RESEARCH 101 - QUALITATIVE METHODS WITH DANYA KEENE

DANYA KEENE'S PRESENTATION ON QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

Summary

Qualitative Methods:

  • How does a policy that is implemented affect an outcome
    • Determining a causal relationship through quantitative models that measure impacts
  • Quantitative methods cannot capture everything - Call for Mixed-Methods for policy analysis
  • Type of research depends on the question

EXAMPLES:

  • How effective is a program at reducing smoking rates?
    • Look at the rates before and after the program
    • Compare to a control group
  • What are the barriers to quitting smoking?
    • Cannot directly ask what barriers are to smoking - they might fully understand why
    • Cannot try to list out possible barriers - might miss some and not gain full understanding
    • --> Need to use qualitative methods
      • What was the program like? What was your experience with (some part of the program)? What was is like the last time you tried to quit?
      • We need people's stories to fully understand
  • How does moving from a high poverty to a low poverty neighborhood affect education attainment?
    • Quantitative - compare test scores
      • Would not show how students' experiences have changed - do they experience more racism? Depression?
    • Qualitative - ask students about their experiences
  • The effects of moving from high to low poverty differed for boys and girls
    • Interview boys and girls individually to find out how their stories differ
  • What are qualitative methods?
    • Interviews
    • Focus groups
  • Characteristics of qualitative methods -
    • INDEDUCTIVE not deductive
      • Steps:
        • Start with broad question
        • Do some observations and look for patterns
        • Create some hypotheses based on patterns
        • Test hypotheses (deductive)
        • Come up with a theory
      • Reality is that researchers begin with hypotheses in the back of their minds --> Don't let these hunches affect your research
    • ITERATIVE not sequential
      • Don't do a bunch of interviews at the beginning and then analyze results after that
      • DO a few interviews, possibly change questions as a result
    • Not as concerned with how many people tell a similar story
      • Samples are not often representative
      • More concerned with capturing a RANGE of experiences
    • Relishes complexity - don't try to isolate a single variable
      • Holistic approach
      • Want to understand nuances and context
    • Social constructivist perspective not positivist
      • There is no one truth
  • What are qualitative methods good for?
    • Exploring areas we don't know much about
    • Understand participants' experiences and attitudes
    • Generate comprehensive descriptions
    • Understand processes and mechanisms
      • Why did it work/not work?
  • Mixed methods - combine qualitative and quantitative
    • Qualitative methods answers: what is it like? what does it mean?
    • Quantitative methods answer: to what degree? How common?
  • Getting data when Centers are unable to collect their own:
    • e.g. Transcripts from court hearings, committee hearings for legislation
    • Difficult to use qualitative data that someone else created
    • Talk to one or two people to inform what is observed in quantitative data
      • e.g. Do a focus group, a couple phone interviews
    • e.g. Analysis of newspaper articles
  • Common mistakes in qualitative research
    • Phrase a question too narrowly and not allow for discovery - forcing people to conform to preconceived ideas
    • Trying to do too much