Creswell, John
2007
Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design: Choosing Among Five Approaches
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“By research design, I refer to the entire process of research from conceptualizing a problem to writing research questions, and on to data collection, analysis, interpretation, and report writing (Bogdan & Taylor, 1975). Yin (2003) commented, “The design is the logi cal sequence that connects the empirical data to a study’s initial research questions and, ultimately, to its conclusions” (p. 20).”
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“Qualitative inquiry represents a legitimate mode of social and human science exploration, without apology or comparisons to quantitative research.”
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“In the choice of qualitative research, inquirers make certain assumptions. These philosophical assumptions consist of a stance toward the nature of reality (ontology), how the researcher knows what she or he knows (epistemology), the role of values in the research (axiology), the language of research (rhetoric), and the methods used in the process (methodology) (Creswell, 2003).”
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“Pragmatism
There are many forms of pragmatism. Individuals holding this worldview focus on the outcomes of the research-the actions, situations, and consequences of inquiry-rather than antecedent conditions (as in postpositivism). There is a concern with applications-”what works”-and solutions to problems (Patton, 1990). Thus, instead of a focus on methods, the important aspect of research is the problem being studied and the questions asked [next page] about this problem (see Rossman & Wilson, 1985). Cherryholmes (1992) and Murphy (1990) provide direction for the basic ideas:
- Pragmatism is not committed to any one system of philosophy and reality.
- Individual researchers have a freedom of choice. They are “free” to choose the methods, techniques, and procedures of research that best meet their needs and purposes.
- Pragmatists do not see the world as an absolute unity. In a similar way, mixed methods researchers look to many approaches to collecting and analyzing data rather than subscribing to only one way (e.g., quantitative or qualitative).
- Truth is what works at the time; it is not based in a dualism between reality independent of the mind or within the mind.
- Pragmatist researchers look to the “what” and “how” to research based on its intended consequences-where they want to go with it.
- Pragmatists agree that research always occurs in social, historical, political, and other contexts.
- Pragmatists have believed in an external world independent of the mind as well as those lodged in the mind. But they believe (Cherryholmes, 1992) that we need to stop asking questions about reality and the laws of nature. “They would simply like to change the subject” (Rorty, 1983, p. xiv.)
- Recent writers embracing this worldview include Rorty (1990), Murphy (1990), Patton (1990), Cherryholmes (1992), and Tashakkori and Teddlie (2003).
In practice, the individual using this worldview will use multiple methods of data collection to best answer the research question, will employ both quantitative and qualitative sources of data collection, will focus on the practical implications of the research, and will emphasize the importance of conducting research that best addresses the research problem. In the discussion here of the five approaches to research, you will see this worldview at work when ethnographers employ both quantitative (e.g., surveys) and qualitative data collection (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999) and when case study researchers use both quantitative and qualitative data (Luck, Jackson, & Usher, 2006; Yin, 2003).”
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“the intent of a grounded theory study is to move [next page] beyond description and to generate or discover a theory, an abstract analytical schema of a process (or action or interaction, Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Participants in the study would all have experienced the process, and the development of the theory might help explain practice or provide a framework for further research. A key idea is that this theory-development does not come “off the shelf,” but rather is generated or “grounded” in data from participants who have experienced the process (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Thus, grounded theory is a qualitative research design in which the inquirer generates a general explanation (a theory) of a process, action, or interaction shaped by the views of a large number of participants (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).”
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“The investigator needs to set aside, as much as possible, theoretical ideas or [NEXT PAGE] notions so that the analytic, substantive theory can emerge.”
-> I use aspects of GT.
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“Regardless of the logic chosen, there are elements of writing a good qualitative research problem statement, a purpose statement, and research questions tailored to one of the approaches to qualitative research”
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“Qualitative studies begin with authors stating the research problem of the study. In the first few paragraphs of a design for a study, the qualitative researcher introduces the “problem” leading to the study. The term “problem” may be a misnomer, and individuals unfamiliar with writing research may struggle with this writing passage. Rather than calling this passage the “problem,” it might be clearer if I call it the “need for the study. ” The intent of a research problem in qualitative research is to provide a rationale or need for studying a particular issue or “problem.” Why is this study needed?”
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“For a grounded theory study, I would expect to learn how we need a theory that explains a process because existing theories are inadequate, nonexistent for the population, or need to be modified.”
“As the most important statement in an entire qualitative study, the purpose statement needs to be carefully constructed and written in clear and concise language.”
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“The purpose of this ______________ (narrative, phenomenological, grounded theory, ethnographic, case) study is (was? will be?) to ______________ (understand? describe? develop? discover?) the ______________ (central phenomenon of the study) for (the participants) at [NEXT PAGE] ______________ (the site). At this stage in the research, the ______________ (central phenomenon) will be generally defined as ______________ (a general definition of the central concept).”
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Example Grounded Theory purpose statement:
“The primary purpose of this article is to present a grounded theory of academic change that is based upon research guided by two major research questions: What are the major sources of academic change? What are the major processes through which academic change occurs? For purposes of this paper, grounded theory is defined as theory generated from data systematically obtained and analyzed through the constant comparative method. (Conrad, 1978, p. 101)”
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“I especially like the conceptualization of Marshall and Rossman (2006) of research questions into four types: exploratory (e.g., to investigate phenomenon little understood), explanatory (e.g., to explain patterns related to phenomenon), descriptive (e.g., to describe the phenomenon), and emancipatory (e.g., to engage in social action about the phenomenon).”
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“in grounded theory, the steps involve identifying a central phenomenon, the causal conditions, the intervening conditions, and the strategies and consequences. By writing procedural subquestions, authors can mirror the procedures they intend to use in one of the five approaches to inquiry and foreshadow their choice of approach.”
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“three topics related to introducing and focusing a qualitative study: the problem statement, the purpose statement, and the research questions. Although I discussed general features of designing each section in a qualitative study, I related the topics to the five approaches advanced in this book. The problem statement should indicate the source of the issue leading to the study, be framed in terms of existing literature, and be related to one of the approaches to research using words that convey the approach. The purpose statement also should include terms that encode the statement for a specific approach. Including comments about the site [NEXT PAGE] or people to be studied foreshadows the approach as well. The research questions continue this encoding within an approach for the central question, the overarching question being addressed in the study. Following the central question are subquestions, and I expand a model presented by Stake (1995) that groups subquestions into two sets: issue subquestions, which divide the central phenomenon into subtopics of study, and procedural sub questions, which convey the steps in the research within an approach. Procedural subquestions foreshadow how the researcher will be presenting and analyzing the information.”
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