methods - Quirkos Qualitative Research Blog

Transcribe everything! Formal and informal data collection in qualitative research

this post focuses on ways that the speed and volume of our transcription service can change how you design research, and think about data.

analysis

Analysing Qualitative Research with Quirkos: interactive workshops

Hundreds of codes, grouped into descriptive themes; what are you going to do with all those codes? Come to our workshop and find out...

Conversation Analysis

Conversation analysis. What is it and when should I use it?

Conversation Analysis is used to understand the meanings of real language and how people really speak.

methods

Tips for conducting online interviews and focus groups for qualitative research

Lockdowns and social distancing due to COVID-19 are currently changing the way that qualitative researchers collect data, and likely to do so for some time. The semi-structured (or unstructured) interview or focus group are two of the most popular qualitative methods, but are usually conducted in face-to-face settings. And while

methods

Qualitative semi-structured interviews: Video Tutorial

In the first of a new series of video tutorials on qualitative methodology, we are going over some practical tips on semi-structured interviews for qualitative research, and creating interview guides:

methods

10 alternative qualitative methods

At the National Council for Research Methods ‘Research Methods Festival’ last month, Steve Wright (from the University of Lancaster) mentioned in his talk the frustrations he has with students that do the bog-standard ’12 semi-structured interviews’ methodology

methods

What is qualitative observation?

Essentially, observation is a type of, or more likely, a part of ethnography. In ethnography, anthropologists (people who study people) turn their observations of people, cultures and organisations into written field notes (a bit like a research diary). While some of this may be reflexive

methods

Quantitative vs. qualitative research

So this much is obvious: quantitative research uses numbers and statistics to draw conclusions about large populations. You count something that is countable, and process results across the sample. Qualitative methods are more elusive

methods

Qualitative methods blog posts

This series aims to introduce qualitative methods and some of the main approaches in collecting qualitative data.

analysis

Preparing data sources for qualitative analysis

Qualitative software used to need you to format text files in very specific ways before they could be imported. These days the software is much more capable and means you can import nearly any kind of text data in any kind of formatting, which allows for a lot more flexibility.

process

Teaching Qualitative Methods via Social Media

his blog now has nearly 120 posts about all different kinds of qualitative methods, and has grown to hosting thousands of visitors a month. There are lots of other great qualitative blogs around, including Margaret Roller’s Research Design Review and the Digital Tools for Qualitative Research group

methods

Making the most of bad qualitative data

A cardinal rule of most research projects is things don’t always go to plan. Qualitative data collection is no difference, and the variability in approaches and respondents means that there is always the potential for things to go awry. However, the typical small sample sizes can make even

methods

Snapshot data and longitudinal qualitative studies

In the last blog post, we looked at creating archives of qualitative data that can be used by other researchers (or yourself in the future) for secondary analysis. In that article I postulated that secondary data analysis could make collecting new data a rarer, and expensive event

methods

Problems with quantitative polling, and answers from qualitative data

The results of the US elections this week show a surprising trend: modern quantitative polling keeps failing to predict the outcome of major elections. In the UK this is nothing new, in both the 2015 general election and the EU referendum polling failed to predict the outcome

methods

Tips for running effective focus groups

In the last blog article I looked at some of the justifications for choosing focus groups as a method in qualitative research. This week, we will focus on some practical tips to make sure that focus groups run smoothly, and to ensure you get good engagement from your participants

methods

Considering and planning for qualitative focus groups

This is the first in a two-part series on focus groups. This week, we are looking at some of the why you might consider using them in a research project, and questions to make sure they are well integrated into your research strategy. Next week we will look at some practical tips

analysis

Circles and feedback loops in qualitative research

The best qualitative research forms an iterative loop, examining, and then re-examining. There are multiple reads of data, multiple layers of coding, and hopefully, constantly improving theory and insight into the underlying lived world

analysis

Triangulation in qualitative research

Qualitative methods are sometimes criticised as being subjective, based on single, unreliable sources of data. But with the exception of some case study research, most qualitative research will be designed to integrate insights from a variety of data sources

process

100 blog articles on qualitative research!

Since our regular series of articles started nearly three years ago, we have clocked up 100 blog posts on a wide variety of topics in qualitative research and analysis! These are mainly short overviews

methods

The importance of keeping open-ended qualitative responses in surveys

I once had a very interesting conversation at a MRS event with a market researcher from a major media company. He told me that they were increasingly ‘costing-out’ the qualitative open-ended questions from customer surveys because they were too expensive and time consuming to analyse

methods

Reaching saturation point in qualitative research

A common question from newcomers to qualitative research is, what’s the right sample size? How many people do I need to have in my project to get a good answer for my research questions? For research based on quantitative data, there is usually a definitive answer

analysis

Participant diaries for qualitative research

I’ve written a little about this before, but I really love participant diaries! In qualitative research, you are often trying to understand the lives, experiences and motivations of other people. Through methods like interviews and focus groups, you can get

methods

Sampling considerations in qualitative research

Two weeks ago I talked about the importance of developing a recruitment strategy when designing a research project. This week we will do a brief overview of sampling for qualitative research, but it is a huge and complicated issue

process

Recruitment for qualitative research

You’ll find a lot of information and debate about sampling issues in qualitative research: discussions over ‘random’ or ‘purposeful’ sampling, the merits and pitfalls of ubiquitous ‘snowball’ sampling, and unending questions about sample size and saturation