Unit 4: Qualitative Research Methods

Introduction

International Relations (IR) is described as an interdisciplinary field that studies the relations of states with other states, international or regional organizations, multinational companies, international norms, and international society. This unique structure interweaves IR closely with other disciplines such as political science, economics, history, law, philosophy, sociology, geography, and anthropology, Due to its multi-directional nature, IR focuses internationally on a variety of issues. Its multi-disciplinary layout causes a significant level of variety in terms of the research designs adopted within IR.

Together with the fact that research efforts based on quantitative methods built around various designs have born a crucial relevance to the field of IR for a long time, the need to closely examine available situation(s) and to hold in-depth analysis to understand and describe them has also been underlined within relevant literature. In this respect, the idea that qualitative research methods can be functional to study specific events and phenomena has spread across the literature. It is possible to state that qualitative research methods can be a useful lighthouse to take right steps and produce more tangible results because they can only be contextually conducted and interpreted, and they facilitate complete understanding of a focal event, subject, or subject field without worrying about generalizations.

Qualitative Research Methods and International Relations

Qualitative research methods are intricately related with different disciplines and include many concepts. Some of the concepts within qualitative research methods are ethnography, anthropology, situational research, interpretive research, natural research, and theory development. Since all these concepts are used with similar meanings in terms of research design and analysis techniques, the term ‘qualitative research methods’ is widely accepted as an umbrella term.

Basic Features of Qualitative Methods

Qualitative research is defined as a method where perceptions and events can be pictured in their natural environments with a holistic and realistic perspective through use of qualitative data collection techniques such as observation, interview, and document analysis. To further clarify, its basic features can be listed as follows:

1. sensitivity to natural environment,
2. participatory role of the researcher,
3. holistic approach,
4. identifying the perceptions,
5. flexibility in research design, and
6. inductive analysis.

Possible Contributions of Qualitative Research Methods

Contributions that qualitative research methods can bring into the field of IR can be explained through three types of information (environment, process, perceptions) that can be gathered through use of these methods.

First is the environmental information, which regards social, psychological, cultural, demographic, and physical characteristics. Such information may serve as a foundation for patterns concerning the process and perceptions, and collected information can be compared with that of other settings.

The second contribution of qualitative research methods is the process. Such information highlights what happened during the research process and their reflections on the participants. Data concerning the perceptions that could be determined through qualitative studies depicts what participants think about the process. It should be noted that the focal event or phenomenon in qualitative research studies cannot be conceived out of its context and participants’ perceptions.

Third significant contribution that qualitative research methods can introduce to IR is the functionality of information. In this regard, that the information distilled through qualitative research methods is based on facts can ease its reflection onto the field functionally, and this can facilitate taking timely precautions and producing more effective solutions for available problems.

Qualitative Research Designs

Case Study

Case study is the most widely employed design in IR, and this is an increasing tendency in the field. The efforts to figure out complex social events or phenomena can be taken as the reason for this inclination.

Case study is a qualitative design where a researcher collects data from various sources (e.g. observations, interviews, visual-auditory materials, documents, and reports) about an event or phenomenon in a specific context in a given time-period. Case studies are mainly classified into two: single-case and multiple-case. The former, single-case studies , can be suitable for critical, extraordinary, common, revelatory, or longitudinal cases whereas the latter, multiple-case studies, refers to more than one case.

As for Woodside, case studies should be categorized into three groups, which are theorizing and testing, narrative or drawing, and assessment. Primary focus of theorizing and testing case studies is collection of empirical data for a theory whose effectiveness is still blurry. Narrative and drawing case studies involve sharing descriptive records about political decisions, social structures, or stories of systems with relevant people following a scrutiny. Assessment based case studies refer to informing relevant people or institutions about value judgements after researchers closely examine the aforementioned political formations, systems, projects, or other case studies.

Some of the advantages of case study design include lesser costs, process-tracing, in-depth analysis, and constant comparison.

Ethnography

Ethnography is a research design where a researcher analyzes common behaviors, language, and action models of an intact culture within their natural environment during a long time-span.

Narrative Inquiry

Narrative inquiry is a qualitative research design where written documents or conversations are interpreted about an event or a course of events that are chronologically related.

Phenomenology

Phenomenology is a research design to study participants’ experiences about a phenomenon they define. This design focuses on phenomena which participants are aware of but do not have enough in-depth and comprehensive understanding about. In life, encounters with phenomena mostly occur via various forms such as events, experiences, perceptions, tendencies, concepts, and situations. Primary goal of phenomenology is to reduce individual experiences with a phenomenon to a universal explanation. A phenomenology ends in a descriptive part where the gist of individuals’ experiences is elaborated through combination of “what” is experienced “how”. There are two types of phenomenological research: descriptive phenomenology and interpretive phenomenology approaches.

Grounded Theory

Grounded theory is a qualitative research design aiming to find out a general abstract theory about a process, action, or interaction grounded in participants’ standpoint. Interactions grounded in participants’ narratives, perceptions, and experiences in order to develop a theory that can explain the phenomenon on a wider conceptual level. The researcher in a grounded theory tries to explore participants’ social processes, behavioral patterns, acceptances, and meanings.

The Process of Conducting a Qualitative Research

Identifying the Research Focus or Problem

Regardless of design, any qualitative research process starts with identification of the research topic, phenomenon, or problem. The focal subject of a research is one of the definitive factors for the design of that research. However, identification of the research problem during the planning process is not enough on its own in terms of specifying the research design. Therefore, planning process of a qualitative research entails identification of the research problem together with the research aim and questions to be answered at the end of the study. Research aim and questions are endemic to the nature of the research problem, and they include the point(s) that a researcher aspires to illuminate during the process.

Research question(s) serve focusing on the research aim. In this regard, research questions should describe analysis, formation of limitations, and some instructions. An aim for a research could be filling in the gap available in a pile of information. Following questions can guide researchers when formulating research questions:

• Is there a consistency between the research aim and research questions?
• Are the research questions clear, correct, and to the point?
• Can the research questions be answered? Are the sources you have enough to answer these questions?

Selecting Participants

Following the identification of the research problem, aim, and questions for a study, the next important step is to choose participants. Thus, a researcher should select participants who can provide rich and versatile data for the focal phenomenon or problem determined to be examined.

There are some approaches to be employed during the planning process when selecting the participants of a study. Accordingly, Creswell suggests criterion sampling technique. If the number of people who have experienced the problem, topic, event, or phenomenon in question is high, then criterion sampling technique formed around some criteria could ease the work for the researcher. If the research aims to determine the experiences of a group, not individuals, then snowball sampling can be utilized. In snowball sampling , the researcher finds one participant who has experience about the topic, problem, event, or phenomenon, and then reaches out to other participants through this participant. Homogenous sampling is another alternative technique that can be used in a qualitative research. If the aim of a research is to determine how standpoints about an event or a phenomenon vary from one participant to another, and if the event or phenomenon is conceived to be influenced by an individual’s personal features, then maximum variation sampling could be the right technique to select participants.

Data Collection Techniques

In general, data is defined as any measurement, value, phenomenon, or information that can serve resolving a research problem. Data constitute the fundamental basis of any research as they are “unprocessed evidence”, and they are used to understand, explain, provide experience, and formulate concepts-theories in qualitative research.

The most significant point to remember about qualitative research is “triangulation”. Based on the fact that a single data source can never be enough to answer all questions, various sources of data are consulted and they are  triangulated to produce results, which is among the strengths of qualitative research. In this sense, researchers choose which data collection techniques to employ in accordance with the focal problem, research aim, research questions, and their own experiences in any given qualitative study.

Interview

Interview is a data collection technique that enables a researcher to gather data that observation and questionnaire techniques cannot unravel and to examine participants’ feelings, opinions, perceptions, and attitudes.

A closer look at interview types yields that structured interview revolves around a series of questions in a specific order, and these questions are directed to each participant in the same order and style. Semi-structured interview , on the other hand, offers flexibility to the researcher in terms of improvising other relevant or subquestions during the interview in order to obtain details about the answers a participant provides. Unstructured interview is based on natural flow of interaction during which questions are raised, and it is almost never predetermined where the course of conversation will steer during an unstructured interview. Focal group interview is described as a data collection technique where a small group of participants is interviewed about a topic that concerns them all with respect to their common opinions, ideas, needs, and expectations.

Participatory Observation

Participatory observation is a data collection technique that entails direct participation into the target setting or the daily routines of the target group via interaction with the members of that group.

Researcher Diary

Researcher diary is a source of data where the researcher writes down her/his comments, feelings, and opinions about events that s/he observes and hears and where s/he can add her/his reflections about her/his experience.

Documents

As a qualitative data collection technique, documents refer to any kind of written, audio, and/or visual materials that bear information about the focal events or phenomena in a given research. Data distilled from social media applications such as Facebook and Twitter should also be considered among documents.

Artifacts

Artifacts are another source of help qualitative researchers can use to answer the research questions. They can also be described as physical evidence for qualitative research. Artifacts refer to object(s) located within the focal context, and somehow, they appeal to the researcher’s interest. These objects may range from things that people in the focal setting use for their daily routines and rituals to a book, chair, or another piece of decoration in the environment.

Data Storage

When conducting a research designed in accordance with qualitative research methods, another point that should be taken into account together with the identification of data collection techniques is how to store the data, which eases managing of a data set for a longitudinal study and establishing data variety. The following can be advised about data storage and transfer:

• Always back up the files in your computer.
• Use a high-quality device to record the interviews.
• Develop a main list for different types of data.
• Conceal the participants’ names in your data set for confidentiality reasons.
• Develop a data collection matrix.

Data Analysis

There are two primary analysis approaches in qualitative research, albeit many different names, which are inductive analysis and content analysis. Inductive analysis is labeled as thematic analysis in some sources. However, these two approaches branch into various data analyses depending on the design and data collection tools of a qualitative research. For instance, phenomenological data analysis is the most frequently employed data analysis technique in phenomenological studies. This approach is of 5 stages:

1. identification of significant remarks,
2. grouping common remarks,
3. thematization of meaning clusters,
4. forming structural and textural descriptions, and
5. combining structural and textural descriptions.

For narrative research design Riessman’s classification is utilized in general: thematic analysis, structural analysis, interactive analysis, and performative analysis.

The aim of data analysis in grounded theory research is to develop an inductive theory based on the data set. Accordingly, data is analyzed via a process called constant comparison , in which the researcher first divides the data set into manageable parts and then compares each part with each other in terms of similarities and differences.

Reporting

The final step of a qualitative research process is reporting, which includes the following sections: theoretical background, method, findings, and results. In reporting step, themes, categories, and digital data are utilized; findings are related with the relevant literature; results are discussed, and suggestions are made.

Rigor in Qualitative Research Method

Rigor refers to assessing quality and accuracy of research processes and conclusions.

First major criterion for rigor in qualitative research method is “internal validity”, which means questioning the true value of the research for trustworthiness.

Another important criterion for rigor in qualitative research method is “external validity”. This refers to precise definition or explanation of the area that findings can be generalized.

Credibility is another criterion for rigor. Credibility means that data collected during a research process will yield the same results if recollected and undergone the same steps. Credibility aspect involves “internal credibility” “external credibility”.