Diff_Qualitative & Quantitative_presentation.pptx

Qualitative Research:
What? Why? and How?
Research for Action on the FCTC, IDRC
October 31-November 1 2005
Alison Mathie, Coady International Institute

Overview of the manual
 Tobacco Control Research
 Understanding Qualitative Research
 Qualitative Research Methods
 Research Purpose and Design
 Doing Fieldwork
 Qualitative Data Analysis
 Dissemination of Research Findings

In today’s workshop, we will
 Explore the difference between qualitative
and quantitative research
 Follow the steps involved in conducting
qualitative research
 Apply these steps to a qualitative research
study

Qualitative and Quantitative Research:
What’s the difference?
 Qualitative Research seeks to discover meaning and
build theory
 Why do girls take up smoking?
 Quantitative Research seeks to test and refine theory:
 What is the relative importance of age, class, and family
type as predictors of girls taking up smoking?
Ref Module 2 p 32 of manual

Other differences…..
 Units of analysis and sampling strategies
 Methods of data collection
 Results and analysis
Ref Module 2, p32

Qualitative v. Quantitative methods?
 They serve different research questions
 What is the role of bidi making and selling in the
livelihood of urban women in the town of Ahmedabad?
(qualitative methods)
 What is the trend in the market share of different tobacco
products: locally made bidis, factory made cigarettes,
loose tobacco, pipe tobacco (longitudinal quantitative
survey of retail sales of small shops)
 But they are also complementary- many studies use
mixed method designs….

Qualitative and Quantitative:
 Many studies use mixed method designs to make the
most of the strengths of both.
 Mehl’s study is an example of this
 Typical reasons for mixed method designs
 Triangulation
 Complementarity
 Conceptual development/theory building
 Expansion

Mixed-method design: Mehl’s study
 Purpose: To design anti-smoking programs
 Focus: Factors influencing smoking among young males in
an urban community in Sri Lanka
 Design: Iterative, mixed-method
 Methods:
 Qualitative (focus groups, in-depth individual interviews, community
mapping)
 Quantitative (surveys using randomised sampling)
 Data analysis: Transcription of taped interviews and field
notes entered into qualitative software package and coded
Ref Module 1, Page 15-21

Qualitative and Quantitative data:
What’s the difference?
 Qualitative data are typically words
transcribed into text that the researcher has to
analyse and interpret.
 Quantitative data are numbers that can be
used for numerical or statistical analysis

Qualitative Research Design:
What’s the process?
 Conduct a literature review to identify gaps in
knowledge
 Define the purpose of the research
 Establish a research focus
 Decide on the unit of analysis and sampling strategy
 Select appropriate methods for data collection and
analysis
 Attend to practical details

Purpose
 Why is this research relevant?
 What decisions can be influenced on the basis
of its findings?
 Who will use the research?

Focus
 What specific research question are you
trying to answer?

Purposeful sampling strategy
 What is your unit of analysis? ( individual, particular
category of people, organisation, a community..)
 What kind of sampling strategy will you use?
 Extreme or deviant case
 Maximum variation
 Homogeneous
 Typical case
 Snowball
 Stratified purposeful sampling

Selecting appropriate methods
 Observations
 Interviews
 Case studies, including life histories
 Mapping and other visual representation
techniques

Analysing data
 What form will your data be in?
 How will you develop a category system?
 How will you sort and code qualitative data?
 How will you present and interpret data?

Software programs for qualitative data
analysis
 Code and retrieve
 Code-based theory builder

Validating research findings
 Internal validity
 Are the findings a justifiable interpretation of the
data?
 Check methods of data collection and analysis
 External validity
 To what extent do the findings hold true for the
general population?
 Check sampling strategy and depth of description
 Multi-site designs

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