Week 3 Sampling for Qualitative Methods and Data collection and

analysis

Learning Objectives:

1. To critically understand recruiting samples for qualitative research

2. To understand different qualitative data collection methods
3. To understand different qualitative data analysis techniques

1
CONTENTS

Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 3
Selecting Interviewees: .................................................................................................................... 3
Ways of Recruiting Respondents in qualitative research .................................................................. 4
Qualitative data collection methods ................................................................................................. 4
Methods of Interviewing.............................................................................................................. 5
Principles of qualitative data analysis ........................................................................................... 6
Stages of qualitative data analysis ............................................................................................... 6
Making Qualitative data analysis valid and reliable.......................................................................7
Qualitative data analysis techniques ................................................................................................. 8
Content analysis .......................................................................................................................... 8
Narrative analysis of qualitative data........................................................................................... 8
Discourse analysis ....................................................................................................................... 9
Thematic analysis ........................................................................................................................ 9
Grounded Theory .......................................................................................................................10
References...................................................................................................................................... 11

2
INTRODUCTION

A sample is defined as a finite part of the study participants drawn from the target population,
while the target population is the entire set of subjects whose characteristics are of interest to
the researcher, (Jeovany et al, 2016). Qualitative researchers have been criticised for not
justifying sample size decisions in their research. In qualitative research, only a sample of a
population is selected for any given study, (Boddy, 2016). This is because the study objectives
and the characteristics of the study population determine which sample to deal with.
Qualitative sampling is purposeful, a technique widely used for the identification and
selection of information-rich cases with use of limited resources (Patton, 2002). The method
is aimed at identifying and selecting individuals or groups of individuals who are more
knowledgeable about or experienced with a phenomenon of interest (Cresswell & Clark,
2011).

Bryan et al, (2013) noted that ensuring enough data is collected is a precursor to credible
analysis and reporting in qualitative research. The concept, data saturation is applicable to all
qualitative research that employs interviews as the primary data source. Data saturation
demands that you bring on new participants into the study until the data set is complete, as
indicated by data replication or redundancy. Saturation is reached when the researcher gathers
data to the point of diminishing returns, when nothing new is being added.

SELECTING INTERVIEWEES :

A qualitative research interview is a more personal and interactive research interview where
the interviewer probes and or ask research questions to the selected respondent, aimed at a
having a deep discussion of the interview topic. It is therefore important to note that the selection
of study participants in qualitative research is based on the research questions, theoretical
perspectives, and the study evidence, (Sargeant, (2012). The participants must be
knowledgeable and able to inform key facts and perspectives of the phenomenon being
studied. No number or the type of respondents can be specified in advance, as there maybe
need to change on the type of participants as the data is collected. The details of who is to be
3
interviewed, how respondents are to be found and what will be asked in the interviews may
all emerge during field visits for data collection. However, there is need to plan ahead to
theoretically propose the potential participants and how they will be selected. During the
interview, there is a temptation to conduct as many interviews as one can reach, however, it
may be very wasteful in time and energy. It is possible that after interviewing a few
participants, the saturation of responses or ideas is reached. Qualitative research is intended
to sure that the data collected reflects the broad view of participants in a setting. It is important
that you also consider they diversity of participants for equitable representation (theoretical
sampling).

WAYS OF RECRUITING R ESPONDENTS IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

1. Use of senior members of organisations

2. Use of informal networks

3. Direct approaches like meeting participants in public places, offices

4. Advertising for self-selected participants

5. Use of World-wide Web based discussion forums.

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

Tilahun, (2009), presents the following qualitative data collection methods

Methods Brief explanation

Observation The study subjects are observed (with/without participation) usually to

understand what they do, say and practice.

4
 Interview Asking questions, listening to and recording responses from an individual
or group of respondents using a structured, semi- structured or
unstructured questionnaire in an in-depth manner.

Focus Group Focused and guided interactive session with a group of study participants
Discussion in small numbers for everyone to participate.

Ethnography This means ‘writing culture’, and it derived from anthropology and
sociology, subjects that study other and own cultures respectively.
Ethnography or observation looks at norms, values, and shared meanings
of what is observed.

Other methods Rapid assessment procedure (RAP), Free listing, Pile sort,
ranking, and life history (biography)

METHODS OF INTERVIEWING

The three ways to conduct qualitative interviews are:

Face-to-face

Here the researcher and respondent meet together. This is the most frequently used technique
and enables attention to be paid to non-verbal behaviour and establish a rapport over an
extended period of time.

Telephone and Video links

This can be used where a face-to-face interview is not possible, and appropriate where the
topic is not sensitive and non-verbal behaviour is less important. Telephone conferencing
may enable focus groups, but there are major problems in ‘turn taking’ and ensuring all are
5
able to participate. Video conferencing adds a further dimension to this kind of distance
interviewing.

Web Interview

The Internet provides opportunities through chat rooms for interviewing and is a growing
method of conducting in-depth interviews. There are clearly major problems in establishing
rapport, and non-verbal behaviour will be missed entirely. However, some suggests that
respondents may be willing to be open about personal matters. Issues of authenticity of
identity may also be an issue.

PRINCIPLES OF QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Qualitative data, is data which is not easily reduced into numbers, as it is related to concepts,
opinions, values and behaviours of people in social context. Qualitative data analysis involves
the transcription of individual interviews and focus groups, field notes, copies of documents,
audio/video recordings and extra. Qualitative Data Analysis is defined by Tilahun, (2009), as
the range of processes and procedures that turn qualitative data collected into some form of
explanation, understanding or interpretation of people/situations being investigated.

The purpose of qualitative data analysis is interpretation of the data in themes, on the
phenomenon being studied. The interpretation should lead to more understanding of the
results, new ideas, and theories.

STAGES OF QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS

Deconstruction: the breaking down of data into categories or codes. This stage calls for
reading and rereading the interview data collected so as to break it into categories or codes
that describe the content.

Interpretation: The making sense of and understanding the categorized or coded data. It is the
comparing of data codes and categories within and across important study transcripts and
variables. This interpretation of data and findings requires discussion and comparison of codes
6
by looking for similarities and differences among themes, comparing with findings of other
studies, looking at theories which might explain relationships and extra.

Reconstruction: The recreating of prominent codes and themes in a way that shows
relationships and insights got from the interpretation phase, explains the theme more broadly
in terms of existing knowledge and theoretical perspectives. This stage requires
contextualization of results within existing theory, evidence, and practice, (Sargeant, 2012),

MAKING QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS VALID AND RELIABLE

Credibility Credibility of qualitative data analysis requires accuracy of

(Internal description of the findings including stating the exact setting,
Validity) participants involved and their responses.

Transferability In most qualitative research, the method of sampling is not

(External representative, but aimed at maximising the diversity within the study
Validity setting. Transferability only occurs when other settings are very similar
to the study setting.

Dependability Positivistic research assumes an unchanging world, so that if an

(Instrument identical study were to be performed the assumption would be that the
Reliability) same findings would emerge. However, in naturalistic enquiry, it must
be acknowledged that the social world changes.

Confirmability During qualitative data collection and analysis consciously or

(Observer Bias) unconsciously bias can be come in which can be reduced by having
other individuals to critically appraise the conclusions drawn and check
for bias.

7
QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES

CONTENT ANALYSIS

Qualitative content analysis is used to analyse text data either in verbal, print, or electronic
form. The text data can come from narrative responses, open-ended survey questions,
interviews, focus groups, observations, and other print media. It is intended to provide
knowledge and understanding of a phenomenon under study. It is a data analysis method for
subjective interpretation of the content of text data through a systematic classification and of
themes and patterns, (Hsiu & Shannon, 2005).

NARRATIVE ANALYSIS OF QUALITATIVE DATA

Narrative analysis is intended to understand how the study participants construct stories based
on personal experience. The participants interpret their own lives through narratives from
which the researcher interprets the construction of that narrative got from journals, letters,
conversations, transcripts of in-depth interviews, focus groups, or other types of narrative
qualitative research. These narratives can be;

1. Topical stories: A restricted story about one specific moment in time.

2. Personal narrative: Narratives from a long interview or a series interviews on
someone’s life experiences.
8
 3. Entire life story: A collection of interviews, observations, and documents about a
person’s life.

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Discourse analysis is used to study written or spoken language in its social context so as to
understand how such language is used in real life. It may focus on the purposes and effects of
language, cultural values and conventions in communication. Furthermore, it can be used to
understand how values, beliefs and assumptions are communicated, and how language used
relates to social, political and historical context.

THEMATIC ANALYSIS

Braun and Clarke, (2006) noted that thematic analysis for qualitative data requires searching
all the data sets to identify, analyse, and report repeated patterns. It is a powerful approach to
use to understand experiences, thoughts, or behaviours across a data set through 6 major steps
notably; Familiarizing Yourself with the Data, Generating Initial Codes, Searching for
Themes, Reviewing Themes, Defining and Naming Themes, and Producing the
Report/Manuscript, in that order. (Michelle, Kiger & Lara, 2020).

9
GROUNDED THEORY

The grounded theory was presented by sociologists Glaser and Strauss (1967), aimed at
having a social theory generated systematically from data. It was suggested that theories be
‘grounded’ in rigorous empirical research than produced in abstracts. These generalisable
ideas or concepts are derived from data that helps to understand the social world. Grounded
Theory analysis is inductive, as the resulting theory ‘emerges’ from data through a process of
rigorous and structured analysis, (Tilahun, 2009).

Here under is the follow chart used for qualitative data analysis using the grounded
theory;

Conclusion

The topic overview on sampling for Qualitative Methods and Data collection and analysis,
has provided brief insights into the topic for further reading. Particularly, it has presented
information on recruitment of samples for qualitative research, the different qualitative data
collection methods, and the different qualitative data analysis techniques. With the reference
materials and video links provided the students will further understand the outline concepts.

10
REFERENCES

Boddy, C.R. (2016), "Sample size for qualitative research", Qualitative Market Research,
Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 426-432. https://doi.org/10.1108/QMR-06-2016-0053

Braun, Virginia; Clarke, Victoria (2006). "Using thematic analysis in psychology".

Qualitative Research in Psychology. 3 (2): 77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa.
S2CID 10075179.

Bryan Marshall, Peter Cardon, Amit Poddar & Renee Fontenot (2013) Does Sample Size
Matter in Qualitative Research?: A Review of Qualitative Interviews in is Research, Journal
of Computer Information Systems, 54:1, 11-22, DOI: 10.1080/08874417.2013.11645667

Cresswell JW, Plano Clark VL. Designing and conducting mixed method research. 2nd Sage;
Thousand Oaks, CA: 2011. [Google Scholar].

Hsiu-Fang Hsieh & Sarah E. Shannon, (2005). Qualitative Health Research, Vol. 15 No. 9,
November 2005 1277-1288. DOI: 10.1177/1049732305276687.

Jeovany Martínez-Mesa, David Alejandro González-Chica, Rodrigo Pereira Duquia, Renan

Rangel Bonamigo, and João Luiz Bastos, 2016. Sampling: How to select participants in my
research study? Article in Anais Brasileiros de Dermatologia.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/305312439. DOI: 10.1590/abd1806-
4841.20165254

Michelle E. Kiger & Lara Varpio (2020): Thematic analysis of qualitative data: AMEE Guide
No. 131, Medical Teacher, DOI: 10.1080/0142159X.2020.1755030.

Patton MQ. Qualitative research and evaluation methods. 3rd Sage Publications; Thousand
Oaks, CA: 2002. [Google Scholar]

Sargeant J. , (2012). Qualitative Research Part II: Participants, Analysis, and Quality
Assurance. J Grad Med Educ. 2012 Mar; 4(1): 1–3. Doi: 10.4300/JGME-D-11-00307.1.
11
Tilahun Nigatu (2009) Qualitative Data Analysis.
http://www.uop.edu.pk/ocontents/Lecture%201%20B%20Qualitative%20Research.pdf

12