Research Methods Tutorials: Introductions to Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

According to The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, qualitative data analysis – as qualitative research in general – can take three approaches to analyzing social phenomena. 

1. A first approach puts the focus on subjective experiences: What are students' experiences as related to classroom disturbances stemming from Covid-19; how do they describe the situation, how do they explain what's happening? 

For this approach data often come from interviews with the students – or from documents such as journals written by the students.

2. A second approach focuses on describing the making of a social situation: How have students changed in how they interact with each other and with their education since the Covid pandemic?

For this approach, data, for example, result from observing students interact in or out of the classroom as well as, perhaps, interviews with family members and teachers.

3. A third approach is to go beyond the first two approaches and into spheres of implicit and even unconscious aspects of a social phenomenon. Data can come from recording interactions but also from looking at phenomena beyond individual awareness. In the third approach, you utilize knowledge that is inaccessible to the subject. The theoretical roots are structuralist models and psychoanalysis and its concept of the unconscious. 

Source & Further Reading

Action Research: In this type of study, researchers will actively pursue some kind of intervention, resolve a problem, or affect some kind of change. They will not only analyze the results but will also examine the challenges encountered through the process. 

• Watch What is Action Research? A Visual Explanation [2:24] by John Spencer on YouTube for more.

Ethnography: Ethnographies are an in-depth, holistic type of research used to capture cultural practices, beliefs, traditions, and so on. Here, the researcher observes and interviews members of a culture—an ethnic group, a clique, members of a religion, etc.—and then analyzes their findings. 

Grounded Theory: Researchers will create and test a hypothesis using qualitative data. Often, researchers use grounded theory to understand decision-making, problem-solving, and other types of behavior.

Narrative Research: Researchers use this type of framework to understand different aspects of the human experience and how their subjects assign meaning to their experiences. Researchers use interviews to collect data from a small group of subjects, then discuss those results in the form of a narrative or story.

Phenomenology: This type of research attempts to understand the lived experiences of a group and/or how members of that group find meaning in their experiences. Researchers use interviews, observation, and other qualitative methods to collect data.

There are many different types of approaches or analyses related to qualitative research. This is highlighted in the following short 4:32 video featuring Dr. Moerman from the University of Virginia: