Successful Qualitative Research: Don't get too comfortable!

Los Angeles | London | New Delhi | Singapore | Washington DC | Boston www.Queri.com
Make sure your
volume is set
appropriately
Make sure you have
followed the instructions
on your keypad properly
Make sure everything is
plugged in properly to assure
your devices are working
correctly
If you have audio
or visual
difficulties, please
let us know via
the Question box
and we will be
happy to assist
you.
Please Check Your Settings

Qualitative
Experience
Polling
Question
#1

Successful
Qualitative
Research:
Don’t Get Too
Comfortable!
May 27th, 2015

Kristi Jackson, MEd PhD
President,
Queri, Inc.
Nicole Elliott
Executive Marketing Manager,
SAGE Publications

While we do our best to answer as many questions as we can, time constraints
may not allow us to answer every question. Thank you for understanding.
Send us your questions!
Send in your questions
via the Question Box
on your screen. →
Using Twitter? Use
the hashtag
#SAGETalks.

Presentation Overview
• Seven tendencies in qualitative research
• Focus in this presentation: Flexibility
• Metaphors and flexibility
• Participant language
• Presenting findings
• Part of qualitative research practice
• Flexibility Metaphor: Qualitative research as a journey

With Gratitude:
• Lyn Richards (1998). Closeness to the data: The changing goals of
qualitative data handling (Qualitative Health Research).
• Linda Gilbert (2002) Going the distance: ‘Closeness’ in qualitative
data analysis software (International Journal of Social Research
Methodology).
• George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (1980). Metaphors We Live By.
• George Lakoff and Rafael E. Núñez (2002). Where Mathematics
Comes From.
• Fred Davis (1973). The Martian and the convert: Ontological
polarities in social research. (Urban Life and Culture).
• Johnny Saldaña (2015). Thinking Qualitatively: Methods of Mind.

7 Tendencies in Qualitative Research
(not absolutes!)
1. Social science research
2. Holistic understandings
3. “Naturalistic” versus “Controlled” settings
4. Pursuit of “how” and “why” over “what”
5. Unstructured data (audio, video, interviews,
observations . . . )
6. Complex craft of linking research questions,
theories and methods
7. Flexible (Research Questions, Methods,
Handling, Analysis, Reporting)

• Pen, Paper
• Qualitative Data
Analysis Software
(QDAS)
• Video recorder
• Eyes
• Ears
• Transcription
machine
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Field notes
• Archival research
• Surveys
• Conflict
• Critical
• Functional
• Poststructural
• Feminist
• Symbolic
interaction
• Exchange
• Participant
observation
• Emancipatory
research
• Community
based
• Case study
• Hypothesis
testing
• Action research
• Constructivism
• Pragmatism
• Empiricism
• Rationalism
Tools Methods Methodologies Theories Epistemologies
6. Complex craft of linking research
questions, theories and methods

Broad focus
Narrow focus
7. Flexibility

Seconds
Centuries

System
Element

Incident
Tradition

Insiders
Outsiders

Which is
most
important?
Polling
Question
#2

• Saldaña (in Leavy) using the metaphor
of acting to describe qualitative skills:
• “. . . your work must be improvisational–acting, reacting,
and interacting with data on a moment-by-moment basis to
determine what obstacles stand in your way and what
strategies you should take to reach your goals.” (p. 581)
Flexibility and Improvisation

• Lakoff and Johnson: Orientational metaphor
Metaphors in everyday life
“I am in a good mood”
“I am feeling a little out of it”

Up and Down
Happy is up; sad is down
Conscious is up; unconscious is down
Health and life are up; sickness and death are down
Having control is up; being subject to control is down
More is up; less is down
Status is up; low status is down
Virtue is up; depravity is down
Examples

Closeness and Distance
Walk in my shoes
Monday morning
quarterback
Externally driven (Inter)personally driven

“Qualitative research is an adventure”
NEAR
“Navigating the politics at this site is exhausting.”
“I am launching a study.”
“I love working in the field.”
“I am just going to dive in and see how it goes.”
FAR
“I can barely see the light at the end of the tunnel.”
“I need to get some distance to think about it.”
“Running matrix queries in NVivo gives me a topographical view.”
“That meeting was enough to make me jump ship.”
One Dimension of Research Flexibility:
Researcher Closeness and Distance

• When you move closer to one thing, you move farther from
another
Near and Far are always relative, not
absolute

Conceptually
Vantage: Center  Periphery
Culture: Incident  Tradition
Structure: Element  System
Stakeholders: Insiders  Outsiders
Self: Engaged  Observing
Timing: Past  Present
Practically
Sensory: Audio, video, written, motion, experiential
Speed/tempo: Slow, fast, reverse
Timing: Put down, pick up
Data: Distill, expand
Literature: Connect, diverge
Tips for moving near and far

Inspirational video on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwwqlsSH4Hw
What kind of journey are you on?

Webinar recording, slides, and follow-up Q&A will be
emailed to you and available on sagepub.com/sagetalks.
Thank you!
Kristi Jackson
• Website: queri.com
• Email: kjackson@queri.com
Be sure to check our website for updates on our webinar series!

Successful Qualitative Research: Don't get too comfortable!

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

Tendances

Tendances (8)

Similaire à Successful Qualitative Research: Don't get too comfortable!

Similaire à Successful Qualitative Research: Don't get too comfortable! (20)

Plus de SAGE Publishing

Plus de SAGE Publishing (20)

Dernier

Dernier (20)

Successful Qualitative Research: Don't get too comfortable!

Notes de l'éditeur