traditional qualitative data collection
- interviews
- focus groups
what do interviews aim to do?
find out as much as possible about participants’ experiences and meaning
types of interviews
structured
self-structured
loosely structured
unstructured
what is the purpose of focus groups?
find out as much as possible about meanings and understandings when discussing a topic
benefits of focus groups
- useful to contextualise collective understanding
- sensitive to consensus and disparity
face-to-face focus groups
require the researcher acting as a facilitator for participants
asynchronous focus groups
more time to think about responses
synchronous online focus groups
technology can provide different environments for participants to engage with
virtual world groups
avatars may lead to greater engagement and co-creation
alternative qualitative data collection
- prompt methods
- story completion
- qualitative surveys
- solicited diaries
- media data
- online data
benefits of prompt methods
- efficacious way to encourage discussion and debate for sensitive topics, and discussion becomes participant-led
what does story completion allow for?
projective tests allow exploration of a range of assumptions about a given phenomena
what do qualitative surveys involve?
predetermined, open-ended questions that allow participants to have control over their responses
issues with qualitative surveys
- no interaction with the subject
- fail to consider environment and emotion
what do solicited diaries provide?
partial access into the thoughts of participants
benefits of media data
easily accessible to highlight common messages/issues about the population
how can online data be used?
- uses external cites to host purposive research
issues with online data
naturalistic data may not be fit for purpose
may also breach ethics
