PresentersJennifer Butcher, Ph.D. Diane Mason, Ph.D.Donna Fong, Ed.D.Donda Slaydon, Ed.D.

How to Master Qualitative Design

Leadership-U May 3, 2013

Research Design Selection• Gain familiarity with core designs.– Narrative, Ethnography, Grounded Theory, Case

Study, Phenomenological• Examine research studies.• Align research question with design.• Become an expert.

Narrative• Narrative text used with a specific focus on the stories lived

and told by individuals, and chronologically connected.– Analysis of narrative– Narrative analysis

• Example– Factors that Influence Hispanic Students to Take Advanced

Level Courses - Susan M. Caffery, Ed.D.

Ethnography• Observation and recording of shared learned

behaviors of a cultural group.• Example– An Ethnographic Case Study of the Professional

Development Model in a Successful ElementarySchool Within a Suburban SoutheastTexas School District

– – Valerie Petrzelka, Ed.D.

Grounded Theory• Generate or discover a theory (Creswell, 1968)• Examples

– Used primarily in Human Research Development.– Studies of workplace are development.– Responses to organizational change.– Conflict management.– Exploration of leadership values in teamwork.– Developing Long-Term Physical Activity

Participation: A Grounded Theory Study WithAfrican American Women (Creswell, 2013)

Phenomenological• Describes the meaning for several individuals, their

lived experiences of a concept, or phenomenon.• Example– A Study of High School Veteran Teachers Who Have

Changed Instructional Paradigms to EmbraceDigital Tools: Framed Within AdultLearning Theory – Donna Fong, Ed.D.

Case Study• Issue explored through one or more cases within a

bounded system with detailed, in-depth data collection (observations, interview, documents, etc.)

• Example– Case Study of Implementation of

Flexible Grouping in One School Framed Within the Change BasedAdoption Model – Donda Slaydon, Ed.D.

Researcher Role• Reduce bias– Use specificity with terms.– Set aside personal experiences.– Examine with a fresh perspective.

• Epoche – Common in qualitative research.– Usually a page or so in length.

Data Collection Process• Yourself, someone else, or team?• Data Types– Interviews• Individual, pairs, or focus group?

– Open-ended survey items– Artifacts– Social Media

Coding and Identifying Themes• Coding is the process of examining the raw

qualitative data.• Results in assigning codes, labels, or themes to

words, phrases, sentences, or paragraphs.• Themes are often referred to as

categories. Generally, no more that 5-7.• Themes are similar codes aggregated

together to form a major idea.

Coding Group Activity• Coding Qualitative Data– Examine code list and decide which code sums up

the text discussion.– Read a passage and provide a code for what is

happening in each line of the text.• Questions & Answers

Contact Information

Diane Mason, Ph.D.diane.mason@lamar.edu

Jennifer Butcher, Ph.D.jbutcher@lamar.edu

Donna Fong, Ed.D. dfong@lcmcisd.org

Donda Slaydon, Ed.D. dondaslaydon@sbcglobal.net