Qualitative research

About: Qualitative research is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 39957 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2390470 citations. The topic is also known as: Qualitative method.

Triangulation of Qualitative Methods: Heideggerian Hermeneutics and Grounded Theory

Abstract: This article proposes the use of two qualitative research methodologies-Heideggerian hermeneutics and grounded theory-as a way to understand complex human phenomena. The hermeneutic method uses "thick description," "paradigm cases," "exemplars," and "the-matic analysis" to discover meanings and ways of being (practices) in lived experiences. The aim of grounded theory methodology is to generate an analytic schema called "a substantive grounded theory' that conceptually explains basic social processes at a higher level of abstraction. While each has its own integrity and yields different outcomes, triangulation of these two qualitative methods in one study can illuminate clinical realities that elude alternative approaches. Hermeneutics reveals the uniqueness of shared meanings and common practices that can inform the way we think about our practice; grounded theory provides a conceptual framework useful for planning interventions and further quantitative research.

From Meaning to Meaning: The Influence of Translation Techniques on Non-English Focus Group Research

Abstract: Language translation techniques are at the core of many cross-cultural qualitative research projects. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of translation techniques on the collection and interpretation of non-English to English qualitative data and, in particular, on focus-group data collection and analysis. The goal is to offer suggestions that will minimize potential threats to validity. This article includes a working definition of translation, a discussion of issues related to translation in quantitative research, a discussion of how translation issues differ in focus group research, evaluation criteria for translators and interpreters, and an example of translation techniques used in a research study of perimenopausal Hispanic women.

Confronting the ethics of qualitative research

Abstract: In this article we question the “ethicism” that often permeates the discourse on qualitative research, that is, the implicit idea that qualitative research is ethically good in itself, or at least ethically superior to the uncaring quantitative approaches. In order to throw light on the ethics of qualitative interviews in contemporary consumer societywhat has also been called “the interview society”we draw on microethics as well as macroethics, that is, on the relationships within the interview situation, as well as the relations to society and culture at large. We argue that prevailing forms of warm, empathic interviews are ethically questionable, and, as an antidote, we propose various forms of actively confronting interviews. We argue that ethics is a real and inescapable domain of the human world, and we propose that “The real has to be described, not constructed or formed” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945, p. xi). Therefore we relocate the focus away from the construction of our ethics, to the question ...