Challenges and Opportunities in Qualitative Research: Sharing Young Scholars’ Experiences

161 Pages·2019·1.994 MB·English

by  Kwok Kuen Tsang, Dian Liu, Yanbi Hong

Kwok Kuen Tsang · Dian Liu · 
Yanbi Hong    Editors
Challenges and
Opportunities
in Qualitative
Research
Sharing Young Scholars’ Experiences
Challenges and Opportunities in Qualitative
Research
Kwok Kuen Tsang Dian Liu
(cid:129) (cid:129)
Yanbi Hong
Editors
Challenges and Opportunities
in Qualitative Research
’
Sharing Young Scholars Experiences
123
Editors
KwokKuen Tsang DianLiu
Faculty of Education Faculty of Social Sciences
Beijing NormalUniversity University of Stavanger
Beijing,China Stavanger, Norway
YanbiHong
Schoolof Humanities
Southeast University
Nanjing, Jiangsu,China
ISBN978-981-13-5810-4 ISBN978-981-13-5811-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5811-1
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2018965432
©SpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.2019
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Contents
1 Introduction: Qualitative Research Methods in Empirical
Social Sciences Studies—Young Scholars’ Perspectives
and Experiences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Kwok Kuen Tsang, Dian Liu and Yanbi Hong
2 Starting Literature Review in Qualitative Research:
An Illustration Using the Mirror Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Wing Yee Ho
3 A Han Researcher in a Muslim Village: How to Enter
the Field and Participants’ Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Yanbi Hong
4 Fieldwork in the Workplace: An Experience Entering
in the Japanese Advertising Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Ching-fang Chang
5 Participant Selection and Access in Case Study Research. . . . . . . . 47
Zhongyan Wan
6 Discrepancy Reduction: Conducting Focus Group with Senior
Citizens in Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Yuen Hang Ng
7 Problems and Coping Strategies in Conducting Comparative
Research in School Bullying Between China and Norway. . . . . . . . 81
Dian Liu
8 From Theories to Practicalities: Doing Cross-Cultural Research
Fieldwork in Early Childhood Education & Care (ECEC). . . . . . . 95
Yuwei Xu
v
vi Contents
9 Conducting Collaborative Action Research: Challenges
and Coping Strategies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Lian-Jiang Jiang
10 Coding with Storyline Approach: Recommendations to Cope
with Challenges of Qualitative Data Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Kwok Kuen Tsang
11 A Researcher, a Container, or Both? A Stance of a Researcher
in a Qualitative Research with Bereaved Children . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Vivian Ting Chuk Lai
12 Conclusion: Research Dilemma and Feasible Strategies . . . . . . . . . 153
Yanbi Hong, Kwok Kuen Tsang and Dian Liu
Chapter 1
Introduction: Qualitative Research
Methods in Empirical Social Sciences
Studies—Young Scholars’ Perspectives
and Experiences
KwokKuenTsang,DianLiuandYanbiHong
Thelearningobjectivesofthischapter
• The increasing importance and popularity of qualitative research in social
sciences.
• Thechallengesthatnoviceresearchersmayencounterinconductingquali-
tativeresearchprojects.
• The value of sharing young scholars’ experiences in empirical qualitative
research.
Positivism is a dominant ideology in social sciences research. It assumes that the
socialworldisanobjectivelyandexternallyexistingobject.Therefore,patternsof
socialworldarewaitingforusasresearcherstodiscover,predict,andevencontrol.
Inordertoachievethese,positivistssuggestweinvestigatethesocialworldapplying
scientific methods, which are value-free, objective, with structured strategies and
proceduresofinquiressimilartothoseappliedinnaturalsciences.Byusingscien-
tificmethods,positivistsbelievethatresearcherscandiscoverthesocialworldand
findoutthetruth.Insocialsciences,duetothelong-termideologyemphasizingthe
statistical measurements in empirical studies, quantitative research methods have
longbeenfavored.Forexample,Bryman(2004)notesthatmanyexistingtextbooks
B
K.K.Tsang( )
CollegeofEducationalAdministration,FacultyofEducation,
BeijingNormalUniversity,Beijing,China
e-mail:[email protected]
D.Liu
DepartmentofMediaandSocialSciences,FacultyofSocialSciences,
UniversityofStavanger,Stavanger,Norway
e-mail:[email protected]
Y.Hong
DepartmentofSociology,SchoolofHumanities,SoutheastUniversity,Nanjing,China
e-mail:[email protected]
©SpringerNatureSingaporePteLtd.2019 1
K.K.Tsangetal.(eds.),ChallengesandOpportunitiesinQualitativeResearch,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-5811-1_1
2 K.K.Tsangetal.
onsocialresearch(e.g.,Babbie,2015)tendtopaymoreattentiontothequantitative
researchmethodsratherthanqualitativeresearchmethods,whileresearchpostgrad-
uatestudenttrainingseemstostressmoreonquantitativeresearchmethodsinhigher
educationinstitutions.
However, there have been increasing challenges to positivism from different
academic schools in social sciences, such as the appearance and development of
interpretivism, social constructionism, phenomenology, symbolic interactionism,
andpostmodernismsince1970s(Bryman,2004;Creswell,2007;Esterberg,2002).
Researchers from these schools generally disagree with the ontological, epistemo-
logical, and methodological assumptions of positivism. Ontologically, they argue
that social world is not an objectively existing object. Instead, it is constructed by
(inter-) subjectivity. In other words, social actors create the social world through
meaning-makingandsocialinteraction.Ifthesocialworldisconstructedby(inter-)
subjectivity,epistemologically,andmethodologically,therealityandthetruththus
cannot be discovered and found through the methods that positivists suggest. On
the contrary, they believe that researchers should only understand and disclose
the(inter-)subjectiverealitiesthroughgettingclosetopeople,understandingtheir
perspectives,andinterpretingthemeaningstheygivetotheworld(Creswell,2007).
Thesethoughtshavebecomemuchmoreimportantinsocialsciences,soturnquali-
tativeresearchmethods,whichrootinthethoughts(Bryman,2004;Creswell,2007;
Knoblauch, 2013; Rennie, Watson, & Monteiro, 2002). Nevertheless, a so-called
crisisofrepresentationhasoccurredinqualitativeresearchduringthe1980s(Denzin
&Lincoln,1994).Thecrisisraisesadebateaboutwhethertheresultsofqualitative
research represent or create the reality and truth due to the view that the social
reality is subject to the researchers’ subjective interpretations (Amos, 2002). The
crisisfinallycallsfortheawarenessoftheco-constructionof‘reality’.Thatmeans
the researcher needs to interpret the phenomenon being studied via the research
participants’perspectives,buthe/sheisalsorequiredtoreflexivelyunderstandhow
his/herownbackgroundandsubjectivityaffecthis/herinterpretation.Inotherwords,
the“reality”foundoutfromtheresearchisaresultoftheinteractionsandtheinter-
subjectivitybetweentheresearcherandparticipants.Throughreflexivity,asaresult,
researchers, research participants, and audiences can critically examine whether
andhowtheresearchresultsareinfluencedandevenbiasedbytheresearchersand
participants’ positions, assumptions, beliefs, and values in order to enhance the
credibilityandtrustworthiness.Atasimilarperiodoftime,qualitativeresearchhas
becomeformalizedandmature,becausetheparadigmsandapproachesofqualitative
methodologiesandmethodshavebeenestablished(Amos,2002;Creswell,2007).
Sincethen,moreandmoreresearchershaveengagedinandcommittedtoqual-
itative research. From the PsycINFO database, for instance, Rennie et al. (2002)
identify that qualitative social research articles published in the 1990s (n (cid:2) 1961)
was 17 times more than those published in the 1970s (n (cid:2) 115). Moreover, from
the Dissertation Abstracts International database, it is indicated that there was a
significantriseindissertationsemployingqualitativemethodsfromthe1970s(n(cid:2)
41)to1990s(n(cid:2)5621).AlthoughRennieetal.’sobservationonlyshowsthetrend
of the popularity of qualitative methods in social sciences during the 1970s to the
1 Introduction:QualitativeResearchMethodsinEmpiricalSocial… 3
1990s,itstillsignificantlyillustrateshowqualitativeresearchmethodshavebecome
moreacceptableandpopularinsocialsciencesthanafewdecadesago(Knoblauch,
2013).However,itdoesnotnecessarilymeanthatconductingqualitativeresearchis
wellunderstoodandproperlyusedbyallsocialscienceresearchers.
Itmaybeparticularlytruetonovicequalitativeresearchers.Accordingtoourown
experience, during our first qualitative research project, we encountered a number
ofconfusions,misunderstandings,dilemmas,difficulties,challenges,andproblems
at various stages. After our Ph.D. graduation, we began to teach in methodology
courses, where we have also observed the uncertainties and anxieties from novice
researcherstudentstowardsdifferentissuesofqualitativestudy.AsSavin–Badenand
Major(2010,p.1)note,manynovicesareworriedabout“howtoundertakequalita-
tiveresearch,”“strugglingwithwhatitmeanstobeaqualitativeresearcher,”“what
variousqualitativedesignsentail,”“howqualitativeresearchplaysoutinthefaceof
anumberofenvironmentalandculturalvariables,”etc.Althoughnoviceresearchers
may prepare themselves by reading much literature in qualitative research before-
hand,qualitativeresearchmethodsremainproblematictothemduringpracticalfield-
work.
Itdoesnotmeanthatcurrentmethodbooksintheliteraturearenotuseful.Onthe
contrary,theliteratureoffersexplicitqualitativetraditionsinscientificresearchand
allowsusgrabbingthegeneraldirectionsandsuggestionsinhandlingourprojects.
However,weobservethatitisnoteasyfornoviceresearchers,especiallythoseunder-
graduateandresearchpostgraduatestudentswhoareconductingtheirdissertations,
tofullyunderstandthequalitativeapproach,andtofollowthestandards,procedures,
orguidelinesofqualitativeresearchasliteraturesuggests.However,theexperience
sharing with empirical examples would function as essential supplementary doc-
uments for such researchers. Therefore, we initialize this book project, collecting
young qualitative research scholars’ first-hand experiences in their latest qualita-
tiveresearchprojects.Weregardtheyoungscholars’experiencesareasmeaningful
as those of experienced scholars, which are already documented in literature. To
someextent,weassumetheyoungscholars’experiencesmoreinsightfultonovice
researchers,especially for thePh.D. students who attempt toconduct a qualitative
studyintheirthesis,becausetheymaysharetimelyandsimilarsituations,difficulties,
andchallengeswithmanynoviceresearchers.
This book gathers 10 young qualitative scholars to share their latest experience
indoingqualitativeresearch.Wecallthemyoungscholars,becauseallauthorsare
eitherlast-yearPh.D.candidatesorfreshPh.D.graduateswithin5years(2010–2015),
whilewritingupthesechapters.Inthisbook,wewouldliketosharethedifficulties
wehadfacedandhowweovercametheminourlatestqualitativeresearchprojects.
Mostoftheseprojectsareeitherpostgraduatedissertationorpostdoctoralproject.In
additiontomethodologicaldiscussion,wewouldalsoliketopaymoreattentionto
what,how,andwhywedevelopedsuchstrategiesinhandlingthechallengesinour
qualitativeresearchprojects.
Thisbookstartsachapter(Chap.2)preparedbyWingYeeHo,whosharesher
experienceinhandlingthechallengesduringliteraturereview,especiallywhenthe
researchedphenomenonhasdrawnlittleattentiontootherresearchers.Basedonher
4 K.K.Tsangetal.
ownexperienceinstudyingmirroringeffects,sherecommendsbasicstepsfornovice
researcherstoovercomethechallengesandtodevelopagroundedtheory.Chapters3
and4discussarangeofissuesrelatedtofieldwork,suchasaccessibilitytoafield,
buildingrelationshipwithinformants,datacollectioninthenaturalsocialsettings,
andresearcher’sroleandpositionduringfieldworkthroughtheauthors’fieldwork
experienceinMuslim-HanmixedvillageinChina(Chap.3)andinaJapaneseadver-
tisingproductioncompanyinTokyo(Chap.4),respectively.InChap.5,Zhongyan
Wan discusses issues related to case study, such as the strategies in case selection
andaccessprocess,andtherolesofresearcherincaseselectionandaccessprocess.
Chapter6illustratesthestrategiestodealwithdifficultiesinconductingfocusgroup
interviews, such as trust and rapport building with informants for narrowing age,
gender,andeducationdiscrepanciesbetweentheresearcherandparticipants.Dian
Liu presents the difficulties and coping strategies during research design and data
collection, when conducting a comparative study on school bullying between the
Norwegian and Chinese contexts in Chap. 7. She also addresses that many diffi-
culties encountered in the research design are related to how to balance the sense
ofmeaningindifferenttermsindiversecultures,andhowtoeliminatethecultural
misunderstandingbetweencultures.Chapter8discussestheissuesanddifficultiesto
conductqualitativecross-culturalresearchwithteachersandchildrenaged3–6years
old in Scotland, Hong Kong, and Mainland China by Yuwei, Xu. Specifically, the
authoraddressesinvolvingyoungchildreninqualitativeresearchfrommulticultural
backgrounds. Lian-Jiang Jiang, the author of Chap. 9, introduces how to enable
thecollaborationbetweenresearchersandparticipantsthroughcollaborativeaction
research.Thecomplexityofdoingcollaborativeactionresearchisunpackedfromthe
author’s(asnoviceresearcher)perspective.Basedonhisfieldnotesandmemos,the
chapterillustratesfiverecursivecyclesofcollaborativeactionresearch,thepossibil-
ityofresearcher–participantcollaboration,anddilemmaforresearchertoactasboth
facilitatorandassessorofcollaborativeactionresearch.Thechapterconcludeswith
implicationsonhowcollaborativeactionresearchcanbeusedbynoviceresearchers
intheirresearchprojects.Chapter10outlineswhatstorylineapproachofcodingis
andhowthiscodingapproachisusefulfornoviceresearcherstoanalyzequalitative
databasedontheauthor’sexperiences.InChap.11,theauthorsharesthestruggles
duetohermultiplerolesinherprojectanddiscusseswhetherthemultiplerolesare
unavoidableandbeneficialinfacilitatingqualitativeresearch.InChap.12,wewill
summarizealltheexperiencesandidentifythecommonchallengesanddifficulties
andthecopingstrategiesbasedontheexperiences.
References
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Babbie,E.(2015).Thepracticeofsocialresearch(15thed.).Belmont:ThomsonWadsworth.
Bryman,A.(2004).Quantityandqualityinsocialresearch.London:Routledge.