Discovering qualitative methods ethnography interviews documents and images

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Figure 7.7 Sample Observational Protocol

Field Issues Researchers engaged in studies within all five approaches face issues in the field when gathering data that need to be anticipated. During the past several years, the number of books and articles on field issues has expanded considerably as interpretive frameworks (see Chapter 2) have been widely discussed. Beginning researchers are often overwhelmed by the amount of time needed to collect qualitative data and the richness of the data encountered. As a practical recommendation, we suggest that beginners start with limited data collection and engage in a pilot project to gain some initial experiences (Sampson, 2004). This limited data collection might consist of one or two interviews or observations so that researchers can estimate the time needed to collect data.

One way to think about and anticipate the types of issues that may arise during data collection is to view the issues as they relate to several aspects of data collection, such as entry and organizational access, procedures for observations, dynamics between interviewer and interviewee, and availability of documents and audiovisual materials.

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Entry and Organizational Access

Gaining access to organizations, sites, and individuals to study has its own challenges. Convincing individuals to participate in the study, building trust and credibility at the field site, and getting people from a site to respond are all important access challenges. Factors related to considering the appropriateness of a site need to be considered as well (see Weis & Fine, 2000). For example, researchers may choose a site that is one in which they have a vested interest (e.g., employed at the site, a study of superiors or subordinates at the site) that would limit ability to develop diverse perspectives on coding data or developing themes. A researcher’s own particular “stance” within the group may keep him or her from acknowledging all dimensions of the experiences. The researchers may hear or see something uncomfortable when they collect data. In addition, participants may be fearful that their issues will be exposed to people outside their community, and this may make them unwilling to accept the researcher’s interpretation of the situation.

Also related to access is the issue of working with an institutional review board that may not be familiar with unstructured interviews in qualitative research and the risks associated with these interviews (Corbin & Morse, 2003). Weis and Fine (2000) raised the important question of whether the response of the institutional review board to a project influences the researcher’s telling of the narrative story.

Procedures for Observations

The types of challenges experienced during observations will closely relate to the role of the inquirer in observation, such as whether the researcher assumes a participant, nonparticipant, or middle-ground position. There are challenges as well with the mechanics of observing, such as remembering to take field notes, recording quotes accurately for inclusion in field notes, determining the best timing for moving from a nonparticipant to a participant (if this role change is desired), keeping from being overwhelmed at the site with information, and learning how to funnel the observations from the broad picture to a narrower one in time. Participant observation has attracted several commentaries by writers (Ezeh, 2003; Labaree, 2002). Labaree (2002), who was a participant in an academic senate on a campus, notes the advantages of this role but also discusses the dilemmas of entering the field, disclosing oneself to the participants, sharing relationships with other individuals, and attempting to disengage from the site. Ezeh (2003), a Nigerian, studied the Orring, a little- known minority ethnic group in Nigeria. Although his initial contact with the group was supportive, the more the researcher became integrated into the host community, the more he experienced human relations problems, such as being accused of spying, pressured to be more generous in his material gifts, and suspected of trysts with women. Ezeh concluded that being of the same nationality was no guarantee of a lack of challenges at the site.

Dynamics Between Interviewer and Interviewee

Challenges in qualitative interviewing often focus on the mechanics of conducting the interview. Roulston, deMarrais, and Lewis (2003) chronicle the challenges in interviewing by postgraduate students during a 15-day intensive course. These challenges related to unexpected participant behaviors and students’ ability to create good instructions, phrase and negotiate questions, deal with sensitive issues, and develop transcriptions. Suoninen and Jokinen (2005), from the field of social work, ask whether the phrasing of our interview questions leads to subtle persuasive questions, responses, or explanations.

Undoubtedly, conducting interviews is taxing, especially for inexperienced researchers engaged in studies that require extensive interviewing, such as phenomenology, grounded theory, and case study research. Equipment issues loom large as a problem in interviewing, and both recording and transcribing equipment need to be organized in advance of the interview. The process of questioning during an interview (e.g., saying little, handling emotional outbursts, using icebreakers) includes problems that an interviewer must address. Many inexperienced researchers express surprise at the difficulty of conducting interviews and the lengthy process involved in transcribing audiotapes from the interviews. In addition, in phenomenological interviews, asking appropriate questions and relying on participants to discuss the meaning of their experiences require patience and skill on the part of the researcher.

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Recent discussions about qualitative interviewing highlight the importance of reflecting about the relationship that exists between the interviewer and the interviewee (Brinkmann & Kvale, 2015; Nunkoosing, 2005; Weis & Fine, 2000). Brinkmann and Kvale (2015), for example, discuss the power asymmetry in which the research interview should not be regarded as a completely open and free dialogue between egalitarian partners. Instead, the nature of an interview sets up an unequal power dynamic between the interviewer and the interviewee. In this dynamic, the interview is “ruled” by the interviewer. The interview is dialogue that is conducted one-way, provides information for the researcher, is based on the researcher’s agenda, leads to the researcher’s interpretations, and contains “counter control” elements by the interviewee who withholds information. To correct for this asymmetry, Brinkmann and Kvale (2015) suggest more collaborative interviewing, where the researcher and the participant approach equality in questioning, interpreting, and reporting.

An extension to the discussion is provided by the reflections of Nunkoosing (2005) on the problems of power and resistance, distinguishing truth from authenticity, the impossibility of consent, and projection of the interviewers’ own self (their status, race, culture, and gender). Weis and Fine (2000) raise additional questions for consideration: Are your interviewees able to articulate the forces that interrupt, suppress, or oppress them? Do they erase their history, approaches, and cultural identity? Do they choose not to expose their history or go on record about the difficult aspects of their lives? These questions and the points raised about the nature of the interviewer–interviewee relationship cannot be easily answered with pragmatic decisions that encompass all interview situations. They do, however, sensitize us to important challenges in qualitative interviewing that need to be anticipated.

A final issue is whether the researcher shares personal experiences with participants in an interview setting such as in a case study, a phenomenology, or an ethnography. This sharing minimizes the “bracketing” that is essential to construct the meaning of participants in a phenomenology and reduces information shared by participants in case studies and ethnographies.

Availability of Documents and Audiovisual Materials

In document research, many issues involve locating materials, often at sites far away or assessing how publically these materials are, and obtaining permission to use the materials (Marshall & Rossman, 2015). For biographers, the primary form of data collection might be archival research from documents; some of these may be online. The increasing use and evolving forms of data generated by Internet-based technologies continue to raise important ethical considerations (Davidson & di Gregorio, 2011).

When researchers ask participants in a study to keep journals or to create audiovisual materials and documents during the process of research, additional field issues emerge. Journaling is a popular data collection process in case studies and narrative research. What instructions should be given to individuals prior to writing in their journals? Are all participants equally comfortable with journaling? Is it appropriate, for example, with small children who express themselves well verbally but have limited writing skills? The researcher also may have difficulty reading the handwriting of participants who journal. Recording on videotape raises issues for the qualitative researcher such as keeping disturbing room sounds to a minimum, deciding on the best location for the camera, and determining whether to provide close-up shots or distant shots.

Data Storage and Security

We are surprised at how little attention is given in books and articles to managing data storage of qualitative data. The approach to storage will reflect the type of information collected, which varies by approach to inquiry. In writing a narrative life history, the researcher needs to develop a filing system for the “wad of handwritten notes or a tape” (Plummer, 1983, p. 98)—and more recently to digital recordings and files. Davidson’s (1996) suggestion about backing up information collected and noting changes made to the database is sound advice for all types of research studies. With extensive use of computers in qualitative research, more attention will likely be given to how qualitative data are organized and stored, whether the data are field notes, transcripts, or rough jottings. With extremely large databases being used by some qualitative researchers, this aspect assumes major importance. In his discussion of data management, Lambert (2015) highlights the vast data available through the

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Understanding Society survey in the United Kingdom that were unwieldy without the use of digital-based storage methods. Specifically, he describes the data set as “involving repeated extended interviews with more than a hundred thousand responses, collecting detailed and extensive health and social information . . . . [and as] one of several major government sponsored surveys of a similar scale” (Lambert, 2015, p. 105). Lambert concludes that the key challenges for e-research platforms is for researchers to employ new methods of data management in qualitative research that facilitate access and whose analysis has strong potential for societal implications.

Some principles about data storage and handling that are especially well suited for qualitative research include the following:

Always develop backup copies of computer files (Davidson, 1996). Use high-quality tapes or recording devices for audio recording information during interviews. Also, make sure that the size of the tapes fits the transcriber’s machine. Develop a master list of types of information gathered. Protect the anonymity of participants by masking their names in the data, and if a master list is needed, be sure to store it separately. Develop a data collection matrix as a visual means of locating and identifying information for a study.

Five Approaches Compared Returning again to Table 7.1, there are both differences and similarities among the activities of data collection for the five approaches to inquiry. Turning to differences, certain approaches seem more directed toward specific types of data collection than others. For case and narrative studies, the researcher uses multiple forms of data to build the in-depth case or the storied experiences. For grounded theory studies and phenomenological projects, inquirers rely primarily on interviews as data. Ethnographers highlight the importance of participant observation and interviews, but as noted earlier, they may use many different sources of information. Unquestionably, some mixing of forms occurs, but in general these patterns of collection by approach hold true. Case study writers employ multiple forms of data collection.

Second, the unit of analysis for data collection varies among the five approaches. Narrative researchers, phenomenologists, and ground theorists study individuals; case study researchers examine groups of individuals participating in an event or activity or an organization; and ethnographers study entire cultural systems or some subcultures of the systems.

Third, we found the amount of discussion about field issues to vary among the five approaches. Ethnographers have written extensively about field issues (e.g., Atkinson, 2015; Hammersley & Atkinson, 1995). This may reflect historical concerns about imbalanced power relationships, imposing objective, external standards on participants, and failures to be sensitive to marginalized groups. Narrative researchers are less specific about field issues, although their concerns have been voiced about how to conduct the interview (Elliott, 2005). Across all approaches, ethical issues are widely discussed.

Fourth, the approaches vary in their intrusiveness of data collection. Conducting interviews seems less intrusive in phenomenological projects and grounded theory studies than in the high level of access needed in personal narratives, the prolonged stays in the field in ethnographies, and the immersion into programs or events in case studies.

These differences do not lessen some important similarities that need to be observed. All qualitative studies sponsored by public institutions need to be approved by a human subjects review board, at least in the United States and in other countries. Also, the use of interviews and observations is central to many of the approaches. Furthermore, the recording devices, such as observational and interview protocols, can be similar regardless of approach (although specific questions on each protocol will reflect the language of the approach). Finally, the issue of data storage of information is closely related to the form of data collection, and the basic objective of researchers, regardless of approach, is to develop some management system for organized retrieval of

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information and secure storage. In Chapter 8, we build upon the data collection circle to examine the features of the data analysis spiral common to all approaches with the analyses and representations compared across the five approaches.

Chapter Check-In

1. Do you see the similarities and differences in how the authors describe the data collection activities within their published qualitative studies? Select two of the qualitative articles presented in Appendices B through F.

1. Begin with identifying evidence of the seven data collection activities (summarized in Figure 7.1) as they have been applied in each of the journal articles. Note which elements are easy and which are more difficult to identify.

2. Then compare the descriptions for each of the data collection activities across the articles. Note which elements are similar and which are different.

2. Can you identify evidence of integration between the study purpose and data being collected by the author(s)? Read qualitative journal articles that adopt different approaches across diverse fields, such as the narrative study of Ellis (1993), phenomenology of Lemay, Cashman, Elfenbein, and Felice (2010), grounded theory study of Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, and Osteen (2005), ethnography of Trujillo (1992), and case study of Staples, Pugach, and Himes (2005).

1. Begin by identifying the forms of data collected in the study. What rationales are presented for their use? 2. Then review the study introduction, and note the research purpose (and research questions if present) and

qualitative approach adopted. 3. Next, assess to what extent the forms of data collection are appropriate for the approach and purpose for

conducting the study. In brief, can the data collected address the articulated purpose? Why or why not?

Ellis, C. (1993). “There are survivors”: Telling a story of sudden death. The Sociological Quarterly, 34, 711– 730. doi:10.1111/j.1533-8525.1993.tb00114.x

Komives, S. R., Owen, J. E., Longerbeam, S. D., Mainella, F. C., & Osteen, L. (2005). Developing a leadership identity: A grounded theory. Journal of College Student Development, 46(6), 593–611. doi:10.1353/csd.2005.0061

Lemay, C. A., Cashman, S. B., Elfenbein, D. S., & Felice, M. E. (2010). A qualitative study of the meaning of fatherhood among young urban fathers. Public Health Nursing, 27(3), 221–231. doi:10.1111/j.1525- 1446.2010.00847.x

Staples, A., Pugach, M. C., & Himes, D. J. (2005). Rethinking the technology integration challenge: Cases from three urban elementary schools. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 37(3), 285–311. doi:10.1080/15391523.2005.10782438

Trujillo, N. (1992). Interpreting (the work and the talk of) baseball. Western Journal of Communication, 56, 350–371. doi:10.1353/csd.2005.0061

3. Can you begin to sketch the data collection circle for a qualitative study? Examine Figure 7.1 for the seven activities. Develop a matrix that describes data collection for all seven activities for your project. Provide detail in this matrix for each of the seven activities. Follow these steps:

1. State the site and/or individuals that are the focus of your study and rationale for their choice in a couple of sentences.

2. Discuss the processes by which you will gain access and develop a rapport with individuals and/or gatekeepers (if applicable).

3. Present the strategy for purposeful sampling and rationale that reflects your approach to research. 4. Describe the forms of data you will collect, and provide a rationale for the appropriateness of their use referring

to the approach you chose. 5. Outline the procedures you will develop for recording information. 6. Consider the issues that may emerge as you begin fieldwork. Present a plan for resolving each of them. 7. Apply the suggestions presented in this chapter for storing data securely, and draft the procedures you will

follow. 8. Look across the descriptions of the activities within the data collection circle for any ethical issues that have not

been attended to. 4. Can you apply your understandings to a practical experience in collecting data for your project? 5. Design an interview or an observational protocol for your study. Conduct either an interview or an observation, and

record the information on the protocol you have developed. After this experience, identify issues that posed challenges during this data collection.

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Summary

In this chapter, we addressed several components of the data collection process. The researcher attends to ethical considerations across the activities in addition to locating a site or person to study; gaining access to and building rapport at the site or with the individual; sampling purposefully using one or more of the many approaches to sampling in qualitative research; collecting information through many forms, such as interviews, observations, documents, and audiovisual materials and newer forms emerging in the literature; establishing approaches for recording information such as the use of interview or observational protocols; anticipating and addressing field issues ranging from access to ethical concerns; and developing a system for storing and securely handling the databases. The five approaches to inquiry differ in the diversity of information collected, the unit of study being examined, the extent of field issues discussed in the literature, and the intrusiveness of the data collection effort. An essential aspect for researchers, regardless of approach, is the collection and management of data in an ethical manner. This typically involves gaining institutional approvals—and in some cases, organizational approvals—from review boards prior to beginning the research and then following the consent, recording, and storage protocols that are described in the application.

Further Readings

Several readings extend this brief overview introduction to data collection beginning with general resources and then by specific data forms. The list should not be considered exhaustive, and readers are encouraged to seek out additional readings in the end-of-book reference list.

Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

John W. Creswell introduces the steps of conducting qualitative research alongside those of conducting quantitative research. This approach can be especially helpful for the researcher who has some existing research expertise or experience and finds the discussions about sampling and data collection to be essential reading.

Chilisa, B. (2012). Indigenous research methodologies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Bagele Chilisa describes diverse indigenous research methodologies and provides illustrative case studies from around the globe. She also provides practical guidance for researchers within indigenous contexts.

Guest, G., Namey, E. E., & Mitchell, M. L. (2013). Collecting qualitative data: A field manual for applied research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Greg Guest, Emily Namey, and Marilyn Mitchell offer detailed procedures related to participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups. In particular, we found their discussion of document analysis as well as sampling size across data forms to be helpful guidance.

Stanfield, J. H., II (Ed.) (2011). Rethinking race and ethnicity in research methods. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

In this work, John Stanfield draws on the personal and professional lives of contributing authors to highlight their uses of methods and the practical issues that emerged.

For Guidance Related to Interviewing Brinkmann, S., & Kvale, S. (2015). InterViews: Learning the craft of qualitative research interviewing (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Svend Brinkmann and Steinar Kvale describe seven stages of an interview investigation to structure their comprehensive guidance for conducting interviews, which provide the organizing structure for the book.

James, N., & Busher, H. (2009). Online interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Nalita James and Hugh Busher discuss the methodological and epistemological challenges associated with computer-mediated interviews. Of particular note is the discussion about ethical considerations in conducting online interviews within a virtual environment.

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Krueger, R. A., & Casey, M. A. (2014). Focus groups: A practical guide for applied research (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

A good overview for planning and conducting focus groups, this new edition expands guidance on developing questions. Particularly useful is the discussion on moderating skills in different contexts (e.g., young participants, cross-cultural settings).

Rubin, H. J., & Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Herbert Rubin and Irene Rubin describe their seven-step responsive interviewing approach. The writing is accessible and provides access to the lessons learned from their extensive interview experiences.

For Discussions About Making Observations and Taking Field Notes Angrosino, M. V. (2007). Doing ethnographic and observational research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Michael Angrosino provides a comprehensive guide to the process of conducting ethnographic research. Of particular note is his discussion of ethical considerations and descriptions of a variety of data collection techniques for participant observer field researchers.

Bernard, H. R. (2011). Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches (5th ed.). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira.

In this comprehensive resource, Russ Bernard outlines procedures for sampling, collecting, and analyzing data. We find his guidance for observational procedures to be particularly helpful.

Emerson, R. M., Fretz, R. I., & Shaw, L. L. (2011). Writing ethnographic fieldnotes (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Robert Emerson, Rachel Fretz, and Linda Shaw outline practical guidance for creating and interpreting field notes. Through embedding illustrative examples, they make accessible a difficult process to describe.

For Information About Issues and Use of Documents and Audiovisual Materials Bauer, W. M., & Gaskell, G. D. (Eds.). (2007). Qualitative research with text, image and sound: A practical handbook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Noteworthy within this handbook are chapters related to use of video, film, and photographs (Chapter 6) and analysis guidance of conversations (Chapter 11), images (Chapters 13 and 14), and music (Chapter 15).

Merriam, S. B., & Tisdell, E. J. (2015). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation (4th ed.). San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

This is a useful resource for designing, conducting, and reporting qualitative research. Of particular note is their description of documents including popular culture documents (e.g., cartoons, movies), visual (e.g., video, web-based media), physical material, and artifacts (e.g., tools, electronics).

Warren, C. A., & Xavia Karner, T. (2015). Discovering qualitative methods: Ethnography, interviews, documents, and images (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Carol Warren and Tracey Xavia Karner describe the decisions and processes involved in sampling, collecting, and analyzing a variety of types of documents and images.

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