Chapter+5+Notes

Qualitative Research & Evaluation Methods Chapter 5: Designing Qualitative Studies

This chapter discusses ways in which research designs can be appropriately matched to evaluation questions, being both strategic (clear about the purpose of the intended research or evaluation) and practical.

1. __Purpose is the controlling force in research__. Decisions about design, measurement, analysis, and reporting all flow from purpose. The centrality of purpose in making methods decisions becomes evident from examining alternative purposes along a continuum from theory to action (p. 213):
 * Basic research: to contribute to fundamental knowledge and theory
 * Applied research: to illuminate a societal concern
 * Summative evaluation: to determine program effectiveness
 * Formative evaluation: to improve a program
 * Action research: to solve a specific problem

2. __Standards for judging quality vary among these five different types of research__:
 * Expectations and audiences are different
 * Reporting and dissemination approaches are different
 * Because of these differences, the researcher must be clear at the beginning about which purpose has priority
 * // No single study can serve all of these different purposes and audiences equally well //


 * // KEY: See Exhibit 5.3 A Typology of Research Purposes (p. 224) //** for an at-a-glance outline of: types of research, purpose, focus of research, desired results, desired level of generalizations, key assumptions, publication mode, and standard for judging.

3. __There is no simple and universal answer to which research design is best; or which strategy will provide the most useful information to decision makers__. The answer in each case will depend on the (p. 253):
 * Purpose of the study
 * Scholarly or evaluation audience for the study (what intended users want to know)
 * Funds available
 * Political context
 * Interests, abilities, biases of the researchers.


 * // KEY: See Exhibit 5.8 Design Issues and Options (p. 254) //**

4. __There are always critical trade-offs in design__. Limited resources, limited time, and limits on the human ability to grasp the complex nature of social reality necessitate trade-offs. //The very first trade-offs come in framing the research or evaluation questions to be studied.// What is the extent to which it is desirable to study one or few questions in great depth or to study many questions, but in less depth—the “boundary problem” in naturalistic inquiry (pgs. 223-224).

5. __No rule of thumb exists to tell a researcher precisely how to focus a study__. The extent to which a research or evaluation study is __broad or narrow__ depends on purpose, the resources available, the time available, and the interests of those involved. These are not choices between good and bad but choices among alternatives, all of which have merit (p. 228).

6. __A design specifies the unit or units of analysis to be studied__. Decisions about sample size and sampling strategies depend on prior decisions about the appropriate unit of analysis to study (p. 228). //The key issue in selecting and making decisions about the appropriate unit of analysis is to decide what it is you want to be able to say something about at the end of the study// (p. 229).


 * // KEY: See Exhibit 5.5 Examples of Units of Analysis for Case Studies and Comparisons (p. 231) //**

7. __Qualitative inquiry typically focuses in depth on relatively small samples, even single cases, selected purposefully__. [Quantitative methods typically depend on larger samples selected randomly.] The logic and power of purposeful sampling lie in selecting information-rich cases whose study will illuminate the questions under study (p. 230).

8. The purpose of a small random sample is credibility, not representativeness (p. 241).


 * // KEY: See Exhibit 5.6 Sampling Strategies (p. 243) //**

9. __There are no rules for sample size in qualitative inquiry__. Sample size depends on what you want to know, the purpose of the inquiry, what’s at stake, what will be useful, what will have credibility, and what can be done with available time and resources (p. 244). //The validity, meaningfulness, and insights generated from qualitative inquiry have more to do with the information richness of the cases selected and the observational/analytical capabilities of the researcher than with sample size// (p. 245).

10. __Methodological Mixes—A study may employ more than one strategy__. It may also include multiple types of data. “Triangulation” strengthens a study by combining methods. This can mean using several kinds of methods or data, including using both quantitative and qualitative approaches (data, investigator, theory, and methodological--triangulation) (see pgs. 247-253 for descriptions).


 * // KEY: See Exhibit 5.7 Measurement, Design, and Analysis: Pure and Mixed Combinations (p. 252) for detailed example. //**

11. A qualitative design needs to remain sufficiently open and flexible to permit exploration of whatever the phenomenon under study offers for inquiry.

12. Qualitative designs continue to be emergent even after data collection begins—however, the degree of flexibility and openness is a matter of great variation among designs.

13. The challenge is to figure out which design and methods are most appropriate, productive, and useful in a given situation.

__ Interesting definition __ : Meta-evaluation: an evaluation of an evaluation (p. 211)

__ Reference __ : Patton, M. Q. (2002). //Qualitative research & evaluation methods// (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.