A guest lecture for “Strengthening

Academic Spirit through

Qualitative and Quantitative
DOING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Research” at Universitas Nahdlatul
Ulama Surabaya on 29 May 2019
By Ahmad Munir, S.Pd., M.Ed., Ph.D
QUALITATIVE RESEARCHERS
“study things in their natural settings in an attempt to make sense of or interpret
phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them” (Denzin & Lincoln,
2018:43)
Keywords: natural setting, interpretation, subjects’ meaning
Interpretive paradigm
Inside out
multiple constructed realities
the knower and known interact and shape one another
TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Denzin & Lincoln (2018:46)
1. ethnomethodology
2. phenomenology
3. hermeneutics
4. feminism
5. rhizomatics
6. deconstructionism
7. ethnographies
8. interviews
9. psychoanalysis
10. cultural studies
11. survey research
12. participant observation
Yin (2016:8)
1. action research
2. arts-based research
3. autoethnography
4. case study
5. critical theory
6. discourse analysis
7. ethnography
8. ethnomethodology
9. grounded theory
10. narrative inquiry and life history
11. oral history
12. phenomenology
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Means your own making, using your own ideas, words, and data
Means it has not been done before
(Yin, 2016:13)
STARTING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
“identify:
1. a topic (what are you going to study?);
2. a data collection method (how are you going to collect the data?); and
3. a source of data—in many cases a fieldwork setting (where are you going
to get the data that are to be collected?)” (Yin, 2016:55)

“Use literature review as a study bank” (Yin, 2016:72)

RESEARCH TOPIC OR QUESTION?
Qualitative research can start from field to generate topic, or it can start from a
research question, but the research question is iterative, recursive.
Research questions can be developed through preliminary research questions then
going to the fields and update the preliminary research questions (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016:15)
Interaction between literature review and field
Research questions serve as guides which can later be followed, forgotten or
improved during the research. (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016:17)
EXAMPLE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH OBJECTIVE
“The study considers how Vietnamese immigrant high school students negotiate the
processes of cultural and gender identity formation as they transition to U.S.
schooling. The study seeks to better understand the ways in which the categories of
gender and cultural identity are connected to the academic and social experiences of
recent immigrant students (Stritikus & Nguyen, 2007).” (Yin, 2016: 79)
Question words: how, in what ways
Topic: cultural and gender identity formation
Data collection method: interview
Source of data: Vietnamese immigrant high school students in U.S. Schools
EXAMPLE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH QUESTION
“What perceptions and attitudes do first-generation, urban college students have of
their secondary school preparation for postsecondary education, and what were the
strengths and weaknesses of their secondary school preparation? (Reid & Moore,
2008).” (Yin, 2016: 79)
Question word: what
Topic: secondary school preparation for postsecondary education
Data collection method: interview
Source of data: first-generation, urban college students (where?)
QUALITATIVE DATA
Data: information found in the environment, which depends on the interest and
perspective of the investigator
Qualitative data can be in words, not numbers, non numeric.
Data “aren’t out there” waiting to be collected.
Data are determined by: researchers’ theoretical orientation, problem or purpose of
the study, the sample selected (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016)
COLLECTING QUALITATIVE DATA
by asking, watching and reviewing
Or Interview, observation, documents (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Example of researcher generated documents: reflection papers, diary/log, life
history/historical accounts. (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016:174)
These documents will not exist unless there is a study.
QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS
Data analysis means making sense of our data.
Avoid using outside in (etic) in qualitative data analysis (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016:
215)
Step-by-step process of data analysis
1. Find category in data
2. Find theme in the categories
3. Change themes into patterns
4. From the patterns get findings
5. From finding get the answers to the research questions (interpretations of findings)
TWO MAJOR STRATEGIES OF QUALITATIVE DATA
ANALYSIS
1. Reducing big sets of data or the complexity of data
(to code the data) by using qualitative content analysis
to result a grounded theory
2. Expanding the materials by producing one or more
interpretations (second level of original materials by
describing, by analysis, by explaining the meaning of
original text). (Flick, 2014:11)
MODES OF THINKING IN DOING DATA ANALYSIS
1. Categorical thinking: creating categories, themes based on similar information in
data
2. Narrative thinking: telling stories of the research subjects
3. Dialectical thinking: listing arguments to change something
4. Poetical thinking: using our perceptual, aesthetical capacities for sensual knowing
5. Diagrammatical thinking: showing links among ideas (Freeman, 2017)
TRIANGULATION
Maintain validity of data analysis by triangulation (taking several methodological
perspectives or theoretical perspectives on an issue under study).
Make the analysis transparent, creative and fruitful. (Flick, 2014:13)
Results of qualitative data analysis should be possible to be reanalyzed by other
researcher (Flick, 2014: 467)
REFERENCES
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2018). The Sage handbook of qualitative research
(Fifth ed.). Los Angeles: Sage.
Freeman, M. (2017). Modes of thinking for qualitative data analysis. New York:
Routledge.
Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (Eds.). (2016). Qualitative research : a guide to design
and implementation (Fourth ed.). Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, CA.
Yin, R. K. (2016). Qualitative research from start to finish (Second ed.): New York :
Guilford Press.
THANK YOU