What are the main types of qualitative approaches to research? Show
While there are many different investigations that can be done, a study with a qualitative approach generally can be described with the characteristics of one of the following three types: Historical research describes past events, problems, issues and facts. Data are gathered from written or oral descriptions of past events, artifacts, etc. It describes “what was” in an attempt to recreate the past. It is different from a report in that it involves interpretation of events and its influence on the present. It answers the question: “What was the situation?” Examples of Historical Research:
Ethnographic research develops in-depth analytical descriptions of current systems, processes, and phenomena and/or understandings of the shared beliefs and practices of a particular group or culture. This type of design collects extensive narrative data (non-numerical data) based on many variables over an extended period of time in a natural setting within a specific context. The background, development, current conditions, and environmental interaction of one or more individuals, groups, communities, businesses or institutions is observed, recorded, and analyzed for patterns in relation to internal and external influences. It is a complete description of present phenomena. One specific form of ethnographic research is called a case study. It is a detailed examination of a single group, individual, situation, or site. A meta-analysis is another specific form. It is a statistical method which accumulates experimental and correlational results across independent studies. It is an analysis of analyses. Examples of Ethnographic Research:
Narrative research focuses on studying a single person and gathering data through the collection of stories that are used to construct a narrative about the individual’s experience and the meanings he/she attributes to them. Examples of Narrative Research:
Published on December 3, 2021 by Tegan George and Julia Merkus. Revised on August 17, 2022. Explanatory research is a research method that explores why something occurs when limited information is available. It can help you increase your understanding of a given topic, ascertain how or why a particular phenomenon is occurring, and predict future occurrences. Explanatory research can also be explained as a “cause and effect” model, investigating patterns and trends in existing data that haven’t been previously investigated. For this reason, it is often considered a type of causal research. Note: Be careful not to confuse explanatory research with exploratory research, which is also preliminary in nature but instead explores a subject that hasn’t been studied in depth yet.When to use explanatory researchExplanatory research is used to investigate how or why a phenomenon takes place. Therefore, this type of research is often one of the first stages in the research process, serving as a jumping-off point for future research. While there is often data available about your topic, it’s possible the particular causal relationship you are interested in has not been robustly studied. Explanatory research helps you analyze these patterns, formulating hypotheses that can guide future endeavors. If you are seeking a more complete understanding of a relationship between variables, explanatory research is a great place to start. However, keep in mind that it will likely not yield conclusive results. Example: Explanatory research You have been teaching statistics to undergraduate students during both the first and second semesters for several years in a row.You analyzed their final grades and noticed that the students who take your course in the first semester always obtain higher grades than students who take the same course in the second semester. You are interested in discovering what causes this pattern. Explanatory research questionsExplanatory research answers “why” and “how” questions, leading to an improved understanding of a previously unresolved problem or providing clarity for related future research initiatives. Here are a few examples:
Explanatory research data collectionAfter choosing your research question, there is a variety of options for research and data collection methods to choose from. A few of the most common research methods include:
The method you choose depends on several factors, including your timeline, budget, and the structure of your question. If there is already a body of research on your topic, a literature review is a great place to start. If you are interested in opinions and behavior, consider an interview or focus group format. If you have more time or funding available, an experiment or pilot study may be a good fit for you. Explanatory research data analysisIn order to ensure you are conducting your explanatory research correctly, be sure your analysis is definitively causal in nature, and not just correlated. Always remember the phrase “correlation doesn’t mean causation.” Correlated variables are merely associated with one another: when one variable changes, so does the other. However, this isn’t necessarily due to a direct or indirect causal link. Causation means that changes in the independent variable bring about changes in the dependent variable. In other words, there is a direct cause-and-effect relationship between variables. Causal evidence must meet three criteria:
Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but causation always implies correlation. In order to get conclusive causal results, you’ll need to conduct a full experimental design. Step-by-step example of explanatory researchYour explanatory research design depends on the research method you choose to collect your data. In most cases, you’ll use an experiment to investigate potential causal relationships. We’ll walk you through the steps using an example. Step 1: Develop the research questionThe first step in conducting explanatory research is getting familiar with the topic you’re interested in, so that you can develop a research question. Let’s say you’re interested in language retention rates in adults. Example: Explanatory research questionYou have previously studied language retention in adults who were adopted from abroad as children. You discovered that adults who were exposed to a foreign language as infants were better able to relearn the language than adults who were never exposed.You are interested in finding out how the duration of exposure to language influences language retention ability later in life. You want to set up an experiment to answer the following research question: How does the duration of exposure to a language in infancy influence language retention in adults who were adopted from abroad as children? Step 2: Formulate a hypothesisThe next step is to address your expectations. In some cases, there is literature available on your subject or on a closely related topic that you can use as a foundation for your hypothesis. In other cases, the topic isn’t well studied, and you’ll have to develop your hypothesis based on your instincts or on existing literature on more distant topics. Example: Explanatory research hypothesis You expect that adults who have been exposed to a language in infancy for a shorter time are less likely to retain aspects of this language than adults who have been exposed for a longer period of time.You phrase your expectations in terms of a null (H0) and alternative hypothesis (H1):
Note: It is possible to add multiple hypotheses, but for this example we’ll continue with just one. Step 3: Design your methodology and collect your dataNext, decide what data collection and data analysis methods you will use and write them up. After carefully designing your research, you can begin to collect your data. Example: Data collection and data analysis methodsYou decide to conduct an experiment, since you’re interested in testing a causal relationship. You gather a group of adults who were adopted from Colombia but have lived in the United States since the time of their adoption.You compare:
During the study, you test their Spanish language proficiency twice in a research design that has three stages:
You made sure to control for any confounding variables, such as age, gender, proficiency in other languages, etc. Since you have chosen a between-subjects variable (different exposure duration) and a within-subjects variable (pre-test vs. post-test), you decide to conduct a mixed ANOVA. Step 4: Analyze your data and report resultsAfter data collection is complete, proceed to analyze your data and report the results. Example: ResultsAfter conducting the experiment, you explore the data.You notice that:
To determine whether these differences are significant, you conduct a mixed ANOVA. The ANOVA shows that all differences are not significant for the pre-test, but they are significant for the post-test. You report your results in accordance with the guidelines from the citation style you use (e.g., APA). Step 5: Interpret your results and provide suggestions for future researchAs you interpret the results, try to come up with explanations for the results that you did not expect. In most cases, you want to provide suggestions for future research. Example: Interpretation and future research ideasYour results were in line with your expectations. Adopted adults who were pre-exposed to a language in infancy for a longer period of time have retained more of this knowledge than adopted adults who were pre-exposed for a shorter duration and adults who weren’t pre-exposed at all.However, this difference is only significant after the intervention (the Spanish class.) You decide it’s worth it to further research the matter, and propose a few additional research ideas:
Explanatory vs. exploratory researchIt can be easy to confuse explanatory research with exploratory research. If you’re in doubt about the relationship between exploratory and explanatory research, just remember that exploratory research lays the groundwork for later explanatory research. Exploratory research questions often begin with “what”. They are designed to guide future research and do not usually have conclusive results. Exploratory research is often utilized as a first step in your research process, to help you focus your research question and fine-tune your hypotheses. Explanatory research questions often start with “why” or “how”. They help you study why and how a previously studied phenomenon takes place. Advantages and disadvantages of explanatory researchLike any other research design, explanatory research has its trade-offs: while it provides a unique set of benefits, it also has significant downsides: Advantages
Disadvantages
Frequently asked questions about explanatory researchWhat is explanatory research? Explanatory research is a research method used to investigate how or why something occurs when only a small amount of information is available pertaining to that topic. It can help you increase your understanding of a given topic. You have already voted. Thanks :-) Your vote is saved :-) Processing your vote... Which kind of qualitative research refers to the systematic collection and objective evaluation of data related?Grounded theory is a systematic procedure of data analysis, typically associated with qualitative research, that allows researchers to develop a theory that explains a specific phenomenon.
What type of research is the systematic collection and evaluation of data to describe explain and understand actions or events that occurred sometime in the past?What is Historical Research? The systematic collection and evaluation of data to describe, explain, and understand actions or events that occurred sometime in the past. There is no manipulation or control of variables as in experimental research.
What are the 4 types of qualitative research?Qualitative Research Design Approaches. Historical Study. A historical study is the ideal choice for studies that involve extensive examination of the past — including people, events and documents. ... . Phenomenology. Phenomenology is a wide-ranging form of study. ... . Grounded Theory. ... . Ethnography. ... . Case Study.. Is qualitative research systematic or objective?QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGNS. a formal, objective, systematic process for obtaining information about the world. A method used to describe, test relationships, and examine cause and effect relationships. To gain insight; explore the depth, richness, and complexity inherent in the phenomenon.
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