Which type of qualitative research focuses on individual experience and sequence?

Grounded theory, ethnographic, narrative research, historical, case studies, and phenomenology are several types of qualitative research designs.  The proceeding paragraphs give a brief over view several of these qualitative methods.

Grounded theory is a systematic procedure of data analysis, typically associated with qualitative research, that allows researchers to develop a theory that explains a specific phenomenon.  Grounded theory was developed by Glaser and Strauss and is used to conceptualize phenomenon using research; grounded theory is not seen as a descriptive method and originates from sociology.  The unit of analysis in grounded theory is a specific phenomenon or incident, not individual behaviors.   The primary data collection method is through interviews of approximately 20 – 30 participants or until data achieves saturation.

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Ethnographic studies are qualitative procedures utilized to describe, analyze and interpret a culture’s characteristics.  Ethnography was developed in the 19thand 20th centuries and used by anthropologists to explore primitive cultures different from their own; it originated from Anthropology.  Ethnography is used when a researcher wants to study a group of people to gain a larger understanding of their lives or specific aspects of their lives.  The primary data collection method is through observation over an extended period of time.  It would also be appropriate to interview others who have studied the same cultures.

Phenomenology is used to identify phenomena and focus on subjective experiences and understanding the structure of those lived experiences.  It was founded in the early 20th century by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heideggar and originated from philosophy.  Phenomenology is used to describe, in depth, the common characteristics of the phenomena that has occurred.   The primary data collection method is through in-depth interviews.

Case studies are believed to have originated in 1829 by Frederic Le Play.  Case studies are rooted in several disciplines, including science, education, medicine, and law.  Case studies are to be used when (1) the researcher wants to focus on how and why, (2) the behavior is to be observed, not manipulated, (3) to further understand a given phenomenon, and (4) if the boundaries between the context and phenomena are not clear.  Multiple methods can be used to gather data, including interviews, observation, and historical documentation.

Unlike positivist or experimental research that utilizes a linear and one-directional sequence of design steps, there is considerable variation in how a qualitative research study is organized. In general, qualitative researchers attempt to describe and interpret human behavior based primarily on the words of selected individuals [a.k.a., “informants” or “respondents”] and/or through the interpretation of their material culture or occupied space. There is a reflexive process underpinning every stage of a qualitative study to ensure that researcher biases, presuppositions, and interpretations are clearly evident, thus ensuring that the reader is better able to interpret the overall validity of the research. According to Maxwell (2009), there are five, not necessarily ordered or sequential, components in qualitative research designs. How they are presented depends upon the research philosophy and theoretical framework of the study, the methods chosen, and the general assumptions underpinning the study.

Goals
Describe the central research problem being addressed but avoid describing any anticipated outcomes. Questions to ask yourself are: Why is your study worth doing? What issues do you want to clarify, and what practices and policies do you want it to influence? Why do you want to conduct this study, and why should the reader care about the results?

Conceptual Framework
Questions to ask yourself are: What do you think is going on with the issues, settings, or people you plan to study? What theories, beliefs, and prior research findings will guide or inform your research, and what literature, preliminary studies, and personal experiences will you draw upon for understanding the people or issues you are studying? Note to not only report the results of other studies in your review of the literature, but note the methods used as well. If appropriate, describe why earlier studies using quantitative methods were inadequate in addressing the research problem.

Research Questions
Usually there is a research problem that frames your qualitative study and that influences your decision about what methods to use, but qualitative designs generally lack an accompanying hypothesis or set of assumptions because the findings are emergent and unpredictable. In this context, more specific research questions are generally the result of an interactive design process rather than the starting point for that process. Questions to ask yourself are: What do you specifically want to learn or understand by conducting this study? What do you not know about the things you are studying that you want to learn? What questions will your research attempt to answer, and how are these questions related to one another?

Methods
Structured approaches to applying a method or methods to your study help to ensure that there is comparability of data across sources and researchers and, thus, they can be useful in answering questions that deal with differences between phenomena and the explanation for these differences [variance questions]. An unstructured approach allows the researcher to focus on the particular phenomena studied. This facilitates an understanding of the processes that led to specific outcomes, trading generalizability and comparability for internal validity and contextual and evaluative understanding. Questions to ask yourself are: What will you actually do in conducting this study? What approaches and techniques will you use to collect and analyze your data, and how do these constitute an integrated strategy?

Validity
In contrast to quantitative studies where the goal is to design, in advance, “controls” such as formal comparisons, sampling strategies, or statistical manipulations to address anticipated and unanticipated threats to validity, qualitative researchers must attempt to rule out most threats to validity after the research has begun by relying on evidence collected during the research process itself in order to effectively argue that any alternative explanations for a phenomenon are implausible. Questions to ask yourself are: How might your results and conclusions be wrong? What are the plausible alternative interpretations and validity threats to these, and how will you deal with these? How can the data that you have, or that you could potentially collect, support or challenge your ideas about what’s going on? Why should we believe your results?

Conclusion
Although Maxwell does not mention a conclusion as one of the components of a qualitative research design, you should formally conclude your study. Briefly reiterate the goals of your study and the ways in which your research addressed them. Discuss the benefits of your study and how stakeholders can use your results. Also, note the limitations of your study and, if appropriate, place them in the context of areas in need of further research.

Chenail, Ronald J. Introduction to Qualitative Research Design. Nova Southeastern University; Heath, A. W. The Proposal in Qualitative Research. The Qualitative Report 3 (March 1997); Marshall, Catherine and Gretchen B. Rossman. Designing Qualitative Research. 3rd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999; Maxwell, Joseph A. "Designing a Qualitative Study." In The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods. Leonard Bickman and Debra J. Rog, eds. 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2009), p. 214-253; Qualitative Research Methods. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Yin, Robert K. Qualitative Research from Start to Finish. 2nd edition. New York: Guilford, 2015.

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