written rationale
- identify yourself, your employer, purposes of research and
procedure of interview
- ethical issues: anonymity, confidentiality, right to withdraw
- opportunity for interviewee to ask questions
• Building rapport
- can be difficult if limited time and little opportunity for discussion
(closed questions)
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
24
Conducting (structured) interviews II
• Asking questions (see slides below)
-keep to the schedule: even small variations in wording can affect
responses in structured interviews only
• Recording answers
-write exact words used by interviewee, or use fixed choice
questions in structured interviews only
• Question order
- every interviewee must get questions in the same order
- general questions before specific questions
- first questions should be directly related to the topic
- potentially embarrassing or sensitive questions towards the end
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
25
Conducting (structured) interviews III
• Probing
- when respondent does not understand question or gives
insufficient answer
- non-directive probes: “mmm”, “can you say a bit more about
that?”
- repeat fixed choice alternatives
• Prompting
- interviewer suggests possible answers
- show cards
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
26
Conducting (structured) interviews IV
• Leaving the interview
- thank the interviewee
- debriefing should be minimal
• Training and supervision
- if researcher hires interviewer(s)
- ensure that interviewers know the schedule and follow
standardized procedures
- assessment: examine completed forms, tape record a sample of
interviews, call-backs to respondents
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
27
Asking questions: Open questions
Advantages
Disadvantages
- Respondents
answer in their
own terms
29.07.2017
- Time-consuming
for interviewer
and respondent
- Difficult to code
- Allow for new,
unexpected
responses
- More effort
required from
respondent
- Exploratory generate fixed
answer questions
- Interviewer
variation in
recording answers
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
28
Closed questions
Advantages
Disadvantages
• Quicker and easier to complete
(better response rate and less
missing data)
• Easy to process pre-coded data
• Easy to compare answers
• (Inter-coder reliability)
• Restrictive range of answers: no
spontaneity
• Difficult to make fixed choice
answers exhaustive
• Respondents may interpret
questions differently
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
29
Designing questions: basic rules
• Remember your research questions
• Decide exactly what you want to find out
• Imagine yourself as a respondent
- how would you answer the questions?
- identify any vague or misleading questions
- think about questionnaire length, style and attractiveness
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
30
Designing questions: more rules
• Avoid long questions, technical terms, jargon and acronyms
• Avoid double-barreled questions
- people may have different answers to each part
- no necessary correspondence between parts
e.g. ‘How much time do you spend on going to concerts and the
cinema?’
• Avoid leading questions
- suggest that a particular response is desired
e.g. ‘Do you think that tuition fees make students less keen to go to
university?’
• Include a ‘don’t know’ option
29.07.2017
MSc in Economic Policy Studies:
Qualitative Methods I
Dr. Daniel Faas
31