Checklists provided in the chapter help to ensure that all steps are included. Chapter 9. Qualitative Methods Qualitative approaches to data collection, analysis, interpretation, and report writing differ from the traditional, quantitative approaches. Purposeful sampling, collection of open-ended data, analysis of text or pictures, representation of information in figures and tables, and personal interpretation of the findings all inform qualitative methods.
Ample illustrations provide examples from narrative studies, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case studies. Chapter Mixed methods research has increased in popularity in recent years, and this chapter highlights important developments and provides an introduction in the use of this design. This chapter begins by defining mixed methods research and the core characteristics that describe it. Then the three basic designs in mixed methods research— a convergent, b explanatory sequential, and c exploratory sequential—are detailed in terms of their characteristics, data collection and analysis features, and approaches for interpreting and validating the research.
In addition, three advanced designs are also mentioned: a the embedded design, b the transformative design, and c the multiphase design. Finally, I discuss the decisions needed to determine which one of the designs would be best for your mixed methods project.
Examples are provided of the basic designs, and, like the other methods chapters, you have a checklist to review whether you included all of the essential steps in your proposal. Designing a study is a difficult and time-consuming process. This book will not necessarily make the process easier or faster, but it can provide specific skills useful in research, knowledge about the steps involved in the process, and a practical guide to composing and writing scholarly research.
Before the steps of the process unfold, I recommend that proposal developers think through their approaches to research, conduct literature reviews on their topics, develop an outline of topics to include in a proposal design, and begin anticipating potential ethical issues that may arise in the research.
Part I begins with these topics. Acknowledgments his book could not have been written without the encouragement and ideas of the hundreds of T students in the doctoral-level Proposal Development course that I taught at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for over 30 years.
Specific former students and editors were instrumental in its development: Dr. Sharon Hudson, Dr. Leon Cantrell, the late Nette Nelson, Dr. De Tonack, Dr. Ray Ostrander, and Diane Wells.
Since the publication of the first edition, I have also become indebted to the students in my introductory research methods courses and to individuals who have participated in my qualitative and mixed methods seminars. These courses have been my laboratories for working out ideas, incorporating new ones, and sharing my experiences as a writer and researcher.
In addition, I want to thank my staff over the years in the Office of Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who have helped to conceptualize content in this book. I am indebted to the scholarly work of Dr. Vicki Plano Clark, Dr. Ron Shope, Dr. Kim Galt, Dr. Yun Lu, Dr. Sherry Wang, Amanda Garrett, and Dr.
Alex Morales. I also could not have produced this book without the support and encouragement of my friends at SAGE. SAGE is and has been a first-rate publishing house.
I especially owe much to my former editor and mentor, C. My current editor, Vicki Knight, has been most supportive of my work and has encouraged me throughout the process. Thanks, Vicki! We have grown together and helped to develop research methods as a distinguished, worldwide field. About the Author John W. Creswell is a professor of educational psychology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He teaches courses on mixed methods research, qualitative inquiry, and general research design.
In these three areas, he has authored numerous scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and books. He is currently working on his 22nd book including new editions , and his books are translated into many languages around the world.
As an applied research methodologist, he served as an adjunct professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan and as a consultant for the VA health services research unit in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
He has been a Senior Fulbright Specialist scholar to both South Africa and Thailand , lecturing on qualitative and mixed methods approaches to research.
Visit him at his website: johnwcreswell. T Part I addresses several preliminary considerations that are necessary before designing a proposal or a plan for a study.
These considerations relate to selecting an appropriate research approach, reviewing the literature to position the proposed study within the existing literature, deciding on whether to use a theory in the study, and employing—at the outset— good writing and ethical practices. This plan involves several decisions, and they need not be taken in the order in which they make sense to me and the order of their presentation here. The overall decision involves which approach should be used to study a topic.
Informing this decision should be the philosophical assumptions the researcher brings to the study; procedures of inquiry called research designs ; and specific research methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
Thus, in this book, research approaches, research designs, and research methods are three key terms that represent a perspective about research that presents information in a successive way from broad constructions of research to the narrow procedures of methods. Unquestionably, the three approaches are not as discrete as they first appear. Qualitative and quantitative approaches should not be viewed as rigid, distinct categories, polar opposites, or dichotomies.
A study tends to be more qualitative than quantitative or vice versa. Mixed methods research resides in the middle of this continuum because it incorporates elements of both qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Often the distinction between qualitative research and quantitative research is framed in terms of using words qualitative rather than numbers quantitative , or using closed-ended questions quantitative hypotheses rather than open-ended questions qualitative interview questions. A more complete way to view the gradations of differences between them is in the basic philosophical assumptions researchers bring to the study, the types of research strategies used in the research e.
Moreover, there is a historical evolution to both approaches—with the quantitative approaches dominating the forms of research in the social sciences from the late 19th century up until the midth century. During the latter half of the 20th century, interest in qualitative research increased and along with it, the development of mixed methods research. The final written report has a flexible structure. Those who engage in this form of inquiry support a way of looking at research that honors an inductive style, a focus on individual meaning, and the importance of rendering the complexity of a situation.
These variables, in turn, can be measured, typically on instruments, so that numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures. The final written report has a set structure consisting of introduction, literature and theory, methods, results, and discussion.
Like qualitative researchers, those who engage in this form of inquiry have assumptions about testing theories deductively, building in protections against bias, controlling for alternative explanations, and being able to generalize and replicate the findings. The core assumption of this form of inquiry is that the combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches provides a more complete understanding of a research problem than either approach alone.
These definitions have considerable information in each one of them. The broad research approach is the plan or proposal to conduct research , involves the intersection of philosophy, research designs, and specific methods. A framework that I use to explain the interaction of these three components is seen in Figure 1.
To reiterate, in planning a study, researchers need to think through the philosophical worldview assumptions that they bring to the study, the research design that is related to this worldview, and the specific methods or procedures of research that translate the approach into practice. I suggest that individuals preparing a research proposal or plan make explicit the larger philosophical ideas they espouse. This information will help explain why they chose qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods approaches for their research.
In writing about worldviews, a proposal might include a section that addresses the following: Figure 1. I see worldviews as a general philosophical orientation about the world and the nature of research that a researcher brings to a study. The types of beliefs held by individual researchers based on these factors will often lead to embracing a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods approach in their research.
The major elements of each position are presented in Table 1. Table 1. This worldview is sometimes called the scientific method, or doing science research. The postpositivist tradition comes from 19th-century writers, such as Comte, Mill, Durkheim, Newton, and Locke Smith, and more recently from writers such as Phillips and Burbules Postpositivists hold a deterministic philosophy in which causes probably determine effects or outcomes.
Thus, the problems studied by postpositivists reflect the need to identify and assess the causes that influence outcomes, such as found in experiments. It is also reductionistic in that the intent is to reduce the ideas into a small, discrete set to test, such as the variables that comprise hypotheses and research questions.
Thus, developing numeric measures of observations and studying the behavior of individuals becomes paramount for a postpositivist. Finally, there are laws or theories that govern the world, and these need to be tested or verified and refined so that we can understand the world. Thus, in the scientific method—the accepted approach to research by postpositivists—a researcher begins with a theory, collects data that either supports or refutes the theory, and then makes necessary revisions and conducts additional tests.
In reading Phillips and Burbules , you can gain a sense of the key assumptions of this position, such as the following: 1. Knowledge is conjectural and antifoundational —absolute truth can never be found. Thus, evidence established in research is always imperfect and fallible. Research is the process of making claims and then refining or abandoning some of them for other claims more strongly warranted. Most quantitative research, for example, starts with the test of a theory.
Data, evidence, and rational considerations shape knowledge. In practice, the researcher collects information on instruments based on measures completed by the participants or by observations recorded by the researcher. Research seeks to develop relevant, true statements, ones that can serve to explain the situation of concern or that describe the causal relationships of interest.
In quantitative studies, researchers advance the relationship among variables and pose this in terms of questions or hypotheses. Being objective is an essential aspect of competent inquiry; researchers must examine methods and conclusions for bias.
For example, standard of validity and reliability are important in quantitative research. The Constructivist Worldview Others hold a different worldview. Constructivism or social constructivism often combined with interpretivism is such a perspective, and it is typically seen as an approach to qualitative research.
More recent writers who have summarized this position are Lincoln and colleagues , Mertens , and Crotty , among others. Social constructivists believe that individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work. Individuals develop subjective meanings of their experiences— meanings directed toward certain objects or things.
These meanings are varied and multiple, leading the researcher to look for the complexity of views rather than narrowing meanings into a few categories or ideas. The questions become broad and general so that the participants can construct the meaning of a situation, typically forged in discussions or interactions with other persons.
The more open-ended the questioning, the better, as the researcher listens carefully to what people say or do in their life settings. Often these subjective meanings are negotiated socially and historically. Thus, constructivist researchers often address the processes of interaction among individuals. They also focus on the specific contexts in which people live and work in order to understand the historical and cultural settings of the participants. Researchers recognize that their own backgrounds shape their interpretation, and they position themselves in the research to acknowledge how their interpretation flows from their personal, cultural, and historical experiences.
Rather than starting with a theory as in postpositivism , inquirers generate or inductively develop a theory or pattern of meaning. Human beings construct meanings as they engage with the world they are interpreting. Qualitative researchers tend to use open-ended questions so that the participants can share their views. Humans engage with their world and make sense of it based on their historical and social perspectives—we are all born into a world of meaning bestowed upon us by our culture.
Thus, qualitative researchers seek to understand the context or setting of the participants through visiting this context and gathering information personally. The basic generation of meaning is always social, arising in and out of interaction with a human community.
The process of qualitative research is largely inductive; the inquirer generates meaning from the data collected in the field. The Transformative Worldview Another group of researchers holds to the philosophical assumptions of the transformative approach. This position arose during the s and s from individuals who felt that the postpositivist assumptions imposed structural laws and theories that did not fit marginalized individuals in our society or issues of power and social justice, discrimination, and oppression that needed to be addressed.
There is no uniform body of literature characterizing this worldview, but it includes groups of researchers that are critical theorists; participatory action researchers; Marxists; feminists; racial and ethnic minorities; persons with disabilities; indigenous and postcolonial peoples; and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, and queer communities.
Historically, the transformative writers have drawn on the works of Marx, Adorno, Marcuse, Habermas, and Freire Neuman, Fay , Heron and Reason , Kemmis and Wilkinson , Kemmis and McTaggart , and Mertens , are additional writers to read for this perspective. In the main, these inquirers felt that the constructivist stance did not go far enough in advocating for an action agenda to help marginalized peoples. A transformative worldview holds that research inquiry needs to be intertwined with politics and a political change agenda to confront social oppression at whatever levels it occurs Mertens, Moreover, specific issues need to be addressed that speak to important social issues of the day, issues such as empowerment, inequality, oppression, domination, suppression, and alienation.
The researcher often begins with one of these issues as the focal point of the study. This research also assumes that the inquirer will proceed collaboratively so as to not further marginalize the participants as a result of the inquiry. In this sense, the participants may help design questions, collect data, analyze information, or reap the rewards of the research.
Transformative research provides a voice for these participants, raising their consciousness or advancing an agenda for change to improve their lives. It becomes a united voice for reform and change.
This philosophical worldview focuses on the needs of groups and individuals in our society that may be marginalized or disenfranchised. Of special interest for these diverse groups is how their lives have been constrained by oppressors and the strategies that they use to resist, challenge, and subvert these constraints. The Pragmatic Worldview Another position about worldviews comes from the pragmatists. Other writers include Murphy , Patton , and Rorty There are many forms of this philosophy, but for many, pragmatism as a worldview arises out of actions, situations, and consequences rather than antecedent conditions as in postpositivism.
There is a concern with applications—what works—and solutions to problems Patton, As a philosophical underpinning for mixed methods studies, Morgan , Patton , and Tashakkori and Teddlie convey its importance for focusing attention on the research problem in social science research and then using pluralistic approaches to derive knowledge about the problem. This applies to mixed methods research in that inquirers draw liberally from both quantitative and qualitative assumptions when they engage in their research.
In this way, researchers are free to choose the methods, techniques, and procedures of research that best meet their needs and purposes. In a similar way, mixed methods researchers look to many approaches for collecting and analyzing data rather than subscribing to only one way e. It is not based in a duality between reality independent of the mind or within the mind.
Mixed methods researchers need to establish a purpose for their mixing, a rationale for the reasons why quantitative and qualitative data need to be mixed in the first place. In this way, mixed methods studies may include a postmodern turn, a theoretical lens that is reflective of social justice and political aims.
But they believe that we need to stop asking questions about reality and the laws of nature Cherryholmes, Research Designs The researcher not only selects a qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods study to conduct; the inquirer also decides on a type of study within these three choices.
Research designs are types of inquiry within qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches that provide specific direction for procedures in a research design. The designs available to the researcher have grown over the years as computer technology has advanced our data analysis and ability to analyze complex models and as individuals have articulated new procedures for conducting social science research. Select types will be emphasized in Chapters 8, 9, and 10—designs that are frequently used in the social sciences.
Here I introduce those that are discussed later and that are cited in examples throughout the book. An overview of these designs is shown in Table 1. Quantitative Designs During the late 19th and throughout the 20th century, strategies of inquiry associated with quantitative research were those that invoked the postpositivist worldview and that originated mainly in psychology.
One type of nonexperimental quantitative research is causal-comparative research in which the investigator compares two or more groups in terms of a cause or independent variable that has already happened. Another nonexperimental form of research is the correlational design in which investigators use the correlational statistic to describe and measure the degree or association or relationship between two or more variables or sets of scores Creswell, These designs have been elaborated into more complex relationships among variables found in techniques of structural equation modeling, hierarchical linear modeling, and logistic regression.
More recently, quantitative strategies have involved complex experiments with many variables and treatments e. They have also included elaborate structural equation models that incorporate causal paths and the identification of the collective strength of multiple variables. Rather than discuss all of these quantitative approaches, I will focus on two designs: surveys and experiments.
It includes cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using questionnaires or structured interviews for data collection—with the intent of generalizing from a sample to a population Fowler, The researcher assesses this by providing a specific treatment to one group and withholding it from another and then determining how both groups scored on an outcome. Experiments include true experiments, with the random assignment of subjects to treatment conditions, and quasi-experiments that use nonrandomized assignments Keppel, Included within quasi-experiments are single- subject designs.
Qualitative Designs In qualitative research, the numbers and types of approaches have also become more clearly visible during the s and into the 21st century. The historic origin for qualitative research comes from anthropology, sociology, the humanities, and evaluation. Books have summarized the various types, and complete procedures are now available on specific qualitative inquiry approaches.
For example, Clandinin and Connelly constructed a picture of what narrative researchers do. Moustakas discussed the philosophical tenets and the procedures of the phenomenological method; Charmaz , Corbin and Strauss , and Strauss and Corbin , identified the procedures of grounded theory.
Fetterman and Wolcott summarized ethnographic procedures and the many faces and research strategies of ethnography, and Stake and Yin , suggested processes involved in case study research. This information is then often retold or restoried by the researcher into a narrative chronology. This description culminates in the essence of the experiences for several individuals who have all experienced the phenomenon.
This design has strong philosophical underpinnings and typically involves conducting interviews Giorgi, ; Moustakas, Data collection often involves observations and interviews. Cases are bounded by time and activity, and researchers collect detailed information using a variety of data collection procedures over a sustained period of time Stake, ; Yin, , Mixed Methods Designs Mixed methods involves combining or integration of qualitative and quantitative research and data in a research study.
Qualitative data tends to be open-ended without predetermined responses while quantitative data usually includes closed-ended responses such as found on questionnaires or psychological instruments. The field of mixed methods research is relatively new with major work in developing it stemming from the middle to late s. Its origins, however, go back further.
In , Campbell and Fisk used multiple methods to study psychological traits—although their methods were only quantitative measures. Their work prompted others to begin collecting multiple forms of data, such as observations and interviews qualitative data with traditional surveys Sieber, Early thoughts about the value of multiple methods—called mixed methods—resided in the idea that all methods had bias and weaknesses, and the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data neutralized the weaknesses of each form of data.
Triangulating data sources—a means for seeking convergence across qualitative and quantitative methods—was born Jick, By the early s, mixed methods turned toward the systematic convergence of quantitative and qualitative databases, and the idea of integration in different types of research designs emerged.
In this design, the investigator typically collects both forms of data at roughly the same time and then integrates the information in the interpretation of the overall results. Contradictions or incongruent findings are explained or further probed in this design.
It is considered explanatory because the initial quantitative data results are explained further with the qualitative data. It is considered sequential because the initial quantitative phase is followed by the qualitative phase. This type of design is popular in fields with a strong quantitative orientation hence the project begins with quantitative research , but it presents challenges of identifying the quantitative results to further explore and the unequal sample sizes for each phase of the study.
In the exploratory sequential approach the researcher first begins with a qualitative research phase and explores the views of participants. The data are then analyzed, and the information used to build into a second, quantitative phase. The qualitative phase may be used to build an instrument that best fits the sample under study, to identify appropriate instruments to use in the follow-up quantitative phase, or to specify variables that need to go into a follow-up quantitative study.
Particular challenges to this design reside in focusing in on the appropriate qualitative findings to use and the sample selection for both phases of research. Transformative mixed methods is a design that uses a theoretical lens drawn from social justice or power see Chapter 3 as an overarching perspective within a design that contains both quantitative and qualitative data.
The data in this form of study could be converged or it could be ordered sequentially with one building on the other. An embedded mixed methods design involves as well either the convergent or sequential use of data, but the core idea is that either quantitative or qualitative data is embedded within a larger design e.
A multiphase mixed methods design is common in the fields of evaluation and program interventions. In this advanced design, concurrent or sequential strategies are used in tandem over time to best understand a long-term program goal. Research Methods The third major element in the framework is the specific research methods that involve the forms of data collection, analysis, and interpretation that researchers propose for their studies.
As shown in Table 1. These methods will be developed further in Chapters 8 through Researchers collect data on an instrument or test e. On the other end of the continuum, collecting data might involve visiting a research site and observing the behavior of individuals without predetermined questions or conducting an interview in which the individual is allowed to talk openly about a topic, largely without the use of specific questions.
The choice of methods turns on whether the intent is to specify the type of information to be collected in advance of the study or to allow it to emerge from participants in the project. Also, the type of data analyzed may be numeric information gathered on scales of instruments or text information recording and reporting the voice of the participants. Researchers make interpretations of the statistical results, or they interpret the themes or patterns that emerge from the data.
In some forms of research, both quantitative and qualitative data are collected, analyzed, and interpreted. Instrument data may be augmented with open-ended observations, or census data may be followed by in-depth exploratory interviews. In this case of mixing methods, the researcher makes inferences across both the quantitative and qualitative databases. Create lists, bibliographies and reviews: or.
Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Creswell and new co-author J.
David Creswell include a preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions, key elements of the research process, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research applications, and reflections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry.
The Fifth Edition includes more coverage of: epistemological and ontological positioning in relation to the research question and chosen methodology; case study, PAR, visual and online methods in qualitative research; qualitative and quantitative data analysis software; and in quantitative methods more on power analysis to determine sample size, and more coverage of experimental and survey designs; and updated with the latest thinking and research in mixed methods.
Creswell, J. Discussion questions launch classroom interaction and encourage students to engage further with the material. All figures and tables from the book available for download and use in your course. Andrew Ryder.
University of North Carolina, Wilmington. Dr Saira Anwar. Report this review. Great resource and handbook for introduction to research design. Dr Marti Canipe. Dr Victoria Sherif. Content, excellent instructor resources. Dr Julie Pynn. Psychology Dept, Southern Utah University. It covers everything our Sport Mgmt masters students need to know regarding research. Dr Chase M. Management, University Of Southern Indiana. Victoria Walsey.
Professor Kimberley Garth-James. Key features. Additional content on epistemological and ontological positioning in relation to the research question and chosen methodology and method. Additional updates on the transformative worldview. Expanded coverage on specific approaches such as case studies, participatory action research, and visual methods. Additional information about social media , online qualitative methods, and mentoring and reflexivity in qualitative methods.
Incorporation of action research and program evaluation in mixed methods and coverage of the latest advances in the mixed methods field Additional coverage on qualitative and quantitative data analysis software in the respective methods chapters. Additional information about causality and its relationship to statistics in quantitative methods.
Incorporation of writing discussion sections into each of the three methodologies. What are you waiting for? All the PDF books you desire are now at your fingertips and accessible on this ebook site for free! The eagerly anticipated Fourth Edition of the title that pioneered the comparison of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research design is here! For all three approaches, Creswell includes a preliminary consideration of philosophical assumptions, a review of the literature, an assessment of the use of theory in research approaches, and refl ections about the importance of writing and ethics in scholarly inquiry.
He also presents the key elements of the research process, giving specifi c attention to each approach. The Fourth Edition includes extensively revised mixed methods coverage, increased coverage of ethical issues in research, and an expanded emphasis on worldview perspectives.
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