Qualitative Dissertation Methodology. Nathan Durdella
with critical, postmodern, and poststructural perspectives. While all of these perspectives share common characteristics with interpretivism, they offer a unique contribution to data collection, analysis, and interpretation—and to the broader goals of a research study. More on these epistemological perspectives and their relationship to qualitative research approaches in Chapter 3!
In practical terms, methodology generally encompasses two major components of a research approach: design and methods. These are the two major sections of the dissertation methodology chapter—usually the third chapter in the traditional monograph format, but Chapter 2 in this book. In turn, these sections tend to be subdivided into smaller sections to outline specific procedural steps. Largely confined to methods, the subsections usually include research setting, data sources and sample, data collection instruments, data collection procedures, and data analysis procedures. In some qualitative dissertation contexts, researcher roles may be included as a separate section, and exact section headings or specific terms associated with subsections may change from one dissertation study to the next.
The overall function of design and methods—methodology—in dissertation studies, as Marshall and Rossman (2010, p. 7) argue, is to articulate how “the study is feasible.” That is, they say, how “the design and methods are the result of a series of decisions . . . made based on knowledge gained from the methodological literature and previous work” (Marshall & Rossman). The methodological framework needs to be connected to more than just specific research approaches and the literature that supports them—researchers must connect what they do in their studies to their empirical and conceptual literature, including the research problem, purpose, and questions that emerged from them. As you shape what your dissertation study looks like, keep this standard in mind: What others have done informs where you go and what you do in the field. You need to demonstrate direct links between your evaluative synthesis of empirical studies and discussion of a conceptual framework with your research questions (and by extension research purpose) and research design and methods. For example, if you have an interest in exploring the experiences of a group of people—as articulated by your research questions—then we would expect to see the use of an ethnographic research tradition in your methodology chapter and observations and interviews in your data collection procedures (and likely a set of analytical techniques associated with ethnography). By contrast, if you intend on examining the relationship among factors associated with a set of experiences or outcomes, then we may see grounded theory as your research tradition (and procedures aligned with grounded theory in the rest of the methodology chapter).
In qualitative research, methodologies tend to be synonymous with research traditions, which Schram (2003) defines similarly: the assumptions, principles, and procedures that guide an inquiry. Still others refer to traditions as research genres. Whatever term you use, the traditions in qualitative research that you tend to see most frequently in the literature include ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory, and narrative inquiry. There are others, to be sure, which Chapter 3 presents, but these four are used most widely in social science research—from undergraduate and graduate classrooms to methodology texts and empirical studies in the field. What is more, researchers have adapted variations of these primary research traditions as emergent traditions—critical ethnography or feminist research methods as examples—which direct assumptions and principles, along with procedures, toward groups who have been historically marginalized, focus on issues that have not been well understood, and reshape steps to gather and make sense of information in the field. Whether you prefer the term research methodology, research tradition, or research genre—or even research design—you must get to know an approach that meaningfully structures fieldwork and intentionally directs data collection and analysis activities toward your research questions.
Being comfortable with ambiguity, uncertainty, confusion, and complexity.
As much as research traditions or genres impose a structure, through applications of standard or accepted approaches, and level of sophistication to research projects, they generally do not control for all of the aberrations, anomalies, and exceptions that occur in studies. More importantly, methodologies in general—inclusive of methods that may regulate procedural activities in the field—cannot control for the sometimes unpredictable and uncertain dynamics that characterize social interaction. In fact, the human element in qualitative research conducted in natural settings often infuses fieldwork with a level of confusion and complexity.
Key Questions to Ask Yourself
What dimensions of my dissertation study are out of my control early at this point?
As a researcher, how can I anticipate what may challenge me in the dissertation research process?
What strategies may be available to address challenges that arise in my dissertation research work?
Human element aside, fieldwork often involves intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, culture, and class—with substantive effects on the course of data collection and analysis and the experiences of researchers and research participants. Indeed, these identity categories and positionalities generally shape interaction, and outcomes, in the field. And when a research project explicitly examines issues related to the experiences of marginalized, excluded, or subjugated members of society or explores problems that require dramatic social change to address, fieldwork can be especially challenging. As a qualitative researcher, you need to reflect on how comfortable you are with varying levels of uncertainty in field relations and complexity in social dynamics (and emerging patterns from data collection). You can start by asking foundational questions such as: Who am I as a researcher and what roles do I have in my study? What are my identities and with which groups do I identify?
How you shape your study is worth a closer look (here briefly and in much more depth later in the book—Chapters 3 through 7 with an extended discussion in Chapter 8). When qualitative research forces researchers to interact socially, they assume a central position in their studies. Granted, we tend to admit that as qualitative researchers we shape our projects, but the acceptance and advancement of the idea that we are the chief research instrument in empirical investigations distinguishes our work. Miller and Crabtree (1992, p. 5) describe how a “field researcher is directly and personally engaged in an interpretive focus on the human field of activity with the goal of generating holistic and realistic descriptions and/or explanations.” This personal and direct involvement positions researchers to function as instruments—from conceptualization to implementation to interpretation at all phases of the fieldwork processes and stages in the research project. The sooner you consider how you are at the center of your study and account for your effects as a researcher on whom you encounter in the field, the more likely you are to feel more comfortable with ambiguity and enhance the trustworthiness of your data and produce an overall credible study. Here, start by asking the following questions: How does who I am and how I see myself shape my study? How can I account for my roles and their effects on participants? We will discuss tools to take stock of who you are and to mitigate the research effects on participants of who you are in the field in Chapter 8.
Your goal now is to build a foundation for a successful dissertation study in your work on the background and approach to how you will gather and make sense of information. Your current focus should be on the foundational elements of designing and executing a doable qualitative dissertation study—an overall design and methods, specific procedural steps in data collection and analysis, and plans to write an interpretive story of results of data analysis. As you do this early work in study development, you need to account for the unique characteristics of qualitative research—potential challenges in data collection in the field and issues with data analysis and write up after you leave