How to choose the right qualitative research method for your study

Before you conduct qualitative research, you have to make a decision on which qualitative research method you are going to use. 

 By the end of this article, I hope to have presented the different types of qualitative research methods or approaches in a way that will make it easier for you to decide on the ideal strategy for your study.

The type of qualitative research method you adopt will help you to clearly define your research focus based on the problem you wish to investigate. The type of qualitative research method you adopt as a researcher is also known as a research strategy. 

There are five most common qualitative research methods/ approaches/ strategies/designs.

Five Common Qualitative Research Methods

1. Narrative research
2. Phenomenological research
3. Grounded theory research
4. Ethnographic research
5. Case study research

Narrative research

As a qualitative research method, narrative research involves highlighting the experiences of individual study subjects as expressed in their told stories and lived experiences.

A narrative will therefore involve either written or spoken text that provide an account of a series of events, actions, or a singular event or action, which is chronologically connected.

In conducting narrative research a researcher focuses on studying one or two individuals, gathering data by collecting their stories, reporting on individual experiences, and looking to provide a chronological order of the meaning of such experiences.

The main features of narrative research are:

Defining features of narrative research 

• Collecting stories from individuals including relying on documents to understand individuals’ told and lived experiences.
• A focus on individual experiences which might also include shedding light on individual identities and how individuals see themselves. 
• A focus on specific situations or places in which narrative stories occur. A researcher will therefore include contextual details of the occurrence of a given narrative such as the emotional, physical, and social situations.
• Narrative stories are collected through different forms of data collection such as through interviews, documents, observation, and pictures among other sources of qualitative data.
• Different strategies can be used to analyse narrative stories such as trying to categorize what is said thematically or adopting a structural way of telling a story.
• The researchers will hear and interpret narrative stories in chronological order, although the participants may not tell them in chronological order.
• Narrative stories may contain specific transitions, tensions, or interruptions, also known as standing points, which the researchers will clearly highlight when telling these stories. The turning points of narrative stories can, therefore, serve as the main organizing structures in the recounting of the story.

Phenomenological Research

Phenomenological research will involve a description of common meaning for several individuals based on their lived experiences targeting a given phenomenon or concept.

 In phenomenological research, a researcher will focus on describing what all participants will have in common as they experience a specific phenomenon.

The central purpose of phenomenology is therefore to try and reduce the experiences of different individuals with a specific phenomenon to a description of the universal essence of such experiences.

For example, phenomenological study might involve examining phenomena such as grief, anger, insomnia, and undergoing surgery among others.

 In a phenomenological study, a researcher collects data from different persons who have experienced a given phenomenon and develops a combined description of the essence of the experience for all the studied participants.

In a phenomenological study, a researcher will therefore try to describe what the participants experience and how they experience it.

Defining features of phenomenological research

The defining features of a phenomenological study include:

• Providing significant emphasis on the phenomenon being explored. Phenomenon is therefore mainly phrased as a single idea or concept such as “grief”  “caring relationship” and “professional growth”  being cared for among others.
• Seeking to explore the phenomenon of focus through a group of individuals who have all experienced the phenomenon. For example, in a study, a group of 10 to 15 individuals who have experienced a certain phenomenon may be included.
• The data collection procedures will mainly include interviewing individuals who have experienced the phenomenon under investigation. However, some phenomenological studies may rely on varied data sources such as documents and observations.
• Data analysis can follow systematic procedures that move from narrow units of analysis (codes) to broader units (themes).
•  A phenomenological study might end with a descriptive passage discussing the essence of a given experience for specific target participants including what such participants experience and how they experienced it.

Grounded theory research

In contrast to narrative research which focuses on individual stories told by participants and phenomenology which emphasizes the common experiences of a group of individuals, grounded theory research aims at moving beyond the description of phenomena in order to generate or discover a theory or a unified theoretical explanation to the occurrence of certain phenomena.

 In grounded theory research the participants need to have experienced a given phenomenon while the development of a theory might have to explain the phenomena or provide a framework for further research of the phenomena.

 The development of the theory is therefore grounded on the data provided by the participants who have experienced a certain process of phenomena.

The grounded theory qualitative research approach involves a researcher seeking to come up with a general explanation or a theory of a process, interaction, or action that is shaped by the views of a large number of participants.

Defining features of Grounded theory research

• Grounded theory research mainly focuses on an action or a process that has distinct phases or steps that will occur over time. Grounded theory studies therefore have some actions or movements that a researcher attempts to explain. For example, a researcher can decide to examine the process of developing a general education program through the grounded theory approach.
• In grounded theory studies, a researcher will seek to develop a theory for given processes or actions. Theories will be a general explanation of a process or action or an understanding that the researcher will develop.
• Grounded theory studies will involve memoing which includes researchers writing down their ideas as they collect and analyse data. In the memos, a researcher will attempt to formulate the process and sketch out the flow of such processes.
• In grounded theory, data analysis will be undertaken iteratively and simultaneously based on need.
•  The primary form of data collection in grounded theory research is interviewing which will include a researcher comparing the data they obtained from participants with the ideas that emerge as they try to develop their theory.  
• The data collection process in the grounded theory approach will involve going back and forth between participants, gathering new interviews, and then going back to the evolving theory to fill the gaps and elaborate on how such a theory works.
• In grounded theory, the data analysis might include axial coding, selective coding, and presenting propositions.

Ethnographic research

Ethnographic research is interested in individuals who share the same culture. Sometimes a cultural group may be made up of a few individuals such as social workers.

 However, an ethnographic study typically involves a large group of people who interact over a given period of time.

 In ethnographic research, a researcher will therefore focus on describing and interpreting shared patterns of behaviors, values, language, and beliefs of the given cultural sharing group under investigation.

Ethnographic research involves extended observations of a given group under investigation most often true participant observation which involves the researcher being immersed in the day-to-day lives of the people they observe and interviewing the group participants.

Defining characteristics of ethnographic research

The defining characteristics of ethnographic research are:

• Ethnographic research mainly focuses on developing a complete and complex description of the culture of a given group such as a subset of a group or the entire culture sharing group.
•  The culture-sharing group of focus in ethnographic research must have interacted for a long period of time so as to be able to develop social behaviours that can be studied in such a group setting.
• In ethnographic research, a researcher will look for patterns including the beliefs and ideas expressed through activities of a group, language, or other actions. The researcher also focuses on regularities, customary social behaviours, and rituals in a group during ethnography.
• Ethnographic researchers might begin with a theory providing a broad explanation of what the researcher wants to find out and the lens to adopt in observing how individuals in a given culture-sharing group talk and behave. For example, a researcher might seek to understand beliefs and ideas from a given culture or group through the use of acculturation, Marxism, and materialistic theories among others.
• The analysis of data from an ethnographic study will rely on the views of the participants as insiders of a given culture. In this regard, a researcher might want to report verbatim quotes that they may seek to interpret to develop the overall cultural interpretation.
• After conducting an ethnographic study the analysis will result in an in-depth understanding of how a culture-sharing group will function and a deeper understanding of the group’s way of life.

Case Study Research

Case study research involves the study of a single case or case within a real-life setting.

A case can be an individual, an entity, an organization, a small group, or a partnership.

 A case can also be a relationship, a community, a specific project, or a decision process.

In case study research an investigator will therefore try to explore a specific real-life bounded system also known as a case or multiple bounded systems known as cases over a given period of time.

The data collection is done through multiple sources such as interviews, observations, documents, reports, and audio-visual material.

 The researcher will also seek to provide a description of the case or multiple cases and also present dominant themes they find while investigating a given case.

Case study research can therefore include a single case or multiple cases.

Defining features of case study research

• The first step of case study research is identifying the specific case that will be described and analysed. Examples of a case can be a community, an individual, an organization, an event, or even a group of organizations.
• The main defining feature of a case is that such a case can be described within certain parameters. For example, a case can be defined on parameters such as the location of a case or even the time frame in which the case study is conducted.
• Effective case study research will help to provide an in-depth understanding of the particular case of focus.
•  In case study research the researcher can collect and integrate different forms of qualitative data such as observations, interviews, audio-visual materials, and documents.
• Some researchers believe that in case study research relying on one source of qualitative data is not enough to develop an in-depth understanding of a given case. 
• In case study research the analysis will mainly focus on describing the case through identification of case themes. The themes may also represent specific situations or issues represented under each case.
• The case study research also includes conclusions by the researcher about the overall meaning that emerged from the evaluated cases.  These are known as assumptions, explanations, patterns, or general lessons learned from studying a particular case.

Having looked at the five main approaches or methods of qualitative research let’s summarize the differences between the approaches.

Differences between the Qualitative Research Methods

Narrative Research

Narrative Research

Phenomenological Research

Phenomenological Research

Grounded Theory Research

Grounded Theory Research

Ethnographic research

Ethnographic Research

Case Study Research

Case Study Research