Week 7: Qualitative Research Designs
Sculptors have been known to say that whatever they created was always there in the stone, marble, or clay that they began with. The sculptor might say his or her work was to help the final form emerge from the stone.
Qualitative research can also be emerging in nature—there are many tools and techniques available to shape this approach to research, some dependent on circumstances, but like a sculpture, the varied tools and techniques needed to reveal the best approach for realizing the finished product require thoughtful consideration.
This week, you will continue to expand your understanding of a research framework in the context of qualitative research by analyzing and evaluating research questions in qualitative studies. You will also continue to analyze the interrelated elements of a research study making the connection among theory, problem, purpose and, now, qualitative research questions and design.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
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Learning Resources
Note: To access this week’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.
Required Readings
Babbie, E. (2017). Basics of social research (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Document: Journal Articles (Word Document)
Document: Research Questions and Hypotheses Checklist (PDF)
Discussion: Evaluating Research
Questions and Qualitative Research Designs
Just as in quantitative research, when researchers set out to design a qualitative research study, they are guided by its purpose, and their research questions align with their selected approach and the data that will be collected.
As you learned in previous weeks, alignment means that a research study possesses clear and logical connections among all of its various components. In addition to considering alignment, qualitative researchers must also consider the ethical implications of their design choice, including, for example, what their choice means for participant recruitment, procedures, and privacy.
For this Discussion, you will evaluate qualitative research questions in assigned journal articles in your discipline and consider the alignment of theory, problem, purpose, research questions, and design. You will also identify the type of qualitative research design or approach the authors used and explain how it was implemented. Narrative, ethnographic, grounded theory, case study, and phenomenology are examples of types of research designs or approaches used in qualitative research.
With these thoughts in mind, refer to the Journal Articles document for your assigned articles for this Discussion. If your last name starts with A through I, use Article A. If your last name starts with J through R, use Article B. If your last name starts with S through Z, use Article C.
By Day 4
Post a critique of the research study in which you:
This is the article’s name
Ebrashi, R. E. (2013). Social entrepreneurship theory and sustainable social impact. Social Responsibility Journal, 9(2), 188–209. doi:10.1108/SRJ-07-2011-0013
Be sure to support your Main Issue Post and Response Post with reference to the week’s Learning Resources and other scholarly evidence in APA Style.