2. Chapter 14
Qualitative Studies

3. Qualitative Study Methods
A qualitative study looks for the themes and meanings
that emerge from the observation and evaluation of a
situation or context.
Researchers have intense contact with a selected group
of informants.

4. Examples of Approaches
• Phenomenology: seeks to understand how
participants understand, interpret, and find meaning
in their own unique life experiences and feelings
• Grounded theory: an inductive reasoning process that
uses observations to develop general theories that
explain human behavior
• Ethnography: aims to develop an insider’s view (an
emic perspective) of how members of a particular
cultural group see their world

5. Examples of Techniques
• In-depth and semi-structured interviews of
individuals use open-ended questions to explore
viewpoints. The interviewer is allowed to probe for
more details about any response in order to gain fuller
understanding of the participant’s experiences and
perspectives.
• Interviews are often supplemented by other methods,
such as participant diaries or journals.

6. Examples of Techniques
• Focus groups of about 4 to 12 people are moderated
discussions led by a facilitator from the research
team. The facilitator encourages participants to
interact with one another and to clarify their
individual and shared perspectives.

7. Examples of Analytic Techniques
• The analysis of qualitative data usually involves
coding and classifying observations and deriving
major and minor themes from the groups of
observations.
• Reports of the findings of qualitative studies often
incorporate quotations that express participants’
perspectives and experiences in their own words.

8. Consensus Methods
The goal of some studies is to identify areas of
consensus and areas of contention among individuals
who are experts on a particular topic and/or a particular
community or organization.

9. Delphi Method
The Delphi method is a structured decision-making and
forecasting process in which participants engage in
several rounds of:
•Completing individual questionnaires
•A facilitator summarizing and sharing the responses
•Panelists reconsidering their perspectives after
reflecting on the opinions expressed by others
The goal is for each iteration to move the panel of
experts closer to agreement.

10. Program Evaluation
• Program evaluation includes a variety of approaches
for provide feedback about what is working well and
what can and should be improved
• The evaluation approach must match the goals of the
assessment
• After gathering evidence from a variety of sources,
practical suggestions are made based on the
conclusions of the assessment

11. Program Evaluation
Evidence is reviewed and categorized using a
framework like SWOT:
•Strengths (internal organizational strengths)
•Weaknesses (internal organizational limitations)
•Opportunities (external strengths)
•Threats (external limitations, which might be political,
economic, sociocultural, technological, environmental,
or legal)

12. Program Evaluation
A similar process can be used as a component of other
forms of evaluative research, such as:
•Needs assessment.
•Cost-effectiveness analysis
•Health services research