Page 1 : Sampling Theory, Sampling Errors, Types of Sampling, Sampling is simply a process for obtaining relevant information and making inferences about a population by analysing a small group of people within the population for the purpose of a . It essentially involves selecting a small portion from the aggregate or total population and examining that portion in order to draw inferences about the total population., Population or Universe – It is the subject matter of research study. It refers to the entire group or population of something taken into consideration for the purpose of research. It may be finite or infinite., Sample – A sample is that portion of the population which is critically analysed during a research study in order to make estimations or draw inferences about the entire population. A sample may be defined as a unit chosen from the entire population which represents all the features or characteristics of the entire population., Sampling Unit – It refers to one item of a sample. It may be one unit of anything i.e. one consumer, one company, one state, one city etc., Sampling Frame – The collection of all the items or units of a sample make up the sampling frame. It consists a list of all the items in a universe (only in case of finite universe, where it is possible to list down all items)., Sampling Design – It is simply a plan for obtaining a sample out of a given population. It lays down a definite plan for obtaining a sample out of the entire universe in terms of sampling objectives, population, sample frame, sample size, sample unit,   etc. It is determined before the step of data collection in order to obtain reliable, relevant and adequate information., There are two ways in which information can be obtained for sampling:, Census Survey – When the entire population or universe is taken into consideration for the purpose of research., Sample Survey – When only a part of population (sample) is studied., Sample Size – It is the number of observations that form a sample i.e. the number of items that are selected from the entire population for the purpose of research that form a sample. It is denoted by n. The following points must be kept in mind while selecting a sample size:, Optimum – It must be optimum in size – Not too large, nor too small., Representative – It must represent the entire population., Reliable – It must meet the parameters of interest of the research study., Sampling Errors – It refers to the inaccuracy or errors in the process of collection, analysis and interpretation of sampling data., Sampling errors arise due to two reasons:, Systematic or biased or Non-sampling errors – These arise due to use of faulty procedures and techniques in making a sample and lack of experience in research., Unsystematic or unbiased or sampling errors – These arise due to the limitations of the sampling process., Sampling Errors – Sampling errors arise as we study only a small portion of the entire population to draw inferences about the whole population. Hence, there are random variations in the sample values as compared to population values. However if we study the entire population it is believed that errors will be nil. This also means the larger the sample size the smaller the sampling error i.e. sampling error is inversely proportional to the size of sample., Non-Sampling errors – These errors result due to the following reasons:, Incorrect sampling frame or source list, Incorrect, Bias responses of respondents, Non-responses and omission errors, Errors in coding, tabulating, analysing data, Lack of trained and qualified investigators, Types of Sampling, Probability Sampling – In this type of sampling the probability of each item in the universe to get selected for research is the same. Hence the sample collected through this method is totally random in nature., Non-Probability Sampling – In this type of sampling the probability of each item in the universe to get selected for research is not the same. Hence the sample collected through method is not random in nature., Sampling Methods/Techniques of Sampling, methods can be categorised into two types of sampling:, Probability Sampling – In this sampling method the probability of each item in the universe to get selected for is the same. Hence the sample collected through this method is totally random in nature. Therefore it is also known as Random Sampling., Non-Probability Sampling – In this sampling method the probability of each item in the universe to get selected for is not the same. Hence the sample collected through method is not random in nature. Therefore it is known as Non-random Sampling., Sampling Methods/Sampling Techniques, Probability or Random Sampling Methods:, (1) Simple random sampling – This method simply involves the task selecting sampling units randomly out of the sampling frame. A researcher may use the following methods for selecting random samples – Lottery Method, Random Numbers, software etc., There are two types of random sampling:, SRSWR – Simple random sampling with replacement, SRSWOR – Simple random sampling without replacement, (2) Stratified sampling – In this method a heterogeneous population is divided into different small sub-units, which are called stratas. These stratas are homogenous among themselves with respect to a certain factor or characteristic. Items or sampling units are randomly selected from these stratas that together make up the sample., (3) Systematic sampling – In this type of sampling the first unit is selected randomly and then every Kth item on the source list is selected, which becomes the part of the sample. The value of K is determined by :, K = Total no. of units in population/No. of units in sample, The essence of this method is selection of random items from the source list at a specified interval from the selected unit, hence forming a system for selecting items. The Items may be arranged numerically, alphabetically or in an increasing or decreasing order and then a formula is applied to it., (4) Cluster sampling – This method is used where the size of population is very large. In this method a homogeneous population is divided into smaller heterogeneous groups and then samples are drawn out at random from these heterogeneous groups. These heterogeneous groups are called clusters. All items belonging to the selected heterogeneous groups become the part of the sample., (5) Area Sampling – If the clusters are divided on geographical basis, it is termed as area sampling., (6) Multi-stage sampling – In multistage sampling, sampling is performed at more than 1 step or stage. At first stage units are selected by some random sampling method usually SRSWOR or Systematic sampling and at the second stage again some units are selected out of the previously selected units through some suitable method. It can be understood as an expansion of the cluster sampling method where instead of selecting the entire heterogeneous group, items are drawn randomly from each heterogeneous group to form a sample., Non-Probability or Non-Random Sampling Methods, (1) Judgement sampling – In this method, the sampling units are chosen by the researcher on the basis of his or her own judgement. The research simply selects the sample which in his opinion will be best for the study., (2) Quota sampling – In this method of sampling, quotas in form of reservation or percentage are established for different classes of population on the basis of age, gender, nationality etc. A sample is then drawn out on the basis of these quotas., (3) Panel sampling – In this method regular surveys are taken by a researcher from a panel of experts of a particular domain through . The panelists may or may not know about other during the research process., (4) Convenience sampling – In convenience sampling, a researcher simply selects the sample and sampling units that are easily available and accessible. No extra efforts are taken by the researcher as he simply chooses the samples on the basis of convenience., (5) Snowball sampling – This method is used in cases where the population to be studied is rare, therefore it is difficult to find good representative sampling units. In this method the researcher initially selects a sampling unit (a doctor, a musician, a cancer patient depending upon the study) based on his judgement and then starts taking further samples on the basis of directions/advice/referral provided by the first sampling unit., The researcher starts by interviewing one person or small group of people and then asks them for references. He then collects data from the suggested people and asks them for references and the chain continues until an adequate sample is formed., Methods of Data Collection- Primary and Secondary Data, By: bbamantra In: Articles, Research Methodology With: 8 Comments, 8-10 minutes, There are two types of data Primary Data and Secondary Data →, 1.Primary Data → Raw data or primary data is a term for data collected at source. This type of information is obtained directly from first hand sources by means of surveys, observations and experimentation and not subjected to any processing or manipulation and also called primary data., 2.Secondary Data → It refers to the data collected by someone other than the user i.e. the data is already available and analysed by someone else. Common sources of secondary data include various published or unpublished data, books, magazines, newspaper, trade journals etc., Collection of Primary Data →, Primary data is collected in the course of doing experimental or descriptive research by doing experiments, performing surveys or by observation or direct communication with respondents. Several methods for collecting primary data are given below –, 1.Observation Method, It is commonly used in studies relating to behavioural science. Under this method observation becomes a scientific tool and the method of data collection for the researcher, when it serves a formulated research purpose and is systematically planned and subjected to checks and controls., (a) Structured (descriptive) and Unstructured (exploratory) observation – When a observation is characterized by careful definition of units to be observed, style of observer, conditions for observation and selection of pertinent data of observation it is a structured observation. When there characteristics are not thought of in advance or not present it is a unstructured observation., (b) Participant, Non-participant and Disguised observation – When the observer observes by making himself more or less, the member of the group he is observing, it is participant observation but when the observer observes by detaching himself from the group under observation it is non participant observation. If the observer observes in such a manner that his presence is unknown to the people he is observing it is disguised observation., (c) Controlled (laboratory) and Uncontrolled (exploratory) observation – If the observation takes place in the natural setting it is a uncontrolled observation but when observer takes place according to some pre-arranged plans, involving experimental procedure it is a controlled observation., Advantages →, ⦁ Subjective bias is eliminated, ⦁ Data is not affected by past behaviour or future intentions, ⦁ Natural behaviour of the group can be recorded, Limitations →, ⦁ Expensive methodology, ⦁ Information provided is limited, ⦁ Unforeseen factors may interfere with the observational task, 2.Interview Method, This method of collecting data involves presentation of oral verbal stimuli and reply in terms of oral – verbal responses. It can be achieved by two ways :-, (A) Personal Interview – It requires a person known as interviewer to ask questions generally in a face to face contact to the other person. It can be –, Direct personal investigation – The interviewer has to collect the information personally from the services concerned., Indirect oral examination – The interviewer has to cross examine other persons who are suppose to have a knowledge about the problem., Structured Interviews – Interviews involving the use of pre- determined questions and of highly standard techniques of recording., Unstructured interviews – It does not follow a system of pre-determined questions and is characterized by flexibility of approach to questioning., Focused interview – It is meant to focus attention on the given experience of the respondent and its effect. The interviewer may ask questions in any manner or sequence with the aim to explore reasons and motives of the respondent., Clinical interviews – It is concerned with broad underlying feeling and motives or individual’s life experience which are used as method to ellict information under this method at the interviewer direction., Non directive interview – The interviewer’s function is to encourage the respondent to talk about the given topic with a bare minimum of direct questioning., Advantages –, ⦁ More information and in depth can be obtained, ⦁ Samples can be controlled, ⦁ There is greater flexibility under this method, ⦁ Personal information can as well be obtained, ⦁ Mis-interpretation can be avoided by unstructured interview., Limitations –, ⦁ It is an expensive method, ⦁ Possibility of bias interviewer or respondent, ⦁ More time consuming, ⦁ Possibility of imaginary info and less frank responses., ⦁ High skilled interviewer is required, (B) Telephonic Interviews – It requires the interviewer to collect information by contacting respondents on telephone and asking questions or opinions orally., Advantages –, ⦁ It is flexible, fast and cheaper than other methods, ⦁ Recall is easy and there is a higher rate of response, ⦁ No field staff is required., Limitations –, ⦁ Interview period exceed five minutes maximum which is less, ⦁ Restricted to people with telephone facilities., ⦁ Questions have to be short and to the point, ⦁ Less information can be collected., 3.Questionnaire, In this method a questionnaire is sent (mailed) to the concerned respondents who are expected to read, understand and reply on their own and return the questionnaire. It consists of a number of questions printed on typed in a definite order on a form on set of forms., It is advisable to conduct a `Pilot study’ which is the rehearsal of the main survey by experts for testing the questionnaire for weaknesses of the questions and techniques used., Essentials of a good questionnaire –, -It should be short and simple, -Questions should proceed in a logical sequence, -Technical terms and vague expressions must be avoided., -Control questions to check the reliability of the respondent must be present, -Adequate space for answers must be provided, -Brief directions with regard to filling up of questionnaire must be provided, -The physical appearances – quality of paper, colour etc must be good to attract the attention of the respondent, Advantages –, ⦁ Free from bias of interviewer, ⦁ Respondents have adequate time to give, ⦁ Respondents have adequate time to give answers, ⦁ Respondents are easily and conveniently approachable, ⦁ Large samples can be used to be more reliable, Limitations –, ⦁ Low rate of return of duly filled questionnaire, ⦁ Control over questions is lost once it is sent, ⦁ It is inflexible once sent, ⦁ Possibility of ambiguous or omission of replies, ⦁ Time taking and slow process, 4.Schedules, This method of data collection is similar to questionnaire method with the difference that schedules are being filled by the enumerations specially appointed for the purpose. Enumerations explain the aims and objects of the investigation and may remove any misunderstanding and help the respondents to record answer. Enumerations should be well trained to perform their job, he/she should be honest hard working and patient. This type of data is helpful in extensive enquiries however it is very expensive., Collection of Secondary Data, A researcher can obtain secondary data from various sources. Secondary data may either be published data or unpublished data., Published data are available in :, a. Publications of government, b. technical and trade journals, c. reports of various businesses, banks etc., d. public records, e. statistical or historical documents., Unpublished data may be found in letters, diaries, unpublished biographies or work., Before using secondary data, it must be checked for the following characteristics –, 1. Reliability of data – Who collected the data? From what source? Which methods? Time? Possibility of bias? Accuracy?, 2.Suitability of data – The object, scope and nature of the original enquiry must be studies and then carefully scrutinize the data for suitability., 3.Adequacy – The data is considered inadequate if the level of accuracy achieved in data is found inadequate or if they are related to an area which may be either narrower or wider than the area of the present enquiry., Other Methods for Data Collection in Research, By: bbamantra In: Articles, Research Methodology With: 2 Comments, 4-5 minutes, There are many methods for data collection other than Observation, Interview,Questionnaire and Schedules., (a) Warranty Cards – It is a method for data collection in which postal size cards are used by dealers of consumer durables to collect info regarding their product. Information needed is printed in form of questions on the card and placed inside the package along with the product to be filled a posted back by the customer., (b) Distribution or Store audits – Distributions get the retail stores audited through salesman and use such info to estimate market size, market share, purchasing pattern etc. The data obtained in such audits is by observation., (c ) Pantry audits – In this type of audit, the investigator collects an inventory of types, quantities and prices of commodities consumed. It is used to estimate consumption of the basket of goods at the consumer level., (d) Consumer Panels – It is essentially a sample of consumers who are interviewed repeatedly over a period of time. Transitory consumer panel – panel is conducted on a before and after basis. Continuing consumer panel – it is set up for an indefinite period with a view to collect data on a particular aspect of consumer behaviour over time., (e) Mechanical devices – It is the use of mechanical devices to collect information by way of indirect means. Some commonly used mechanical devices are – eye camera, pupilometric camera, motion picture camera, psycho galvanometer and audio meter., (f) Projective techniques – It uses projections of respondents for inferring about underlying motives, urges or intentions which respondents resist. The respondent unconsiously supplies information to project his own attitudes and feelings. Important projective techniques –, → Work association test – It is used to extract information regarding such words which have maximum association, → Sentence completion tests – In these the respondent is asked to complete a sentence, → Story completion test – Respondent is expected to conclude or end a story or complete it., → Verbal projection test – Respondent is asked to comment on or explain what other people do., → Pictorial techniques – Respondent is asked to comment on graphics, images, pictures etc., → Thematic apperception test (T.A.T.) – consists of set of regular pictures that are shown to the respondent and asked to describe what they think the picture represents., → Rosensweig test – uses a cartoon format with words inserted in `balloons’ the respondent is asked to fill the empty balloons in his own words., → Rorschach test – consists of 10 cards having symmetrical but meaning less prints of ink bolt. Responses are interpreted on the basis of some pre-determined psychological framework., → Haltsman Inkbolt test – consists of movement, shading etc. Responses are interpreted for knowing the accuracy of data, emotional needs and dynamic aspect of respondents life., → Tomkins – Horn picture arrangement test – It consists of 25 plates, each containing three sketches that may be arranged in different ways to potray a sequence., f) Play technique – subjects are asked to improvise or act out a situation in which they have been assigned various roles., g) Quizzes, tests and examinations – Memorising and analytical abilities of candidates., h) Sociometry – Technique for describing social relationships among individuals in a group., i) Depth Interviews – they are held to explore needs, desired and feelings and discover underlying motives or intentions of the respondent. It requires great skill by the interviewer and is time consumable. It may be projective or non-projective interview on the basis of the nature of questions asked., j) Content analysis – It consists of analysing the contents of documentary materials such as books, magazines, newspapers and the contents of all other verbal materials which can be either spoken or printed., Qualitative research is a of to gather . This type of research "refers to the meanings, concepts definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and description of things" and not to their "counts or measures." Qualitative research approaches are employed across many academic disciplines, focusing particularly on the human elements of the and ; in less academic contexts, areas of application include qualitative , business, service demonstrations by , and ., As a field of study, qualitative approaches include research concepts and from multiple established academic fields. The aim of a qualitative research project may vary with the disciplinary background, such as a psychologist seeking in-depth understanding of and the reasons that govern such behavior for example. Qualitative methods are best for researching many of the why and how questions of human experience, in for example (not just what, where, when, or "who"); and have a strong basis in the field of sociology to understand government and social programs. Qualitative research is widely used by political science, social work, and education researchers., In the conventional view of statisticians, qualitative methods produce explanations only of the particular cases studied (e.g., as part of an ethnography of a newly implemented government program), any more general conclusions are considered tentative propositions (informed assertions).[] can be then used to seek further mathematical support for such research hypotheses., In contrast, a qualitative researcher might argue that understanding of a phenomenon or situation or event, comes from exploring the totality of the situation (e.g., , ), often with access to large amounts of "hard data" of a nonnumerical form. It may begin as a approach with the researcher having no previous understanding of the phenomenon; or the study may commence with propositions and proceed in a 'scientific and empirical way' throughout the research process (e.g., Bogdan & Taylor, 1990)., A popular method of qualitative research is the (Stake 1995, Yin 1989), which examines in depth 'purposive samples' to better understand a phenomenon (e.g., support to families; Racino, 1999); the case study method exemplifies the qualitative researchers' preference for depth, detail, and context, often working with smaller and more focused , compared with the large samples of primary interest to statistical researchers seeking general laws., Qualitative methods are an integral component of the five angles of analysis fostered by the data percolation methodology. These methods may be used alongside quantitative methods, scholarly or lay reviews of the literature, interviews with experts, and computer simulation, as part of multimethod attitude to data collection and analysis (called Triangulation)., To help navigate the heterogeneous landscape of qualitative research, one can further think of qualitative inquiry in terms of 'means' and 'orientation'. In particular, one could argue that qualitative researchers often reject natural science models of , prefer inductive, hypothesis-generating research processes and procedures (over ), are oriented towards investigations of meaning(s) rather than behaviour, and prefer data in the form of words and images, that are ideally naturally derived (e.g. in-depth observation as opposed to experimentation)., History, notes that qualitative research is "at once very old and very new." He documents that qualitative methods have been used for several centuries, but brought qualitative field research methods to the forefront through their 19th century observations of preliterate societies., Robert Bogdan in his advanced courses on qualitative research traces the history of the development of the fields, and their particular relevance to disability and including the work of his colleague and a founder of participant observation, . As Robert Bogdan and describe in their education text, "historians of qualitative research have never, for instance, included or as developers of the qualitative approach, yet both relied on case studies, observations and indepth interviewing"., In the early 1900s, some researchers rejected , the theoretical idea that there is an objective world which we can gather data from and "verify" this data through . These researchers embraced a qualitative research , attempting to make qualitative research as "rigorous" as quantitative research and creating myriad methods for qualitative research. Such developments were necessary as qualitative researchers won national center awards, in collaboration with their research colleagues at other universities and departments; and university administrations funded Ph.D.s in both arenas through the ensuing decades. Most theoretical constructs involve a process of qualitative analysis and understanding, and construction of these concepts (e.g., Wolfensberger's social role valorization theories)., In the 1970s and 1980s, the increasing ubiquity of computers aided in qualitative analyses, several journals with a qualitative focus emerged, and gained recognition in the academy.[] In the late 1980s, questions of identity emerged, including issues of race, class, gender, and discourse communities, leading to research and writing becoming more . Throughout the 1990s, the concept of a passive observer/researcher was rejected, and qualitative research became more participatory and activist-oriented with support from the federal branches, such as the National Institute on Disability Research and Rehabilitation (NIDRR) of the US Department of Education (e.g., Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers for Family and Community Living, 1990). Also, during this time, researchers began to use mixed-method approaches, indicating a shift in thinking of qualitative and quantitative methods as intrinsically incompatible. However, this history is not apolitical, as this has ushered in a politics of "evidence" (e.g., evidence-based practices in health and human services) and what can count as "scientific" research in scholarship, a current, ongoing debate in the academy., Data collection, analysis and field research design, Qualitative researchers face many choices for techniques to generate data ranging from development and practice, , , , classical , , , , , , qualitative review of statistics in order to predict future happenings, or , among many others. Qualitative methods are used in various methodological approaches, such as which has sociological basis, or ., The interview (structured, semi-structured or unstructured) is a common source of data on the qualities/categories of interest. Other sources include focus groups, observation (without a predefined theory like in mind for example), reflective field notes, texts, pictures, photographs and other images, interactions and practice captured on audio or video recordings, public (e.g. official) personal documents, historical items, and websites and social media., To analyse qualitative data, the researcher seeks meaning from all of the data that is available. The data may be categorized and sorted into patterns (i.e., pattern or thematic analyses) as the primary basis for organizing and reporting the study findings (e.g., activities in the home; interactions with government). Qualitative researchers, often associated with the education field, typically rely on the following methods for gathering information: Participant Observation, Non-participant Observation, Field Notes, Reflexive Journals, Structured Interview, Semi-structured Interview, Unstructured Interview, and Analysis of documents and materials., The ways of participating and observing can vary widely from setting to setting as exemplified by Helen Schwartzman's primer on Ethnography in Organizations (1993). or Anne Copeland and Kathleen White's "Studying Families" (1991). Participant observation is a of reflexive learning, not a single method of observing. and has been described as a continuum of between participation and observation. In researchers typically become members of a culture, group, or setting, and adopt roles to conform to that setting. In doing so, the aim is for the researcher to gain a closer insight into the culture's practices, motivations, and emotions. It is argued that the researchers' ability to understand the experiences of the culture may be inhibited if they observe without participating.[], The data that is obtained is streamlined (texts of thousands of pages in length) to a definite theme or pattern, or representation of a theory or systemic issue or approach. This step in a theoretical analysis or data analytic technique is further worked on (e.g., gender analysis may be conducted; comparative policy analysis may be developed). An alternative research hypothesis is generated which finally provides the basis of the research statement for continuing work in the fields., Some distinctive qualitative methods are the use of and , the latter often identified through sophisticated and sometimes, elitist, snowballing techniques. The focus group technique (e.g., Morgan, 1988) involves a moderator facilitating a small group discussion between selected individuals on a particular topic, with video and handscribed data recorded, and is useful in a coordinated research approach studying phenomenon in diverse ways in different environments with distinct stakeholders often excluded from traditional processes. This method is a particularly popular in and testing new initiatives with users/workers., The research then must be "written up" into a report, book chapter, journal paper, thesis or dissertation, using descriptions, quotes from participants, charts and tables to demonstrate the trustworthiness of the study findings., In qualitative research, the idea of is expressed in terms of the nature of its research procedures, which may be contrasted with of research design. From the experimental perspective, its major stages of research (data collection, data analysis, discussion of the data in context of the literature, and drawing conclusions) should be each undertaken once (or at most a small number of times) in a research study. In qualitative research however, all of the four stages above may be undertaken repeatedly until one or more specific stopping conditions are met, reflecting a nonstatic attitude to the planning and design of research activities. An example of this dynamicism might be when the qualitative researcher unexpectedly changes their research focus or design midway through a research study, based on their 1st interim data analysis, and then makes further unplanned changes again based on a 2nd interim data analysis; this would be a terrible thing to do from the perspective of an (predefined) experimental study of the same thing. Qualitative researchers would argue that their recursivity in developing the relevant evidence and reasoning, enables the researcher to be more open to unexpected results, more open to the potential of building new constructs, and the possibility of integrating them with the explanations developed continuously throughout a study., Specialized uses of qualitative research, Qualitative methods are often part of survey methodology, including telephone surveys and consumer satisfaction surveys., In fields that study households, a much debated topic is whether interviews should be conducted individually or collectively (e.g. as )., One traditional and specialized form of qualitative research is called cognitive testing or which is used in the development of quantitative survey items. Survey items are piloted on study participants to test the reliability and validity of the items. This approach is similar to psychological testing using an intelligence test like the WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Survey) in which the interviewer records "qualitative" (i.e., clinical observations)throughout the testing process. Qualitative research is often useful in a sociological lens. Although often ignored, qualitative research is of great value to sociological studies that can shed light on the intricacies in the functionality of society and human interaction., There are several different research approaches, or research designs, that qualitative researchers use. In the academic social sciences, the most frequently used qualitative research approaches include the following points:, Basic/generic/pragmatic qualitative research, which involves using an eclectic approach taken up to best match the research question at hand. This is often called the mixed-method approach., Research. An example of applied ethnographic research is the study of a particular culture and their understanding of the role of a particular disease in their cultural framework., is an inductive type of research, based or "grounded" in the observations or data from which it was developed; it uses a variety of data sources, including quantitative data, review of records, interviews, observation and surveys., describes the "subjective reality" of an event, as perceived by the study population; it is the study of a phenomenon., Philosophical Research is conducted by field experts within the boundaries of a specific field of study or profession, the best qualified individual in any field of study to use an intellectual analysis, in order to clarify definitions, identify ethics, or make a value judgment concerning an issue in their field of study their lives., , used by a researcher to understand how people communicate and develop symbolic meanings., , an intellectual analysis of ethical problems. It includes the study of ethics as related to obligation, rights, duty, right and wrong, choice etc., Social Science and Governmental Research to understand social services, government operations, and recommendations (or not) regarding future developments and programs, including whether or not government should be involved., Activist Research which aims to raise the views of the underprivileged or "underdogs" to prominence to the elite or master classes, the latter who often control the public view or positions., Foundational Research, examines the foundations for a science, analyzes the beliefs, and develops ways to specify how a knowledge base should change in light of new information., Historical Research allows one to discuss past and present events in the context of the present condition, and allows one to reflect and provide possible answers to current issues and problems. Historical research helps us in answering questions such as: Where have we come from, where are we, who are we now and where are we going?, Visual Ethnography. It uses visual methods of data collection, including photo, voice, photo elicitation, collaging, drawing, and mapping. These techniques have been used extensively as a participatory qualitative technique and to make the familiar strange., , the study of self, is a method of qualitative research in which the researcher uses their personal experience to address an issue., Data analysis, Interpretive techniques, As a form of qualitative inquiry, students of interpretive inquiry (interpretivists) often disagree with the idea of theory-free observation or knowledge. Whilst this crucial philosophical realization is also held by researchers in other fields, are often the most aggressive in taking this philosophical realization to its logical conclusions. For example, an interpretivist researcher might believe in the existence of an objective reality 'out there', but argue that the social and educational reality we act on the basis of never allows a single human subject to directly access the reality 'out there' in reality (this is a view shared by ., To researchers outside the qualitative research field, the most common analysis of qualitative data is often perceived to be observer impression. That is, expert or bystander observers examine the data, interpret it via forming an impression and report their impression in a structured and sometimes quantitative form., Coding, Main article:, In general, coding refers to the act of associating meaningful ideas with the data of interest. In the context of qualitative research, interpretative aspects of the coding process are often explicitly recognized, articulated, and celebrated; producing specific words or short phrases believed to be useful over the data., As an act of sense making, most coding requires the qualitative analyst to read the data and demarcate segments within it, which may be done at multiple and different times throughout the data analysis process. Each segment is labeled with a 'code' – usually a word or short phrase suggesting how the associated data segments inform the research objectives. In contrast with more quantitative forms of coding, mathematical ideas and forms are usually under-developed in a 'pure' qualitative data analysis. When coding is complete, the analyst may prepare reports via a mix of: summarizing the prevalence of codes, discussing similarities and differences in related codes across distinct original sources/contexts, or comparing the relationship between one or more codes., Some qualitative data that is highly structured (e.g., open-ended responses from surveys or tightly defined interview questions) is typically coded with minimal additional segmentation of the data. Quantitative analysis based on codes from is typically the capstone analytical step for this type of qualitative data. A common form of coding is open-ended coding, while other more structured techniques such as axial coding or integration have also been described and articulated (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Because qualitative analyses are often more than the hypothesis testing nature of most quantitative research, the existing 'theoretical sensitivity' (i.e., familiarity with established theories in the field) of the analyst becomes a more pressing concern in producing an acceptable analysis., Contemporary qualitative data analyses are often supported by computer programs (termed ) used with or without the detailed hand coding and labeling of the past decades. These programs do not supplant the interpretive nature of coding, but rather are aimed at enhancing analysts' efficiency at applying, retrieving, and storing the codes generated from reading the data. Many programs enhance efficiency in editing and revision of codes, which allow for more effective work sharing, peer review, recursive examination of data, and analysis of large datasets., Common Qualitative Data Analysis Software includes:, (mixed methods), (mixed methods), A frequent criticism of quantitative coding approaches is against the transformation of qualitative data into predefined () data structures, underpinned by '; the variety, richness, and individual characteristics of the qualitative data is argued to be largely omitted from such data coding processes, rendering the original collection of qualitative data somewhat pointless., To defend against the criticism of too much in the categories and relationships identified from data, qualitative analysts respond by thoroughly articulating their definitions of codes and linking those codes soundly to the underlying data, thereby preserving some of the richness that might be absent from a mere list of codes, whilst satisfying the need for repeatable procedure held by oriented researchers., Recursive abstraction, As defined by Leshan 2012, this is a method of qualitative data analysis where qualitative datasets are analyzed without coding. A common method here is recursive abstraction, where datasets are summarized; those summaries are therefore furthered into summary and so on. The end result is a more compact summary that would have been difficult to accurately discern without the preceding steps of distillation., A frequent criticism of recursive abstraction is that the final conclusions are several times removed from the underlying data. While it is true that poor initial summaries will certainly yield an inaccurate final report, qualitative analysts can respond to this criticism. They do so, like those using coding method, by documenting the reasoning behind each summary step, citing examples from the data where statements were included and where statements were excluded from the intermediate summary., Coding and "thinking", Some data analysis techniques rely on using computers to scan and reduce large sets of qualitative data. At their most basic level, numerical coding relies on counting words, phrases, or coincidences of tokens within the data; other similar techniques are the analyses of phrases and exchanges in conversational analyses. Often referred to as , a basic structural building block to conceptual analysis, the technique utilizes mixed methodology to unpack both small and large corpuses. Content analysis is frequently used in sociology to explore relationships, such as the change in perceptions of race over time (Morning 2008), or the lifestyles of temporal contractors (Evans, et al. 2004). Content analysis techniques thus help to provide broader output for a larger, more accurate conceptual analysis., Mechanical techniques are particularly well-suited for a few scenarios. One such scenario is for datasets that are simply too large for a human to effectively analyze, or where analysis of them would be cost prohibitive relative to the value of information they contain. Another scenario is when the chief value of a dataset is the extent to which it contains "red flags" (e.g., searching for reports of certain adverse events within a lengthy journal dataset from patients in a clinical trial) or "green flags" (e.g., searching for mentions of your brand in positive reviews of marketplace products). Many researchers would consider these procedures on their data sets to be misuse of their data collection and purposes., A frequent criticism of mechanical techniques is the absence of a human interpreter; computer analysis is relatively new having arrived in the late 1980s to the university sectors. And while masters of these methods are able to write sophisticated software to mimic some human decisions, the bulk of the "analysis" is still nonhuman. Analysts respond by proving the value of their methods relative to either a) hiring and training a human team to analyze the data or b) by letting the data go untouched, leaving any actionable nuggets undiscovered; almost all coding schemes indicate probably studies for further research., Data sets and their analyses must also be written up, reviewed by other researchers, circulated for comments, and finalized for public review. Numerical coding must be available in the published articles, if the methodology and findings are to be compared across research studies in traditional literature review and recommendation formats., Distinct qualitative paradigms, Contemporary qualitative research has been conducted using a large number of that influence conceptual and concerns of legitimacy, control, , , and , among others. Qualitative research conducted in the twenty-first century has been characterized by a distinct turn toward more , , and practices. Guba and Lincoln (2005) identify five main paradigms of contemporary qualitative research: , , , , and participatory/cooperative paradigms. Each of the paradigms listed by Guba and Lincoln are characterized by axiomatic differences in , intended action/impact of research, control of research process/outcomes, relationship to foundations of truth and knowledge, validity and trust (see below), textual representation and voice of the researcher and research participants, and commensurability with other paradigms. In particular, commensurability involves the extent to which concerns from 2 paradigms e.g., "can be retrofitted to each other in ways that make the simultaneous practice of both possible". Positivist and post positivist paradigms share commensurable assumptions, but are largely incommensurable with critical, constructivist, and paradigms of research and knowledge. Likewise, critical, constructivist, and participatory paradigms are commensurable on certain issues (e.g., the intended action and textual representation of research)., Qualitative research in the 2000s has also been characterized by concern with everyday categorization and ordinary storytelling. This "narrative turn" is producing an enormous literature as researchers present sensitizing concepts and perspectives that bear especially on narrative practice, which centers on the circumstances and communicative actions of storytelling. Catherine Riessman (1993) and Gubrium and Holstein (2009) provide analytic strategies, and Holstein and Gubrium (2012) present the variety of approaches in recent comprehensive texts. More recent developments in narrative practice has increasingly taken up the issue of institutional conditioning of such practices (see Gubrium and Holstein 2000)., Trustworthiness, A central issue in qualitative research is trustworthiness (also known as credibility, or in quantitative studies, validity). There are many different ways of establishing trustworthiness, including: , interviewer corroboration, peer debriefing, prolonged engagement, negative case analysis, auditability, confirmability, bracketing, and balance. Most of these methods are described in Lincoln and Guba (1985). As exemplified by researchers Preston Teeter and Jorgen Sandberg, data triangulation and eliciting examples of interviewee accounts are two of the most commonly used methods of establishing trustworthiness in qualitative studies. Dependability is equivalent to the notion of reliability in quantitative methods and is the extent to which two or more people are likely to come to the same conclusions by examining the same evidence. Again, Lincoln and Guba (1985) is the salient reference., Qualitative research journals, By the end of the 1970s many leading journals began to publish qualitative research articles and several new journals emerged which published only qualitative research studies and articles about qualitative research methods. In the 1980s and 1990s, the new qualitative research journals became more multidisciplinary in focus moving beyond qualitative research’s traditional disciplinary roots of anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. In the late 1980s to 1990s, early academic articles emerged beginning the transformation from institutional studies (e.g., Taylor's "Let them eat programs") to studies of community, community services and community life reviewed and cited in professional journals. These studies ranged from extremely controversial concerns involving the death penalty and disability (Bogdan, 1995) to the efforts of families with service providers (O'Connor, 1995) to the government divisions which regulate families by "coming to take" the children away (Taylor, 1995)., Qualitative research in psychology, , the founder of scientific psychology, was one of the first psychologists to conduct qualitative research.[] Early examples of his qualitative research were published in 1900 through 1920, in his 10-volume study, Völkerpsychologie (translated to: Social Psychology). Wundt advocated the strong relation between psychology and philosophy. He believed that there was a gap between psychology and quantitative research that could only be filled by conducting qualitative research.[] Qualitative research dove into aspects of human life that could not adequately be covered by quantitative research; aspects such as culture, expression, beliefs, morality and imagination., There are records of qualitative research being used in psychology before World War II, but prior to the 1950s, these methods were viewed as invalid. Owing to this, many of the psychologists who practiced qualitative research denied the usage of such methods or apologized for doing so. It was not until the late 20th century when qualitative research was accepted in elements of psychology though it remains controversial.[] The excitement about the groundbreaking form of research was short-lived as few novel findings emerged which gained attention. Community psychologists felt they didn't get the recognition they deserved. A selection of autobiographical narratives of community psychologists can be found in "Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Stories: History, Contexts and Narratives" (Kelly & Song, 2004), including the well known Julian Rappaport., References,  Babbie, Earl (2014). (6th ed.). : Wadsworth Cengage. pp. 303–04.  .  .,   Berg, Bruce Lawrence; Lune, Howard. (8th ed.). Boston. p. 3.  .  .,   Given, L. M., ed. (2008). The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. .,   Denzin, Norman K.; Lincoln, Yvonna S., eds. (2005). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.). : .  .,   "The rise and relevance of qualitative research". International Journal of Social Research Methodology. 13: 139–55. :.,   . cardiff.ac.uk.,   Bogdan, R.; Taylor, S. (1987). "Looking at the bright side: A positive approach to qualitative policy and evaluation research". . 13 (2): 183–192. :.,   Stake, R. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.,   Yin, R. (1989). . : Sage.  .,   Racino, J. (1999). . London: Haworth Press.  .,   Mesly, Olivier (2015). Creating Models in Psychological Research. Springer Psychology.  .,   Pernecky, T. (2016). Epistemology and Metaphysics for Qualitative Research. London: .,   Silverman, D. (2011). Interpreting Qualitative Data (4th ed.). .,   Becker, H. S. (1970). . Sociological Work: Method and Substance. Chicago: Aldine. pp. 123–134.  .,   Bogdan, R. C.; Biklen, S. (1982). . Boston: Allyn & Bacon. p. 14.  .,   Wolfensberger, W. (1994). "A Brief Introduction to Social Role Valorization as High-Order Concept for Structuring Human Services" (2nd Edition). Syracuse, NY: Training Institute for Human Service Planning, Leadership and Change Agentry, Syracuse University.,   Glaser, B.G. & Strauss, A.I. (1967). "The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research". NY, NY: Aldine DeGruyter.,   Savin-Baden, M.; Major, C. (2013). Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice. London: Routledge.,   Taylor, S. J.; Bogdan, R. (1984). Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: The Search for Meanings (2nd ed.). Singapore: John Wiley and Sons.,   Murphy, E; Dingwall, R (2003). Qualitative methods and health policy research (1st edition). Routledge (reprinted as an e-book in 2017).,   Racino, J.; O'Connor, S. (1994). . In Hayden, M.; Abery, B. Challenges for a Service System in Transition: Ensuring Quality Community Experiences for Persons with Developmental Disabilities. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes. pp. 381–403.  .,   Marshall, Catherine & Rossman, Gretchen B. (1998). Designing Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.,   Bogdan, R.; Ksander, M. (1980). "Policy data as a social process: A qualitative approach to quantitative data". . 39 (4): 302–309. :.,   Schwartzman, H.B. (1993). "Ethnography in Organizations". Qualitative Research Methods Series 27. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.,   Copeland, A.P. (1991). "Studying Families". Applied Social Research Methods Series, Volume 27. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.,   Lindlof, T. R., & Taylor, B. C. (2002) Qualitative communication research methods: Second edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.,   (PDF). techsociety.com. Retrieved 7 October 2010.,   Morgan, D. (1988). . Qualitative Research Methods Series. 16. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.  .,   Valentine, G (1999). "Doing household research: Interviewing couples together and apart". . 31 (1): 67–74. :.,   Bjørnholt, M; Farstad, G.R. (2012). (PDF). . 14 (1): 3–19. :.,   Creswell, John (2006). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Approaches. Sage.,   Creswell, John (2008). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. Sage.,   Ralph, N.; Birks, M.; Chapman, Y. (29 September 2014). "Contextual Positioning: Using Documents as Extant Data in Grounded Theory Research". SAGE Open. 4 (3). :.,   Gill, M. J. (2014). The Possibilities of Phenomenology for Organizational Research. Organizational Research Methods, 17:2, 118-137.,   Mannay, D. 2013. ‘Who put that on there... why why why?:’ Power games and participatory techniques of visual data production. Visual Studies, 28 (2), pp.136-146,   Mannay, D. (2010). "Making the familiar strange: Can visual research methods render the familiar setting more perceptible?". . 10 (1): 91–111. :.,   Saladana, Johnny (2012). The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Sage.  .,   Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. New Delhi: Sage.,   Leshan, D. (2012). Strategic communication. London: Pangpang. Unknown.,   . Retrieved 6 April 2018.,   Morning, Ann (2008). "Reconstructing Race in Science and Society: Biology Textbooks, 1952-2002". American Journal of Sociology.,   Evans, James (2004). (PDF). Administrative Science Quarterly. 49: 1–38.  .,   Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). "Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging influences" In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.), pp. 191-215. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.,   Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2005). "Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging influences" (p. 200). In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.), pp. 191-215. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.,   Lincoln Y and Guba EG (1985) Naturalistic Inquiry, Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.,   Teeter, Preston; Sandberg, Jorgen (2016). . British Journal of Management. :.,   Loseke, Donileen R. & Cahil, Spencer E. (2007). "Publishing qualitative manuscripts: Lessons learned". In C. Seale, G. Gobo, J. F. Gubrium, & D. Silverman (Eds.), Qualitative Research Practice: Concise Paperback Edition, pp. 491-506. London: Sage.,   Denzin, Norman K. & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (2005). "Introduction: The discipline and practice of qualitative research". In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.), pp. 1-33. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.,   Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R., & Racino, J. (1991). Life in the Community: Case Studies of Organizations Serving People with Developmental Disabilities in the Community. Baltimore, ND: Paul H. Brookes.,   Taylor, S.J.,Bogdan, R., & Lutfiyya, Z.M. (1995). The Variety of Community Experiences: Qualitative Studies of Family and Community Life. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.,   Bogdan, R. (1995). "A simple farmer accused of murder: The case of Delbert Ward. In. S.J.Taylor, R. Bogdan, & Z.M. Lutfiyya, The Variety of Community Experience: Qualitative Studies of Family and Community Life(pp.79-100). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.,   O'Connor, S. (1995). More than they bargained for: The meaning of support to families. In: S.J. Taylor, R. Bogdan & Z.M. Lutfiyya, The Variety of Community Experiences: Qualitative Studies of Family and Community Life. (pp.193-210). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.,   Taylor, S.J. (1995). "Children's division is coming to take pictures: Family life and parenting in a family with disabilities. In: S.Taylor, R. Bogdan, & Z.M. Lutfiyya, The Variety of Community Experiences: Qualitative Studies of Family and Community Life. (pp.23-46). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes.,   Wertz, Charmaz, McMullen. "Five Ways of Doing Qualitative Analysis: Phenomenological Psychology, Grounded Theory, Discourse Analysis, Narrative Research, and Intuitive Inquiry". 16-18. The Guilford Press: March 30, 2011. 1st ed. Print.,  Kelly, J.G. & Song, A.V. (2004). "Six Community Psychologists Tell Their Story." Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press., Further reading, Adler, P. A. & Adler, P. (1987). : context and meaning in social inquiry / edited by Richard Jessor, Anne Colby, and Richard A. Shweder], Baškarada, S. (2014) "Qualitative Case Study Guidelines", in The Qualitative Report, 19(40): 1-25. Available from, (1943). "Recent anthropology". Science. 98: 311–314, 334–337. :., Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications., Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research ( 2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications., Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2011). The SAGE Handbook of qualitative research ( 4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications., DeWalt, K. M. & DeWalt, B. R. (2002). Participant observation. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press., Fischer, C.T. (Ed.) (2005). Qualitative research methods for psychologists: Introduction through empirical studies. Academic Press.  ., Franklin, M. I. (2012), "". London/New York. Routledge, Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Stanford, CA: ., Gubrium, J. F. and J. A. Holstein. (2000). "The New Language of Qualitative Method." New York: Oxford University Press., Gubrium, J. F. and J. A. Holstein (2009). "Analyzing Narrative Reality." Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage., Gubrium, J. F. and J. A. Holstein, eds. (2000). "Institutional Selves: Troubled Identities in a Postmodern World." New York: Oxford University Press., . (2008) Questioning Qualitative Inquiry, London, Sage., . (2013) What is qualitative research?, London, Bloomsbury., Holliday, A. R. (2007). Doing and Writing Qualitative Research, 2nd Edition. London: Sage Publications, Holstein, J. A. and J. F. Gubrium, eds. (2012). "Varieties of Narrative Analysis." Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage., (2004). Games Prisoners Play. .  ., Mahoney, J; Goertz, G (2006). "A Tale of Two Cultures: Contrasting Quantitative and Qualitative Research". Political Analysis. 14: 227–249. :., Malinowski, B. (1922/1961). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. New York: E. P. Dutton., Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage., Pamela Maykut, Richard Morehouse. 1994 Beginning Qualitative Research. Falmer Press., Pernecky, T. (2016). . London, UK: Sage Publications., Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods ( 3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications., Pawluch D. & Shaffir W. & Miall C. (2005). Doing Ethnography: Studying Everyday Life. Toronto, ON Canada: Canadian Scholars' Press., Racino, J. (1999). Policy, Program Evaluation and Research in Disability: Community Support for All." New York, NY: Haworth Press (now Routledge imprint, Francis and Taylor, 2015)., Ragin, C. C. (1994). Constructing Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method, Pine Forge Press,, Riessman, Catherine K. (1993). "Narrative Analysis." Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage., Savin-Baden, M. and Major, C. (2013). "Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and practice." London, Rutledge., Silverman, David, (ed), (2011), "Qualitative Research: Issues of Theory, Method and Practice". Third Edition. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi, Sage Publications, Stebbins, Robert A. (2001) Exploratory Research in the Social Sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage., , , Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods, Wiley, 1998,, (1988) Tales of the field: on writing ethnography, Chicago: University of Chicago Press., Wolcott, H. F. (1995). The art of fieldwork. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press., Wolcott, H. F. (1999). Ethnography: A way of seeing. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press., Ziman, John (2000). Real Science: what it is, and what it means. Cambridge, Uk: ., Ethnography, Ethnography (from ἔθνος ethnos "folk, people, nation" and γράφω grapho "I write") is the systematic study of people and cultures. It is designed to explore phenomena where the researcher observes society from the point of view of the subject of the study. An ethnography is a means to represent graphically and in writing the culture of a . The word can thus be said to have a double meaning, which partly depends on whether it is used as a or uncountable. The resulting field study or a case report reflects the knowledge and the system of meanings in the lives of a cultural group., As a method of data collection ethnography entails examining the behaviour of the participants in a certain specific social situation and also understanding their interpretation of such behaviour. Dewan (2018) further elaborates that this behaviour may be shaped by the constraints the participants feel because of the situations they are in or by the society in which they belong. Ethnography, as the presentation of data on human and , was pioneered in the biological, social, and cultural branches of , but it has also become popular in the in general—, communication studies, history—wherever people study ethnic groups, formations, compositions, resettlements, social welfare characteristics, materiality, spirituality, and a people's . The typical ethnography is a study and so includes a brief history, and an analysis of the , the , and the . In all cases, it should be reflexive, make a substantial contribution toward the understanding of the social life of humans, have an aesthetic impact on the reader, and express a credible reality. An ethnography records all observed behavior and describes all symbol-meaning relations, using concepts that avoid causal explanations. Traditionally, ethnography was focussed on the western gaze towards the far 'exotic' east, but now researchers are undertaking ethnography in their own social environment. According to Dewan (2018), even if we are the other, the ‘another’ or the ‘native’, we are still ‘another’ because there are many facades of ourselves that connect us to people and other facades that highlight our differences., Forms of ethnography[], There are different forms of ethnography: confessional ethnography; life history; feminist ethnography etc. Two popular forms of ethnography are realist ethnography and critical ethnography. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 93), Realist ethnography is a traditional approach used by cultural anthropologists. Characterized by Van Maanen (1988), it reflects a particular instance taken by the researcher toward the individual being studied. It's an objective study of the situation. It's composed from a third person's perspective by getting the data from the members on the site. The ethnographer stays as omniscient correspondent of actualities out of sight. The realist reports information in a measured style ostensibly uncontaminated by individual predisposition, political objectives, and judgment. The analyst will give a detailed report of the everyday life of the individuals under study. The ethnographer also uses standard categories for cultural description (e.g., family life, communication network). The ethnographer produces the participant's views through closely edited quotations and has the final work on how the culture is to be interpreted and presented. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 93), Critical ethnography is a kind of ethnographic research in which the creators advocate for the liberation of groups which are marginalized in society. Critical researchers typically are politically minded people who look to take a stand of opposition to inequality and domination. For example, a critical ethnographer might study schools that provide privileges to certain types of students, or counseling practices that serve to overlook the needs of underrepresented groups. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 94). The important components of a critical ethnographer are to incorporate a value- laden introduction, empower people by giving them more authority, challenging the status quo, and addressing concerns about power and control. A critical ethnographer will study issues of power, empowerment, inequality inequity, dominance, repression, hegemony, and victimization. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 94), Features of ethnographic research[], According to Dewan (2018) the researcher is not looking for generalizing the findings; rather, they are considering it in reference to the context of the situation. In this regard, the best way to integrate ethnography in a quantitative research would be to use it to discover and uncover relationships and then use the resultant data to test and explain the empirical assumptions, Involves investigation of very few cases, maybe just one case, in detail., Often involves working with primarily unconstructed data. This data had not been coded at the point of data collection in terms of a closed set of analytic categories., Emphasizes on exploring social phenomena rather than testing hypotheses., Data analysis involves interpretation of the functions and meanings of human actions. The product of this is mainly verbal explanations, where statistical analysis and quantification play a subordinate role., Methodological discussions focus more on questions about how to report findings in the field than on methods of data collection and interpretation., Ethnographies focus on describing the culture of a group in very detailed and complex manner. The ethnography can be of the entire group or a subpart of it., It involves engaging in extensive field work where data collection is mainly by interviews, symbols, artifacts, observations, and many other sources of data., The researcher in ethnography type of research looks for patterns of the group's mental activities, that is their ideas and beliefs expressed through language or other activities, and how they behave in their groups as expressed through their actions that the researcher observed., In ethnography, the researcher gathers what is available, what is normal, what it is that people do, what they say, and how they work., Procedures for conducting ethnography[], Determine if ethnography is the most appropriate design to use to study the research problem. Ethnography is suitable if the needs are to describe how a cultural group works and to explore their beliefs, language, behaviours and also issues faced by the group, such as power, resistance, and dominance. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 94), Then identify and locate a culture-sharing group to study. This group is one whose members have been together for an extended period of time, so that their shared language, patterns of behaviour and attitudes have merged into discernible patterns. This group can also be a group that has been marginalized by society. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 94), Select cultural themes, issues or theories to study about the group. These themes, issues, and theories provide an orienting framework for the study of the culture-sharing group. As discussed by and Atkinson (2007), Wolcott (1987, 1994b, 2008-1), and Fetterman (2009). The ethnographer begins the study by examining people in interaction in ordinary settings and discerns pervasive patterns such as life cycles, events, and cultural themes. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 94-95), For studying cultural concepts, determine which type of ethnography to use. Perhaps how the group works need to be described, or a critical ethnography can expose issues such as power, hegemony, and advocacy for certain groups (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 95), Should collect information in the context or setting where the group works or lives. This is called fieldwork. Types of information typically needed in ethnography are collected by going to the research site, respecting the daily lives of individuals at the site and collecting a wide variety of materials. Field issues of respect, reciprocity, deciding who owns the data and others are central to Ethnography (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 95), From the many sources collected, the ethnographer analyzes the data for a description of the culture-sharing group, themes that emerge from the group and an overall interpretation (Wolcott, 1994b). The researcher begins to compile a detailed description of the culture-sharing group, by focusing on a single event, on several activities, or on the group over a prolonged period of time., Forge a working set of rules or generalizations as to how the culture-sharing group works as the final product of this analysis. The final product is a holistic cultural portrait of the group that incorporates the views of the participants (emic) as well as the views of the researcher (etic). It might also advocate for the needs of the group or suggest changes in society. (Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design, 96), Ethnography as method[], The ethnographic method is different from other ways of conducting social science approach due to the following reasons:, It is field-based. It is conducted in the settings in which real people actually live, rather than in laboratories where the researcher controls the elements of the behaviors to be observed or measured., It is personalized. It is conducted by researchers who are in the day-to-day, face-to-face contact with the people they are studying and who are thus both participants in and observers of the lives under study., It is multifactorial. It is conducted through the use of two or more data collection techniques - which may be qualitative or quantitative in nature - in order to get a conclusion., It requires a long-term commitment i.e. it is conducted by a researcher who intends to interact with people they are studying for an extended period of time. The exact time frame can vary from several weeks to a year or more., It is inductive. It is conducted in such a way to use an accumulation of descriptive detail to build toward general patterns or explanatory theories rather than structured to test hypotheses derived from existing theories or models., It is dialogic. It is conducted by a researcher whose interpretations and findings may be expounded on by the study’s participants while conclusions are still in the process of formulation., It is holistic. It is conducted so as to yield the fullest possible portrait of the group under study., It can also be used in other methodological frameworks, for instance, an action research program of study where one of the goals is to change and improve the situation., Data collection methods[], According to the leading social scientist, , data collection methods are meant to capture the "social meanings and ordinary activities" of people (informants) in "naturally occurring settings" that are commonly referred to as "the field." The goal is to collect data in such a way that the researcher imposes a minimal amount of personal bias in the data. Multiple methods of data collection may be employed to facilitate a relationship that allows for a more personal and in-depth portrait of the informants and their community. These can include participant observation, field notes, interviews, and surveys., Interviews are often taped and later transcribed, allowing the interview to proceed unimpaired of note-taking, but with all information available later for full analysis. Secondary research and document analysis are also used to provide insight into the research topic. In the past, kinship charts were commonly used to "discover logical patterns and social structure in non-Western societies". In the 21st century, anthropology focuses more on the study of people in urban settings and the use of kinship charts is seldom employed., In order to make the data collection and interpretation transparent, researchers creating ethnographies often attempt to be "reflexive". Reflexivity refers to the researcher's aim "to explore the ways in which [the] researcher's involvement with a particular study influences, acts upon and informs such research". Despite these attempts of reflexivity, no researcher can be totally unbiased. This factor has provided a basis to criticize ethnography., Traditionally, the ethnographer focuses attention on a community, selecting knowledgeable informants who know the activities of the community well. These informants are typically asked to identify other informants who represent the community, often using snowball or chain sampling. This process is often effective in revealing common cultural denominators connected to the topic being studied. Ethnography relies greatly on up-close, personal experience. Participation, rather than just observation, is one of the keys to this process. Ethnography is very useful in social research., Ybema et al. (2010) examine the ontological and epistemological presuppositions underlying ethnography. Ethnographic research can range from a realist perspective, in which behavior is observed, to a constructivist perspective where understanding is socially constructed by the researcher and subjects. Research can range from an objectivist account of fixed, observable behaviors to an interpretive narrative describing "the interplay of individual agency and social structure." Critical theory researchers address "issues of power within the researcher-researched relationships and the links between knowledge and power.", Another form of data collection is that of the "image." The image is the projection that an individual puts on an object or abstract idea. An image can be contained within the physical world through a particular individual's perspective, primarily based on that individual’s past experiences. One example of an image is how an individual views a novel after completing it. The physical entity that is the novel contains a specific image in the perspective of the interpreting individual and can only be expressed by the individual in the terms of "I can tell you what an image is by telling you what it feels like." The idea of an image relies on the imagination and has been seen to be utilized by children in a very spontaneous and natural manner. Effectively, the idea of the image is a primary tool for ethnographers to collect data. The image presents the perspective, experiences, and influences of an individual as a single entity and in consequence, the individual will always contain this image in the group under study., Differences across disciplines[], The ethnographic method is used across a range of different disciplines, primarily by anthropologists but also occasionally by sociologists. , (European) , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , nursing, , , , , and are other fields which have made use of ethnography., Cultural and social anthropology[], and were developed around ethnographic research and their texts, which are mostly ethnographies: e.g. (1922) by , Ethnologische Excursion in Johore (1875) by , (1928) by , The Nuer (1940) by , Naven (1936, 1958) by , or "" (1963) by . Cultural and social anthropologists today place a high value on doing ethnographic research. The typical ethnography is a document written about a particular people, almost always based at least in part on views of where the culture begins and ends. Using language or community boundaries to bound the ethnography is common. Ethnographies are also sometimes called "case studies." Ethnographers study and interpret culture, its universalities, and its variations through the ethnographic study based on . An ethnography is a specific kind of written observational science which provides an account of a particular culture, society, or community. The fieldwork usually involves spending a year or more in another society, living with the local people and learning about their ways of life. Neophyte Ethnographers are strongly encouraged to develop extensive familiarity with their subject prior to entering the field; otherwise, they may find themselves in difficult situations., Ethnographers are participant observers. They take part in events they study because it helps with understanding local behavior and thought. Classic examples are 's All Our Kin, Jean Briggs' Never in Anger, 's Kalahari Hunter-Gatherers, 's Forest of Symbols, David Maybry-Lewis' Akew-Shavante Society, 's The Nuer, and ' . Iterations of ethnographic representations in the classic, modernist camp include Joseph W. Bastien's "Drum and Stethoscope" (1992), Bartholomew Dean's recent (2009) contribution, Urarina Society, Cosmology, and History in Peruvian Amazonia., A typical ethnography attempts to be and typically follows an outline to include a brief history of the culture in question, an analysis of the or terrain inhabited by the people under study, including , and often including what biological anthropologists call . Folk notions of botany and zoology are presented as ethnobotany and ethnozoology alongside references from the formal sciences. Material culture, technology, and means of subsistence are usually treated next, as they are typically bound up in physical geography and include descriptions of infrastructure. Kinship and social structure (including age grading, peer groups, gender, voluntary associations, clans, moieties, and so forth, if they exist) are typically included. Languages spoken, dialects, and the history of language change are another group of standard topics. Practices of childrearing, acculturation, and emic views on personality and values usually follow after sections on social structure. Rites, rituals, and other evidence of religion have long been an interest and are sometimes central to ethnographies, especially when conducted in public where visiting anthropologists can see them., As ethnography developed, anthropologists grew more interested in less tangible aspects of culture, such as values, worldview and what termed the "ethos" of the culture. In his fieldwork, Geertz used elements of a approach, tracing not just the doings of people, but the cultural elements themselves. For example, if within a group of people, winking was a communicative gesture, he sought to first determine what kinds of things a wink might mean (it might mean several things). Then, he sought to determine in what contexts winks were used, and whether, as one moved about a region, winks remained meaningful in the same way. In this way, cultural boundaries of communication could be explored, as opposed to using linguistic boundaries or notions about the residence. Geertz, while still following something of a traditional ethnographic outline, moved outside that outline to talk about "webs" instead of "outlines" of culture., Within cultural anthropology, there are several subgenres of ethnography. Beginning in the 1950s and early 1960s, anthropologists began writing "bio-confessional" ethnographies that intentionally exposed the nature of ethnographic research. Famous examples include (1955) by Lévi-Strauss, The High Valley by Kenneth Read, and The Savage and the Innocent by , as well as the mildly fictionalized Return to Laughter by Elenore Smith Bowen ()., Later "" ethnographies refined the technique to translate cultural differences by representing their effects on the ethnographer. Famous examples include Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight by , Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco by , The Headman and I by Jean-Paul Dumont, and Tuhami by Vincent Crapanzano. In the 1980s, the rhetoric of ethnography was subjected to intense scrutiny within the discipline, under the general influence of and / thought. "Experimental" ethnographies that reveal the ferment of the discipline include Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man by , Debating Muslims by Michael F. J. Fischer and Mehdi Abedi, A Space on the Side of the Road by Kathleen Stewart, and Advocacy after Bhopal by Kim Fortun., This critical turn in sociocultural anthropology during the mid-1980s can be traced to the influence of the now classic (and often contested) text, Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography, (1986) edited by and . Writing Culture helped bring changes to both anthropology and ethnography often described in terms of being 'postmodern,' 'reflexive,' 'literary,' 'deconstructive,' or 'poststructural' in nature, in that the text helped to highlight the various epistemic and political predicaments that many practitioners saw as plaguing ethnographic representations and practices., Where Geertz's and interpretive anthropology recognized subjects as creative actors who constructed their sociocultural worlds out of symbols, postmodernists attempted to draw attention to the privileged status of the ethnographers themselves. That is, the ethnographer cannot escape the personal viewpoint in creating an ethnographic account, thus making any claims of objective neutrality highly problematic, if not altogether impossible. In regards to this last point, Writing Culture became a focal point for looking at how ethnographers could describe different cultures and societies without denying the subjectivity of those individuals and groups being studied while simultaneously doing so without laying claim to absolute knowledge and objective authority. Along with the development of experimental forms such as 'dialogic anthropology,' 'narrative ethnography,' and 'literary ethnography', Writing Culture helped to encourage the development of 'collaborative ethnography.' This exploration of the relationship between writer, audience, and subject has become a central tenet of contemporary anthropological and ethnographic practice. In certain instances, active collaboration between the researcher(s) and subject(s) has helped blend the practice of collaboration in ethnographic fieldwork with the process of creating the ethnographic product resulting from the research, Grounded theory (GT) is a systematic methodology in the involving the construction of theories through methodical gathering and analysis of data. Grounded theory is a research methodology which operates inductively, in contrast to the approach. A study using grounded theory is likely to begin with a question, or even just with the collection of qualitative data. As researchers review the data collected, repeated ideas, concepts or elements become apparent, and are tagged with codes, which have been extracted from the data. As more data is collected, and re-reviewed, codes can be grouped into concepts, and then into categories. These categories may become the basis for new theory. Thus, grounded theory is quite different from the traditional model of research, where the researcher chooses an existing theoretical framework, and only then collects data to show how the theory does or does not apply to the phenomenon under study., Background[], Grounded theory is a general methodology, a way of thinking about and conceptualizing data. It focuses on the studies of diverse populations from areas like remarriage after divorce (Cauhape, 1983) and Professional Socialization (Broadhed, 1983). The Grounded Theory method was developed by two sociologists, and . Their collaboration in research on dying hospital patients led them to write in 1965. In this research they developed the constant comparative method, later known as Grounded Theory Method. There were three main purposes behind the publication of The Discovery of Grounded Theory:, Rationale of the theory to be grounded is that this theory helps close the gap between theory and empirical research., Helped in suggesting the logic of grounded theories., This book helped to legitimize careful qualitative research. This was seen to be the most important because, by the 1960s, quantitative research methods had taken an upper hand in the fields of research and qualitative was not seen as an adequate method of verification., This theory mainly came into existence when there was a wave of criticism towards the fundamentalist and structuralist theories that were deductive and speculative in nature., After two decades, sociologists and psychologists showed some appreciation for the Grounded theory because of its explicit and systematic conceptualization of the theory. The Discovery of Grounded Theory (1967) was published simultaneously in the United States and the United Kingdom, because of which the theory became well known among qualitative researchers and graduate students of those countries., The turning point for this theory came after the publishing of two main monographs/works which dealt with "dying in hospitals". This helped the theory to gain some significance in the fields of , and . From its beginnings in health, the grounded theory method has come to prominence in fields as diverse as , , and ., Stages of analysis[], Once the data are collected, grounded theory analysis involves the following basic steps:, Coding text and theorizing: In grounded theory research, the search for the theory starts with the very first line of the very first interview that one codes. It involves taking a small chunk of the text where line by line is being coded. Useful concepts are being identified where key phrases are being marked. The concepts are named. Another chunk of text is then taken and the above-mentioned steps are being repeated. According to Strauss and Corbin, this process is called open coding and Charmaz called it initial coding. Basically, this process is breaking data into conceptual components. The next step involves a lot more theorizing, as in when coding is being done examples are being pulled out, examples of concepts together and think about how each concept can be related to a larger more inclusive concept. This involves the constant comparative method and it goes on throughout the grounding theory process, right up through the development of complete theories., Memoing and theorizing: Memoing is the process by which the running notes of each of the concepts that are being identified are kept. It is the intermediate step between the coding and the first draft of the completed analysis. Memos are field notes about the concepts in which one lays out their observations and insights. Memoing starts with the first concept that has been identified and continues right through the process of breaking the text and of building theories., Integrating, refining and writing up theories: Once coding categories emerge, the next step is to link them together in theoretical models around a central category that hold everything together. The constant comparative method comes into play, along with negative case analysis which looks for cases that do not confirm the model. Basically one generates a model about how whatever one is studying works right from the first interview and see if the model holds up as one analyze more interviews., Theorizing is involved in all these steps. One is required to build and test theory all the way through till the end of a project., Premise[], Grounded theory method is a systematic generation of theory from data that contains both and thinking. One goal is to formulate hypotheses based on conceptual ideas. Others may try to verify the hypotheses that are generated by constantly comparing conceptualized data on different levels of abstraction, and these comparisons contain deductive steps. Another goal of a grounded theory study is to discover the participants' main concern and how they continually try to resolve it. The questions the researcher repeatedly asks in grounded theory are "What's going on?" and "What is the main problem of the participants, and how are they trying to solve it?" These questions will be answered by the core variable and its subcores and properties in due course., Grounded theory method does not aim for the "truth" but to conceptualize what is going on by using . In a way, grounded theory method resembles what many researchers do when retrospectively formulating new hypotheses to fit data. However, when applying the grounded theory method, the researcher does not formulate the hypotheses in advance since preconceived hypotheses result in a theory that is ungrounded from the data., If the researcher's goal is an accurate description, then another method should be chosen since grounded theory is not a descriptive method. Instead, it has the goal of generating concepts that explain the way that people resolve their central concerns regardless of time and place. The use of description in a theory generated by the grounded theory method is mainly to illustrate concepts., In most behavioral research endeavors, persons or patients are units of analysis, whereas in GT the unit of analysis is the incident. Typically several hundred incidents are analyzed in a grounded theory study since usually every participant reports many incidents., When comparing many incidents in a certain area, the emerging concepts and their relationships are in reality probability statements. Consequently, GT is a general method that can use any kind of data even though the most common use is with qualitative data (Glaser, 2001, 2003). However, although working with probabilities, most GT studies are considered as qualitative since statistical methods are not used, and figures are not presented. The results of GT are not a reporting of statistically significant probabilities but a set of probability statements about the relationship between concepts, or an integrated set of conceptual hypotheses developed from empirical data (Glaser 1998). Validity in its traditional sense is consequently not an issue in GT, which instead should be judged by fit, relevance, workability, and modifiability (Glaser & Strauss 1967, Glaser 1978, Glaser 1998)., Fit. A theory that is fitting has concepts that are closely connected to the incidents they are representing; this is related to how thorough the constant comparison of incidents to concepts was done., Relevance. A relevant study deals with the real concern of participants, evokes "grab" (captures the attention) and is not only of academic interest., Workability. The theory works when it explains how the problem is being solved with much variation., Modifiability. A modifiable theory can be altered when new relevant data are compared to existing data. A GT is never right or wrong, it just has more or less fit, relevance, workability and modifiability., Nomenclature[], A concept is the overall element and includes the categories which are conceptual elements standing by themselves, and properties of categories, which are conceptual aspects of categories (Glaser & Strauss, 1967). The core variable explains most of the participants' main concern with as much variation as possible. It has the most powerful properties to picture what's going on, but with as few properties as possible needed to do so. A popular type of core variable can be theoretically modeled as a basic social process that accounts for most of the variation in change over time, context, and behavior in the studied area. "GT is multivariate. It happens sequentially, subsequently, simultaneously, serendipitously, and scheduled" (Glaser, 1998)., All is data is a fundamental property of GT which means that everything that the researcher encounters when studying a certain area is data – not only interviews or observations but anything that helps the researcher generating concepts for the emerging theory. According to field notes can come from informal interviews, lectures, seminars, expert group meetings, newspaper articles, Internet mail lists, even television shows, conversations with friends etc. A related technique consists of conducting self-interviews and treating those interviews like any other data, coding and comparing it to other data and generating concepts from it., Open coding or substantive coding is conceptualizing on the first level of abstraction. Written data from field notes or transcripts are conceptualized line by line. In the beginning of a study everything is coded in order to find out about the problem and how it is being resolved. The coding is often done in the margin of the field notes. This phase is often tedious since it involves conceptualizing all the incidents in the data, which yields many concepts. These are compared as more data is coded, merged into new concepts, and eventually renamed and modified. The GT researcher goes back and forth while comparing data, constantly modifying, and sharpening the growing theory at the same time as she follows the build-up schedule of GT's different steps., On a related note, Strauss and Corbin (1990, 1998) also proposed and defined it in 1990 as "a set of procedures whereby data are put back together in new ways after open coding, by making connections between categories." They proposed a "coding paradigm" (also discussed, among others, by Kelle, 2005) that involved "conditions, context, action/ interactional strategies and consequences." (Strauss & Corbin, 1990, p. 96), Selective coding is done after having found the core variable or what is thought to be the core, the tentative core. The core explains the behavior of the participants in resolving their main concern. The tentative core is never wrong. It just more or less fits with the data. After the core variable is chosen, researchers selectively code data with the core guiding their coding, not bothering about concepts with little importance to the core and its subcores. Also, they now selectively sample new data with the core in mind, which is called theoretical sampling – a deductive part of GT. Selective coding delimits the study, which makes it move fast. This is indeed encouraged while doing GT (Glaser, 1998) since GT is not concerned with data accuracy as in descriptive research but is about generating concepts that are abstract of time, place and people. Selective coding could be done by going over old field notes or memos which are already coded once at an earlier stage or by coding newly gathered data., Theoretical codes integrate the theory by weaving the fractured concepts into hypotheses that work together in a theory explaining the main concern of the participants. Theoretical coding means that the researcher applies a theoretical model to the data. It is important that this model is not forced beforehand but has emerged during the comparative process of GT. So the theoretical codes just as substantives codes should emerge from the process of constantly comparing the data in field notes and memos., Memoing[], Theoretical memoing is "the core stage of grounded theory methodology" (Glaser 1998). "Memos are the theorizing write-up of ideas about substantive codes and their theoretically coded relationships as they emerge during coding, collecting and analyzing data, and during memoing" (Glaser 1998)., Memoing is also important in the early phase of a GT study such as open coding. The researcher is then conceptualizing incidents, and memoing helps this process. Theoretical memos can be anything written or drawn in the constant comparison that makes up a GT. Memos are important tools to both refine and keep track of ideas that develop when researchers compare incidents to incidents and then concepts to concepts in the evolving theory. In memos, they develop ideas about naming concepts and relating them to each other and try the relationships between concepts in two-by-two tables, in diagrams or figures or whatever makes the ideas flow, and generates comparative power., Without memoing, the theory is superficial and the concepts generated are not very original. Memoing works as an accumulation of written ideas into a bank of ideas about concepts and how they relate to each other. This bank contains rich parts of what will later be the written theory. Memoing is total creative freedom without rules of writing, grammar or style (Glaser 1998). The writing must be an instrument for outflow of ideas, and nothing else. When people write memos, the ideas become more realistic, being converted from thoughts into words, and thus ideas communicable to the afterworld., In GT the preconscious processing that occurs when coding and comparing is recognized. The researcher is encouraged to register ideas about the ongoing study that eventually pop up in everyday situations, and awareness of the of the method is also necessary to achieve good results., Serendipity pattern[], Serendipity is used as a method in grounded theory, building on ideas by sociologist , who in (1949) referred to the "" as the fairly common experience of observing an unanticipated, anomalous and strategic datum which becomes the occasion for developing a new theory or for extending an existing theory. also coauthored (with ) which traces the origins and uses of the word "serendipity" since it was coined. The book is "a study in sociological semantics and the sociology of science", as the subtitle of the book declares. It further develops the idea of serendipity as scientific "method" (as juxtaposed with purposeful discovery by experiment or retrospective prophecy)., Sorting[], In the next step memos are sorted, which is the key to formulate the theory for presentation to others. Sorting puts fractured data back together. During sorting lots of new ideas emerge, which in turn are recorded in new memos giving the memo-on-memos phenomenon. Sorting memos generates theory that explains the main action in the studied area. A theory written from unsorted memos may be rich in ideas but the connection between concepts is weak., Writing[], Writing up the sorted memo piles follows after sorting, and at this stage the theory is close to the written GT product. The different categories are now related to each other and the core variable. The theoretical density should be stratified so that concepts are mixed with description in words, tables, or figures to optimize readability., In the later rewriting the relevant literature is woven in to put the theory in a scholarly context. Finally, the GT is edited for style and language and eventually submitted for publication. Most books on grounded theory do not explain what methodology details to include in a scholarly article; however, some guidelines have been suggested., No pre-research literature review, no taping and no talk[], GT according to Glaser gives the researcher freedom to generate new concepts explaining human behavior. This freedom is optimal when the researcher refrains from taping interviews, doing a pre-research literature review, and talking about the research before it is written up. These rules makes GT different from most other methods using qualitative data., No pre-research literature review. Studying the literature of the area under study gives preconceptions about what to find and the researcher gets desensitized by borrowed concepts. Instead, the GT method increases theoretical sensitivity. The literature should instead be read in the sorting stage being treated as more data to code and compare with what has already been coded and generated., No taping. Taping and transcribing interviews is common in qualitative research, but is counter-productive and a waste of time in GT which moves fast when the researcher delimits her data by field-noting interviews and soon after generates concepts that fit with data, are relevant and work in explaining what participants are doing to resolve their main concern. However, Kathy Charmaz counters this point, insisting that transcribing, coding, and re-coding are integral to the development of the theory., No talk. Talking about the theory before it is written up drains the researcher of motivational energy. Talking can either render praise or criticism, and both diminish the motivational drive to write memos that develop and refine the concepts and the theory (Glaser 1998). Positive feedback makes researchers content with what they have and negative feedback hampers their self-confidence. Talking about the GT should be restricted to persons capable of helping the researcher without influencing her final judgments., Split in methodology and methods[], Ralph, Birks & Chapman (2015) explain the split in divergence grounded theory methodology in the article "The Methodological Dynamism of Grounded Theory" and how grounded theory has been influenced by varying schools of thought over the years., Divergence[], Since their original publication in 1967, Glaser and Strauss have disagreed on how to apply the grounded theory method, resulting in a split between Straussian and Glaserian paradigms. This split occurred most obviously after Strauss published Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists (1987). Thereafter Strauss, together with Juliet Corbin, published Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques in 1990. This was followed by a rebuke by Glaser (1992) who set out, chapter by chapter, to highlight the differences in what he argued was original grounded theory and why, according to Glaser, what Strauss and Corbin had written was not grounded theory in its "intended form" but was rather a form of qualitative data analysis. This divergence in methodology is a subject of much academic debate, which Glaser (1998) calls a "rhetorical wrestle". Glaser continues to write about and teach the original grounded theory method., According to Kelle (2005), "the controversy between Glaser and Strauss boils down to the question of whether the researcher uses a well-defined 'coding paradigm' and always looks systematically for 'causal conditions,' 'phenomena/context, intervening conditions, action strategies' and 'consequences' in the data, or whether theoretical codes are employed as they emerge in the same way as substantive codes emerge, but drawing on a huge fund of 'coding families.' Both strategies have their pros and cons. Novices who wish to get clear advice on how to structure data material may be satisfied with the use of the coding paradigm. Since the paradigm consists of theoretical terms which carry only limited empirical content the risk is not very high that data are forced by its application. However, it must not be forgotten that it is linked to a certain perspective. Many researchers may concur with that approach especially since qualitative research always had a relation to micro-sociological , but others who want to employ a and system theory perspective may feel that the use of the coding paradigm would lead them astray.", Glaser's approach[], Glaser originated the basic process of Grounded theory method described as the constant comparative method where the analyst begins analysis with the first data collected and constantly compares indicators, concepts and categories as the theory emerges., The first book, The Discovery of Grounded Theory, published in 1967, was "developed in close and equal collaboration" by Glaser and Strauss. Glaser wrote "Theoretical Sensitivity" in 1978 and has since written five more books on the method and edited five readers with a collection of grounded theory articles and dissertations., The Glaserian method is not a , but claims the dictum "all is data". This means that not only interview or observational data but also surveys or statistical analyses or "whatever comes the researcher's way while studying a substantive area" (Glaser quote) can be used in the comparative process as well as literature data from science or media or even fiction. Thus the method according to Glaser is not limited to the realm of qualitative research, which he calls "QDA" (Qualitative Data Analysis). QDA is devoted to descriptive accuracy while the Glaserian method emphasizes conceptualization abstract of time, place and people. A theory discovered with the grounded theory method should be easy to use outside of the substantive area where it was generated., Strauss and Corbin's approach[], Generally speaking, grounded theory is an approach for looking systematically at (mostly) qualitative data (like transcripts of interviews or protocols of observations) aiming at the generation of . Sometimes, grounded theory is seen as a qualitative method, but grounded theory reaches farther: it combines a specific style of research (or a paradigm) with theory of action and with some methodological guidelines., This approach was written down and systematized in the 1960s by Anselm Strauss (himself a student of ) and Barney Glaser (a student of ), while working together in studying the sociology of illness at the . For and with their studies, they developed a methodology, which was then made explicit and became the foundation stone for an important branch of qualitative sociology., Important concepts of grounded theory method are categories, codes and codings. The research principle behind grounded theory method is neither nor , but combines both in a way of (coming from the works of ). This leads to a research practice where data sampling, data analysis and theory development are not seen as distinct and disjunct, but as different steps to be repeated until one can describe and explain the phenomenon that is to be researched. This stopping point is reached when new data does not change the emerging theory anymore., In an interview that was conducted shortly before Strauss' death (1994), he named three basic elements every grounded theory approach should include (Legewie/Schervier-Legewie (2004)). These three elements are:, Theoretical sensitive coding, that is, generating theoretical strong concepts from the data to explain the phenomenon researched;, theoretical sampling, that is, deciding whom to interview or what to observe next according to the state of theory generation, and that implies starting data analysis with the first interview, and writing down memos and hypotheses early;, the need to compare between phenomena and contexts to make the theory strong., Differences[], Grounded theory method according to Glaser emphasizes or emergence, and the individual researcher's creativity within a clear frame of stages, while Strauss is more interested in validation criteria and a systematic approach., Constructivist[], A later version of GT called constructivist GT, which was rooted in pragmatism and relativist epistemology, assumes that neither data nor theories are discovered, but are constructed by the researcher as a result of his or her interactions with the field and its participants. Data are co-constructed by researcher and participants, and colored by the researcher's perspectives, values, privileges, positions, interactions, and geographical locations. This position takes a middle ground between the realist and postmodernist positions by assuming an "obdurate reality" at the same time as it assumes multiple perspectives on these realities. Within this approach, a literature review is used in a constructive and data-sensitive way without forcing it on data., Critical realist[], More recently, a critical realist version of GT has been developed and applied for generating mechanism-based explanations for social phenomena (Kempster and Parry 2011, Oliver 2012, Bunt 2016, Hoddy 2018). (CR) is the philosophical approach associated with which argues for a structured and differentiated account of reality in which difference, stratification and change is central. In contrast to positivism and idealism, CR combines a realist ontology with an interpretivist epistemology. A CR approach to GT shares with Strauss and Corbin's approach a commitment to abduction but it includes a retroductive step for identifying causes and conditions. A critical realist grounded theory produces an explanation through an examination of the three domains of social reality: the 'real', as the domain of structures and mechanisms; the 'actual', as the domain of events; and the 'empirical', as the domain of experiences and perceptions., Use in other research methods[], Grounded theory has provided part of the basis for the research methodology known as the data percolation methodology. While the latter accepts the formulation of hypotheses, it first recommends that the researcher immerses him/herself in ground research free of preconceived ideas or biases. A series of steps are proposed to ensure the research leads to results that are as meaningful as possible after having percolated the mass of data. Notably, the data percolation methodology, unlike grounded theory, accepts the formulation of a so-called emerging model, which, as the name suggests, evolves as the researcher moves from a grounded approach to a hypothetico-deductive method back to testing the emerging model in the research field again. Like the grounded theory, data percolation has also been found effective in social sciences, including in analyzing functional psychopathy., Use in various disciplines[], Grounded theory is "shaped by the desire to discover social and psychological processes" However grounded theory is not restricted to these two disciplines of study. As Gibbs points out, the process of grounded theory can be and has been applied to a number of different disciplines such as medicine, law, and economics to name a few. Grounded theory has gone global among the disciplines of nursing, business, and education and less so among other social-psychological-oriented disciplines such as social welfare, psychology, sociology, and art., Grounded theory focuses more on the procedure and not on the discipline. Rather than being limited to a particular discipline or form of data collection, grounded theory has been found useful across multiple research areas (Wells 1995). Here are some examples:, In psychology, grounded theory is used to understand the role of therapeutic distance for adult clients with attachment anxiety., In sociology, grounded theory is used to discover the meaning of spirituality in cancer patients, and how their beliefs influence their attitude towards cancer treatments., Public health researchers have used grounded theory to examine nursing home preparedness needs through the experiences of Hurricane Katrina refugees sheltered in nursing homes., In business, grounded theory is used by managers to explain the ways in which organizational characteristics explain co-worker support., In , grounded theory has been used to study daily ., Grounded theory has also helped research in the field of information technology to study the use of computer technology in older adults., In , grounded theory has been used to examine how can be used to keep patients safe., Benefits[], The benefits of using grounded theory include:, Ecological validity: Ecological validity is the extent to which research findings accurately represent real-world settings. Grounded theories are usually ecologically valid because they are similar to the data from which they were established. Although the constructs in a grounded theory are appropriately abstract (since their goal is to explain other similar phenomenon), they are context-specific, detailed, and tightly connected to the data., Novelty: Because grounded theories are not tied to any preexisting theory, grounded theories are often fresh and new and have the potential for innovative discoveries in science and other areas., Parsimony: involves using the simplest possible definition to explain complex phenomenon. Grounded theories aim to provide practical and simple explanations about complex phenomena by converting them into abstract constructs and hypothesizing their relationships. They offer helpful and relatively easy-to-remember layouts for us to understand our world a little bit better., Grounded theory has further significance because:, It provides explicit, sequential guidelines for conducting qualitative research., It offers specific strategies for handling the analytic phases of inquiry., It streamlines and integrates data collection and analysis and, It legitimizes qualitative research as scientific inquiry., Grounded theory methods have earned their place as a standard social research method and have influenced researchers from varied disciplines and professions., Criticisms[], Critiques of grounded theory have focused on:, Its misunderstood status as theory (is what is produced really 'theory'?),, The notion of 'ground' (why is an idea of 'grounding' one's findings important in qualitative inquiry—what are they 'grounded' in?), The claim to use and develop inductive knowledge., These criticisms are summed up by Thomas and James. These authors also suggest that it is impossible to free oneself of preconceptions in the collection and analysis of data in the way that Glaser and Strauss say is necessary. They also point to the formulaic nature of grounded theory method and the lack of congruence of this with open and creative interpretation – which ought to be the hallmark of qualitative inquiry. They suggest that the one element of grounded theory worth keeping is constant comparative method., Goldthorpe has put forth some criticisms of grounded theory as an effort to synthesize variables oriented as empirical studies and radical choice theory. Grounded theory allows for modifications in the formulated hypotheses at the start of the empirical research process. In grounded theory, researchers engage in excessive conceptualization and defend this as "sensitivity to context." Because of this, convergent conceptualization becomes impossible.[?] As a result of these two arguments, grounded theory escapes the testing of theory. There is a very thin line between context and regularities. Goldthorpe supports this criticism in a review of three overlapping literatures: historical sociology, comparative macrosociology, and ethnography. On the one hand, historical sociology is good at analyzing long term processes of structural change, but on the other hand, its reliance on secondary sources opens several possibilities of bias. Comparative macro-sociology may be able to contextualize with reference to institutions and historical path-dependencies, but its focus on constellations of singular causal forces makes it difficult to break with long outdated mechanical models of reasoning. Ethnography may closely analyse actual mechanisms of interaction, but it doesn't provide acceptable knowledge about underlying generative processes, since it is unable to deal with variation within and across locales. Goldthorpe's core arguments are in terms of rational action theory and probabilistic statistical models. Grounded Theory can be reductive in the search for general patterns across a population, and even the selective coding process does not fully cover the contextual issues., The grounded theory approach can be criticized as being empiricist; that it relies too heavily on the empirical data. Considers the fieldwork data as the source of its theories and sets itself against the use of the preceding theories Strauss's version of grounded theory has been criticized in several ways-, Grounded theory focuses on a quasi-objective centered researcher with an emphasis on hypotheses, variables, reliability and replicability. This is contradictory with the more away from this more quantitative form of terminology in recent qualitative research approaches., It will not be appropriate to ignore the existing theories by paying less attention to the review of literature. The researcher invariably comes to the research topic by finding more about his or her own discipline., Grounded theory offers a complex methodology and confusing terminology to navigate, rather than a practical orientation to research and data analysis. Some processes, such as the 3 stage process with associated data fragmentation, may lead the researcher to lose the track of the overall picture which is emerging., Poorly put forth theoretical explanations tends to be the outcome where data are linked conceptually and early to existing frameworks. Concept generation rather than the formal theory may be the best outcome. (Grbich, 2007), Grounded theory method was developed in a period when other were often considered unscientific. It achieved wide acceptance of its academic rigor. Thus, especially in American academia, qualitative research is often equated to grounded theory method. This equation is sometimes criticized by qualitative researchers[] using other methodologies (for example, traditional , , and )., One alternative to grounded theory is . It puts an equal emphasis on doing on-the-ground work linked to analytical processes of empirical generalization. However, unlike grounded theory, engaged theory is in the tradition, locating those processes within a larger theoretical framework that specifies different levels of abstraction at which one can make claims about the world., Phenomenology (psychology), Phenomenology within (phenomenological psychology) is the psychological study of subjective experience. It is an approach to psychological subject matter that has its roots in the of . Early phenomenologists such as Husserl, , and conducted philosophical investigations of consciousness in the early 20th century. Their critiques of and later influenced at least two main fields of contemporary psychology: the phenomenological psychological approach of the (The ), including and ; and the experimental approaches associated with , , , and others (). Other names associated with the movement include (), , and . But "an even stronger influence on psychopathology came from Heidegger (1963), particularly through (1931), Blankenburg (1971), Tellenbach (1983), (1994), and others." Phenomenological psychologists have also figured prominently in the history of the movement., The experiencing subject can be considered to be the or , for purposes of convenience. In (and in particular in the work of , , and ), "experience" is a considerably more complex concept than it is usually taken to be in everyday use. Instead, experience (or being, or existence itself) is an "in-relation-to" phenomenon, and it is defined by qualities of directedness, embodiment, and worldliness, which are evoked by the term "Being-in-the-World"., The quality or nature of a given experience is often referred to by the term , whose archetypical exemplar is "redness". For example, we might ask, "Is my experience of redness the same as yours?" While it is difficult to answer such a question in any concrete way, the concept of is often used as a mechanism for understanding how it is that humans are able to empathise with one another's experiences, and indeed to engage in meaningful communication about them. The phenomenological formulation of , where person and world are mutually constitutive, is central here., Difficulties in considering subjective phenomena, The philosophical psychology prevalent before the end of the 19th century relied heavily on . The speculations concerning the mind based on those observations were criticized by the pioneering advocates of a more scientific approach to psychology, such as and the behaviorists , , , and . However, not everyone agrees that introspection is intrinsically problematic, such as , who has trained experimental participants in the structured "introspection" of ., In the early 1970s, Amedeo Giorgi applied phenomenological theory to his development of the Descriptive Phenomenological Method in Psychology in order to overcome certain problems he perceived, from his work in psychophysics, with approaching subjective phenomena from the traditional hypothetical-deductive framework of the natural sciences. Giorgi hoped to use what he had learned from his natural science background to develop a rigorous qualitative research method. Giorgi has thus described his overall project as such: "[Phenomenological psychology] is nothing like natural sciences... because its [sic] [dealing with] human experiences and human phenomena. [However] I want to be sure that our criteria is this: that every natural scientist will have to respect our method. I'm not just trying to satisfy clinicians, or therapists, or humanists, I'm trying to satisfy the most severe criterion—natural scientists... because I anticipate that some day, when qualitative research develops and gets strong, the natural science people are going to criticize it. And I want to be able to stand up and say, 'Go ahead, criticize it—but you won't find any flaws here'.", Philosophers have long confronted the problem of "". Few philosophers believe that it is possible to be sure that one person's of the "redness" of an object is the same as another person's, even if both persons had effectively identical genetic and experiential histories.[] In principle, the same difficulty arises in (the subjective experience of emotion), in the experience of effort, and especially in the "meaning" of concepts.[] As a result, many qualitative psychologists have claimed phenomenological inquiry to be essentially a matter of "" and thus a question to be addressed by interpretive approaches.