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.

Analyzing Qualitative Data.

Abstract: (2000). Analyzing Qualitative Data. Theory Into Practice: Vol. 39, Getting Good Qualitative Data to Improve Eduational Practice, pp. 146-154.

The importance of context: Qualitative research and the study of leadership

Abstract: The use of qualitative research in the study of leadership is growing and its impact on the field is beginning to be felt. This article outlines some of the advantages of qualitative investigations of leadership and reports the results of an investigation of police leadership in England in which a qualitative approach was employed. Drawing on ideas from the New Leadership approach, data deriving from semi-structured interviews with a sample of police officers were analyzed in terms of concepts deriving from typical New Leadership findings. While many findings were consistent with New Leadership approaches, some important divergences emerged too. For example, charisma emerged as much less prominent in notions of what makes an effective leader than might have been expected from New Leadership research; by contrast, instrumental leadership was far more pervasive in police officers' thinking as central to effective leadership. The reasons for such findings are speculated upon. particularly with respect to the sensitivity to context that is a feature of qualitative research.

Understanding qualitative data: a framework of text analysis methods

Abstract: Information systems (IS) researchers have argued the need for using qualitative approaches, such as action research, ethnomethodology, phenomenology, and futures research, to supplement widely used quantitative approaches. Despite the interest in qualitative approaches, almost all IS articles published in leading IS journals during the previous decade continue to report the results of quantitative studies. The disparity between the interest in and adoption of qualitative approaches may be attributed to unfamiliarity with qualitative approaches for analyzing text data and the mistaken belief that all qualitative approaches are antipositivist. This paper makes qualitative methods more accessible to both researchers and practitioners by providing a framework that categorizes various text analysis approaches. The framework classifies methods as positivist, linguistic, and interpretivist, based on assumptions about the nature of text data, the researcher's influence on text interpretation, and the validity checks used to justify text interpretations. Thus, all researchers can consider qualitative text analysis methods regardless of their paradigmatic position.

Annual Research Review: Resilience and Mental Health in Children and Adolescents Living in Areas of Armed Conflict--A Systematic Review of Findings in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Abstract: Background Researchers focused on mental health of conflict-affected children are increasingly interested in the concept of resilience. Knowledge on resilience may assist in developing interventions aimed at improving positive outcomes or reducing negative outcomes, termed promotive or protective interventions. Methods We performed a systematic review of peer-reviewed qualitative and quantitative studies focused on resilience and mental health in children and adolescents affected by armed conflict in low- and middle-income countries. Results Altogether 53 studies were identified: 15 qualitative and mixed methods studies and 38 quantitative, mostly cross-sectional studies focused on school-aged children and adolescents. Qualitative studies identified variation across socio-cultural settings of relevant resilience outcomes, and report contextually unique processes contributing to such outcomes. Quantitative studies focused on promotive and protective factors at different socio-ecological levels (individual, family-, peer-, school-, and community-levels). Generally, promotive and protective factors showed gender-, symptom-, and phase of conflict-specific effects on mental health outcomes. Conclusions Although limited by its predominantly cross-sectional nature and focus on protective outcomes, this body of knowledge supports a perspective of resilience as a complex dynamic process driven by time- and context-dependent variables, rather than the balance between risk- and protective factors with known impacts on mental health. Given the complexity of findings in this population, we conclude that resilience-focused interventions will need to be highly tailored to specific contexts, rather than the application of a universal model that may be expected to have similar effects on mental health across contexts.

How to do a grounded theory study: a worked example of a study of dental practices

Abstract: Background: Qualitative methodologies are increasingly popular in medical research. Grounded theory is the methodology most-often cited by authors of qualitative studies in medicine, but it has been suggested that many ‘grounded theory’ studies are not concordant with the methodology. In this paper we provide a worked example of a grounded theory project. Our aim is to provide a model for practice, to connect medical researchers with a useful methodology, and to increase the quality of ‘grounded theory’ research published in the medical literature. Methods: We documented a worked example of using grounded theory methodology in practice. Results: We describe our sampling, data collection, data analysis and interpretation. We explain how these steps were consistent with grounded theory methodology, and show how they related to one another. Grounded theory methodology assisted us to develop a detailed model of the process of adapting preventive protocols into dental practice, and to analyse variation in this process in different dental practices. Conclusions: By employing grounded theory methodology rigorously, medical researchers can better design and justify their methods, and produce high-quality findings that will be more useful to patients, professionals and the research community.