As a new post-grad student, you will have lots of questions about how this whole research thing is going to work. Yet, while individual details differ, there are themes and processes common to much of qualitative research. Some relate to the methodology, the role of theory, developing a research question, data analysis and the integration of the various parts of the research.
The purpose of this series of posts is to outline a generalised qualitative research structure to help understand how all the parts fit together. The goal is to help you see the bigger picture for those times you are lost in the detail. It is important at the outset to note that this is not THE qualitative research structure and that all projects must to follow this pattern. The purpose is to illustrate common elements in a qualitative research project and to illustrate how these elements interrelate.
The full standardised research process is outlined in this image. It will open in a new tab so you can follow along and see where we are going.
Stage One
You will likely have some idea of what you would like to research, a problem of some sort. This might have come out of your professional practice, something you have observed or believe might be an issue in your discipline area, or maybe even a suggestion from your supervisor. To find out if this might become a research project with a research question, some sort of literature review is a common starting place. One key goal of a literature review is to see what has been and is being done in the area of your topic to see if there is a space for your concern and what that might look like.
A good dive into the literature will help you formulate your research question or questions. there will be a separate post on these, but for now, a research question needs to be specific, often time and location bound and achievable within the time and resources you have available.
Stage Two
Once you have your research questions reasonably refined, you can now start to pin down the process by which you will find answers. Firstly, your questions should inform and drive your methodology, methods, and data collection rather than the other way around. This is not to say you cannot get guidance from what others are doing and what seems to be useful approaches in your discipline, but your decisions at this point centre on how best to reach a solution.
There will be a lot of back and forth here, considering the options, what similar work looks like, what data you might need and how you might go about getting it. You may then tweak your research questions and then look again at the methodology and data needs. You will also be deciding on the theoretical perspective which provides the philosophical underpinnings of your thesis as a whole, your methodology specifically, and as we will see, frameworks for analysis and conclusions. Ultimately, choose your methodology based on what you want to know and what you need to know to answer questions. [1]
For a new researcher, it is this choice of theory that is one of the more confusing questions at this stage: why do I need it and what role does it play? In essence, qualitative researchers believe that all knowledge is influenced, at least to some degree, by time and place, culture, and history; that knowledge is, more or less, a is influenced by those involved in its creation. The research process does not take place in a kind of intellectual vacuum so it is important to understand the framework that guides this process, how a reader should understand the interpretation of your data and how you reached your conclusions, and how your work relates to other studies in similar areas.
A methodology is the organising framework of your project. It is closely related to theory and often assumes a theory as well as methods and data types; what sort of data you should collect and how to go about it. Importantly, closely tied with the theory, methodology will guide the analysis and interpretation of the data leading to your conclusions and answers to research questions. A future post will break down some common methodologies.
Next: In Part Two
In part two, we will look at the role of theory, data collection, analysis and formulating the conclusions of your research.
Note:
An important consideration at this point is also ethics. Although I am probably guilty of this right now, it is often relegated to a side issue or an intellectual footnote. The topic deserves a dedicated post.
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