Is qualitative research aims to explore and explain a phenomenon in study?

3.3.3 Relationships as a source of data

Qualitative research may involve getting to know persons then reporting on some aspect of their lives, often from a critical perspective that differs from the way the persons describe themselves. How is the research problem defined and is this disclosed to the persons? The nature of the relationship, as perceived by the participant and the researcher, may affect how the research problem is defined, how the data are collected and organized, how the research report is framed, how the results are disseminated and used, and whether the participant is wronged or harmed by this incursion into his or her private life. With the advent of the Internet, researchers are now free to observe or participate in chat room discussions of quite personal and intimate topics. What are their responsibilities to those they study? Should they reveal their presence as researchers? Will subjects' knowledge of the researchers' presence have a chilling effect on their chat room participation? What steps should be taken to disguise the identity of the chat room and its participants?

Perceptions of CAM Use

Qualitative research has shown that some people incorporate their use of CAM therapies into an ‘identity concept’8 and the use or nonuse of CAM contributes toward how they view themselves. Many CAM users perceive CAM as ‘natural’, although the precise meaning of natural varies. Menopausal women in particular9 often experience a perceived lack of control over their bodies and symptoms during menopause, but gathering information on potential CAM therapies may be viewed as a way to gain control.9 Kelner et al.10 explored motivations for seeking care from various types of health care CAM providers, revealing a mixed picture where some chose CAM for pragmatic reasons, such as not having been helped by conventional medical care, while others reported a belief system of ‘holistic care, diet, and natural forms of healing’. Some patients do not disclose their CAM use to their conventional provider because they anticipate a negative response.11,12 Whereas some CAM users hold negative views of conventional medicine, the vast majority of women use CAM as complementary to and not in lieu of conventional medicine.13 The complex nature of these findings may be due to different study populations, convenience versus probability samples, various definitions of CAM, and qualitative versus quantitative methods.

Qualitative Research

There continues to be a conspicuous gap in the elder abuse literature involving survivors and their voices, while in the violence against women literature, there is a small but growing attention to violence against older women. This is reflected in a number of participatory research studies focusing on the lives of older abused women. These studies over the past 10 years have been undertaken primarily in Australia, Canada, England, Scotland, and the United States. Women shared their stories of abuse suffered from childhood through into their later lives (Alcalde, 2005; Blood, 2004; Hightower et al., 2001; Morgan Disney et al., 2000; Sargent and Mears, 2000; Scott et al., 2003). In these studies, older women spoke of current and past violence from their husbands, partners, and family members.

Qualitative research, says Pain (1999, citing Murphy and Longino, 1992), is seen as one way of allowing older adults to speak for themselves and to interpret their own lives, rather than inferring this from empirical indicators. Pain further suggests that elder abuse research in particular has been dominated by quantitative analyses, and many sources point to the need for in-depth research on individual cases to explore how abuse is structured and experienced within the context of people’s lives. What has the abuse meant to them? How have they coped with or resisted it? (Aitken and Griffin, 1996; Whittaker, 1995). Case studies have proved to be important elements of the research on older women abuse. Through the qualitative studies we hear women share their experience of gendered violence. Violence has been or continues to be an ongoing fact of daily life, as it was for many in their childhood, adolescence, and child-bearing years and on into old age. Here is the way one front-line worker described her clients:

Most of these women struggle daily with their poor health, a multitude of medications, and the chronic pain of living 20–50 years of an abusive marriage relationship. Not forgetting either, their years of abuse in their family of origin, the systemic abuse of wars, separations, depressions, poverty, and sexual stereotyping, all of which were very much a reality for these women.

Kemp (2005, personal communication)

Role of the Researcher

In qualitative research, considerations regarding the role of the researcher are central throughout a study. Because the researcher is the central instrument in all phases of the research process, from framing the question, to sampling, to gathering data, to analyzing and interpreting data, and to preparing the research reports, it is crucial that researcher knowledge is considered. Central to the process of qualitative research is the researcher living out his/her autobiography and speaking from the perspective of a particular background. In some qualitative methodologies, researchers are advised to undergo a process of self-examination and analysis in order to bracket out their subjectivity and to attempt to set aside their biases. In other more relational qualitative methodologies, such as narrative inquiry, researchers are advised to give an account of how they have shaped the research process. In addition, the struggle to share the experiences of others from within (that is, alongside the research participants), as well as to be able to observe participants with some detachment, is present for all qualitative researchers.

3.06.2.1 Recruitment and Sample Characteristics

In qualitative research, there is a close relationship between study goals and sampling strategies. Because qualitative studies typically focus on phenomena and issues that are specific to a particular population, sampling is not so much concerned with the selection of participants whose experiences will generalize to populations at large. Rather than seeking broad representativeness, the researcher is concerned with recruiting participants, or groups of participants, who will maximize the potential for collecting rich data on a specific topic of interest (Glaser, 1978). Accordingly, the researcher seeks participants who are most knowledgeable about a particular topic, or ones that seem most open to share about their experiences related to that topic. For this reason, recruitment often takes the form of purposeful sampling, which Patton (1990) describes as follows:

The logic and power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting information-rich cases for study in depth. Information-rich cases are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research, thus the term purposeful sampling (p. 169).

In purposeful sampling the researcher makes an informed decision about specific characteristics they are looking for in participants. To that aim, two nonprobability sampling techniques commonly used in qualitative research are convenience sampling and snowball sampling. Convenience sampling consists in recruiting participants who are conveniently available; for example, asking a mental health clinic, community-based organization, or community stakeholder to refer participants that fulfill criteria for inclusion in the study. Snowball sampling consists in asking existing participants to recruit additional participants from their acquaintances, community, or other social network (e.g., workplace, religious or ethnocultural group). Another type of sampling procedure qualitative researchers sometimes use is theoretical sampling (discussed below).

Does qualitative research explain phenomenon?

Does qualitative research explores a phenomenon to better understand it?

What type of research aims to explore and understand a phenomenon?

Does quantitative research explain phenomena?