Qualitative Research Methods

404 Pages·2009·31.39 MB·English

by  Liamputtong

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Qualitative
Research
Methods
To My Children
Zoe Sanipreeya Rice
Emma Inturatana Rice
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. OXFORD
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Copyright © Pranee Liamputtong 2009
First edition (by Pranee Liamputtong and Douglas Ezzy) published 1999
Reprinted 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004
Second edition (by Pranee Liamputtong and Douglas Ezzy) published 2005
Reprinted 2005, 2006 (twice), 2007, 2008
Third edition published 2009
Reprinted 2010 (twice), 2011
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data
Liamputtong, Pranee, 1955-
Qualitative research methods / Pranee Liamputtong.
3rd ed.
Includes index.
Bibliography.
ISBN 978 0 19 555143 3 (pbk)
1. Health—Research—Methodology. 2. Research—Methodology.
610.72
Edited by Venetia Somerset
Cover design by Streamer Design and Communication
Text design by Leigh Ashforth @ watershed art & design
Typeset by Leigh Ashforth
Proofread by Liz Filleul
Printed in Hong Kong by Sheck Wah Tong Printing Press Ltd
Contents
BOXES, FIGURES, AND TABLES vi
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vii
PREFACE Viii
INTRODUCTION Xx
Zs ~Background to Qualitative Research 42
1 Theoretical Frameworks and Sampling in Qualitative Research 2 |
|
2 Rigour and Ethics in Qualitative Research 19 V
| PART 2 Types of Qualitative Research Methods 41
3 The In-depth Interviewing Method 42
4 Focus Groups 64 |
5 Unobtrusive Methods 87 |
6 Narrative Enquiry Methodology: Life and Oral History, Life Story and |
Biographical Research 109 |
7 Memory-work 129 |
8 &thnography 147 |
9 Participatory Action Research /) 8168
10 Qualitative Case Study Research 188
11 Grounded Theory Research 206 y
BE NSEM Applications of Qualitative Research 225
/
12 Researching the ‘Vulnerable’ 226
13 Going Online: Doing Qualitative Research in Cyberspace 250
14 Making Sense of Qualitative Data: The Analysis Process 277
15 Writing a Qualitative Research Proposal 297
16 Writing a Qualitative Research Report 316
17 Qualitative Research: New Directions 331 Y
GLOSSARY 339
REFERENCES 342
INDEX 379
Boxes, Figures, and Tables
Box 3.1 In-depth interviewing: advantages and limitations 61
Box 4.1 An example of note-taking 78
Box 4.2 Focus groups: advantages and limitations 83
Box 5.1 Unobtrusive methods: advantages and limitations 106
Box 6.1 Narrative research: advantages and limitations 125
Box 7.1 Memory-work: advantages and limitations 144
Box 8.1 The experience of participant observation 154
Box 8.2 An example of fieldnotes 158
Box 8.3 Ethnography: advantages and limitations 166
Box 9.1 Participatory action research: advantages and limitations 184
Box 10.1 Case study research: challenges, advantages and limitations 203
Box 11.1 Grounded theory research: strengths and challenges 222
Box 13.1 An example of an online consent form 263
Box 15.1 The sections of a research proposal 299
Box 15.2 An example of a background and rationale section 301
Box 15.3 An example of a time-frame for a research project 305
Box 16.1 Criteria for the evaluation of qualitative papers 327
Box 17.1 Telling and performing personal stories: the constraints of choice in abortion 335
Figure 5.1 A Kiowa Indian birth in a teepee 95
Table 2.1 Criteria and strategies for ensuring rigour in qualitative research 30
Table 14.1 Frequency of women’s health articles by topics 283
Table 15.1 An example of a budget in a grant application 306
About the Author
Pranee Liamputtong has the Personal Chair in Public Health at the School of Public
Health, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Pranee has previously taught in the
School of Sociology and Anthropology and worked as a public health research fellow
at the Centre for the Study of Mothers’ and Children’s Health, La Trobe University.
Pranee’s particular interests include issues related to cultural and social influences on
childbearing, childrearing, and women’s reproductive and sexual health.
Pranee has published several books and a large number of papers in these areas. These
include: Maternity and Reproductive Health in Asian Societies (with Lenore Manderson,
Harwood Academic Press, 1996); Asian Mothers, Western Birth (Ausmed Publications,
1999); Living in a New Country: Understanding Migrants’ Health (Ausmed Publications,
1999); Hmong Women and Reproduction (Bergin & Garvey, 2000); Coming ofA ge in South
and Southeast Asia:Youth, Courtship and Sexuality (with Lenore Manderson, Curzon Press,
2002); Health, Social Change and Communities (with Heather Gardner, Oxford University
Press, 2003). Her more recent books include: Reproduction, Childbearing and Motherhood:
A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Nova Science Publishers, 2007); Childrearing and Infant
Care Issues: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Nova Science Publishers, 2007); The Journey of
Becoming a Mother amongst Thai Women in Northern Thailand (Lexington Books, 2007);
Population, Community, & Health Promotion (with Sansnee Jirojwong, Oxford University
Press, 2008); and Infant Feeding Practices: A Cross-Cultural Perspective (Springer, New York
in press).
Her research method book is titled Qualitative Research Methods: A Health Focus
(with Douglas Ezzy, Oxford University Press, 1999, reprinted in 2000, 2001, 2003,
2004); and the second edition of this book is titled Qualitative Research Methods (2005,
reprinted in 2006, 2007, 2008). Pranee has also published a book on doing qualitative
research online: Health Research in Cyberspace: Methodological, Practical and Personal Issues
(Nova Science Publishers, 2006). Her new books include: Researching the Vulnerable:A
Guide to Sensitive Research Methods (Sage, 2007); Undertaking Sensitive Research: Managing
Boundaries, Emotions and Risk (with Virginia Dickson-Swift and Erica James, Cambridge
University Press, 2008); Knowing Differently: Arts-Based and Collaborative Research Methods
(with Jean Rumbold, Nova Science Publishers, 2008); Doing Cross-Cultural Research:
Ethical and Methodological Issues (Springer, 2008), and Performing Qualitative Cross-Cultural
Research (Cambridge University Press, 2009). Two further method texts including
Research Methods and Health Professionals (Oxford University Press) and Focus Group
Methodology: Principles and Practices (Sage) will be published in 2010.
Vii
Preface
Almost two decades ago, Anselm Strauss and Juliet Corbin (1990, p. 19) wrote:
Qualitative research can be used to uncover and understand what lies behind any
phenomenon about which little is yet known. It can be used to gain novel and fresh slants
on things about which quite a bit is already known. Also qualitative methods can give the
intricate details of phenomena that are difficult to convey with quantitative methods.
Now we are in the year 2009 and the writing of Strauss and Corbin still holds true.
Social science researchers continue to explore their research using a qualitative approach
as a tool because there are so many things that we still do not know and there is a great
need for us to uncover and understand them. And even things that we have known, we
may need to revisit to gain new understanding as our lives and societies continue to
change. It is also still true that there are many issues for which a quantitative approach
cannot provide a good and accurate understanding compared to what qualitative
inquiry can offer.
For this reason, qualitative research continues to grow. Although we still come
across positivist researchers who would argue that the only legitimate way of doing
research is through quantitative methods, particularly epidemiology and randomised
controlled trials, a large number of social science researchers have come to accept that
qualitative approach is a useful tool in social science research. For example, Janet Seeley
and colleagues (2008, p. 1445) argue that the quantitative part of their research, which
comprised more than two thousand participants, failed to provide a good understanding
of some of their findings. It was only through the life histories of 24 families that they
were able to explain these findings in a more meaningful way. They also say that there is
no substitute for qualitative research. In her recent book, Fran Baum (2008), a prominent
public health researcher in Australia, also calls for the inclusion of qualitative methods
in all public health research endeavours. This is exciting. Qualitative researchers may no
longer need to apologetically defend their choice of methodology!
This book is now in its third edition. In this new edition, I have added two new
chapters: case study and grounded theory research. I have also updated new references
and examples in all the chapters I wrote in the first and second editions. In the first
edition (see Liamputtong Rice & Ezzy 1999), Douglas Ezzy co-wrote the book and
contributed several chapters (chapters 1, 2, 3, 6 and 10). For personal reasons, Douglas
did not contribute to the second edition. With this third edition, I wrote the book as
sole author. I have replaced the chapters that Douglas wrote in the first edition with
my own, but I kept some sections that I had added in his chapters in the second edition
(see Liamputtong & Ezzy 2005). I believe that having one author throughout the book
makes the text more consistent in format and writing style.A s before, I choose to write
simply and I provide practical examples throughout the book. These features are what
most of my students and other researchers have suggested in reponse to the previous
editions. They make this book easy to follow without having to interpret jargon that
other qualitative research texts have used. So I can guarantee that the book will be
accessible to students, novices, and experienced researchers alike.
viii