INTRODUCTION

Qualitative research is often regarded as a precursor to quantitative research, in that it is often used to
generate possible leads and ideas which can be used to formulate a realistic and testable hypothesis.
This hypothesis can then be comprehensively tested and mathematically analyzed, with standard
quantitative research methods.
For these reasons, these qualitative methods are often closely allied with interviews, survey
design techniques and individual case studies, as a way to reinforce and evaluate findings over a
broader scale.
Qualitative methods are probably the oldest of all scientific techniques, with Ancient Greek
philosophers qualitatively observing the world around them and trying to come up with answers which
explained what they saw.

DEFINITION: A systematic subjective approach used to describe life experiences and give them
meaning.

Characteristics of qualitative research design:

1. It involves merging together various data collection strategies
2. It is flexible, capable of adjusting to new information during the course of data collection.
3. Tends to be holistic, striving for an understanding of the whole
4. Requires researchers to become intensely involved.
5. Requires researchers to become the research instrument.
6. Involves ongoing analysis of the data to formulate subsequent strategies and to determine when data
collection is done.

Importance of Qualitative Research Designs

 Qualitative methodologies contribute a great deal in nursing studies, as it is a discipline that is building
a knowledge base in the process of clarifying how nursing sciences should be developed, therefore,
nursing scientists have appreciated this contribution.
 Qualitative research methods enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomena so they also
contribute to the social sciences.
 Qualitative research is an inductive approach for discovering or expanding knowledge. In this, it
includes researcher's involvement in the identification of meaning or relevance of a particular
phenomenon to the individual. Qualitative strategies are useful for exploring facts and developing
concepts about an area of interest that has received little research attention.

PHASES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN:

The three main phases of qualitative research designs are as follows:
1. Orientation and overview phase: This is the first phase of qualitative research design. At this
stage, the researchers only presume the type of knowledge that is expected to be obtained by
conducting this particular qualitative study. However, they are not familiar with phenomenon that will
drive the enquiry forward. Therefore, initially researchers get an overview of the salient features of
interest. This orientation and overview phase enables them to plan further for the research study.
2. Focused exploration: This is the second phase in qualitative research design. The salient aspects of
the phenomenon are more focused in this phase, and then an in-depth exploration of the salient aspects
of the phenomenon is carried out. In this phase, a variety of people related to the field are invited to
participate in the study and questions are asked from them to gather more information about
phenomenon. Questions are asked based on the understanding developed during the first phase of the
 design. Therefore, at this stage of the design, focus is on exploration of the salient aspects of the
phenomenon under study.
3. Confirmation and closure: This is the third and final phase of the qualitative design. Efforts are
undertaken to establish that the findings gathered are trustworthy. The qualitative researchers re-group
and discuss their understanding with the participants of the study. Therefore, the qualitative
researchers confirm their findings by analysing and discussing with study participants about the
authenticity and correctness of their findings.

TYPES OF QULITATIVE RESEARCH:

1. Phenomenological research
2. Ethnographic research
3. Grounded theory
4. Historical research design
5. Case study

PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH
According to GWF Hegel, 'Phenomenology is an approach to philosophy that begins with an
exploration of a phenomenon (what presently itself to us in conscious experience), logical, ontological,
and metaphysical spirit that is behind phenomenon. This is called as a "dialectical phenomenology".
According to Edmun Husserl, 'Phenomenology is an approach to philosophy that takes the perceptive
experience of phenomenon (what present itself to us in phenomenological reflection) as its origin
and attempts to distillate from it the main traits of experiences and the essence of what we
experience'

Characteristics of the Phenomenological Approach

• Phenomenology tends to withstand the acceptance of those circumstances that are unobservable, and
is a grand system erected in speculative thinking.

• Phenomenology tends to oppose naturalism, i.e. objectivism and positivism.

• Positively speaking, phenomenology tends to justify knowledge with reference to awareness of a
substance itself, as disclosed in the most comprehensive, distinct, and suitable way for something of
its kind.
• Phenomenology tends to seize/grasp that enquiry ought to emphasize upon 'encountering' as it is
directed at objectives and correlatively upon objectives as they are encountered.
• The primary sources of data collection are the real-life situations of the individuals being studied,
wherein in-depth interviews, i.e. semistructured, audiotaped interviews with participants are the most
common means. Furthermore, emerging themes are frequently validated with participants because
their meanings of that live experience are central to phenomenological study. People who have
recently had the experience are selected as participants.
• Data analysis: The process of analysis involves the difficult task of contrasting and comparing the
final data to determine what pattern, themes, or threads emerge. In the final analysis, a wise
researcher seeks further knowledge about that live experience in a concise manner. If the knowledge
is to be of relevance to other researchers, it must be understandable and clear, detailing the
relationship that exists.

Types of the Phenomenological Research

There are basically four types of the phenomenological researches.
 1. Realistic phenomenological research: It focuses on gathering the universal abstract of
various types of information, including human actions, motives, and results.
2. Constitutive phenomenological research: This includes the philosophy of natural sciences.
This procedure entangles suspending acceptance of the pre given position of conscious life as
something that exists in the world, and is carried out in order to obtain an ultimate inter
subjective grounding for the world and the positive sciences of it. For example social beliefs,
positions, and practices.
3. Existential phenomenological research: This is concerned with topics, such as actions,
conflicts, desires, finitude, oppression, and death.
4. Hermeneutial phenomenological research: It utilizes vital experiences as a device for
better consideration of the political, social, cultural, or historical aspect in which those
experiences happen. Heimeneutic enquiry almost always concentrates on interpretation and
meaning: how historically and socially conditioned individuals portray their world within a
given context.

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH
Ethnography, associated with the field of anthropology, is a branch of human enquiry, which
concentrates on the culture of a group of people with an effort to interpret their worldview.
Ethnographic studies are involved in the collection and analysis of data about cultural groups.
Ethnography is basically classified into two types: macro- and microethnography.
Macroethnography is a study of broadly defined culture, while microethnography is a study of more
narrow aspects of a culture.
In nursing, several qualitative nursing phenomena are studied by using ethnographic research.
Madeleine Leininge, coined the phrase ethno-nursing research, which is defined as 'the study and
analysis of the local or indigenous people's view points, beliefs, and practices about the nursing care
behaviour and process of designated cultures'.

Characteristics of the Ethnographic Research

• Ethnographers learn about cultural groups in which they are interested through the extensive
fieldwork.
• Ethnographic research is a labour-intensive and time-consuming endeavour, where even months or
years of fieldwork can be involved.
• A certain level of intimacy with cultural group members is required to study culture. Intimacy can
develop over time and by working together directly with those cultural group members who are
active participants.
• Researchers use themselves as instruments in these ethnography studies, where they spend time with
group members to collect data through informal interactions and observations rather than using a
formal tool for data collection.
• Information on three major aspects of cultural life is sought in the ethnography studies: cultural
behaviour (what members of culture do), cultural artefacts (what members of the culture make and
use), and cultural speech (what people in cultural group say).
• Ethnographers rely on various sources of data collection such as in-depth interviews, record
analyses, and observation of physical evidence (photographs, diaries, letters, etc.).

GROUNDED THEORY
Grounded theory is an inductive technique developed for health-related topics by Gloser and Strauss
(1967). It emerged from the discipline of sociology. The term grounded theory means that the theory
developed from the research is 'grounded' or has its roots in the data from where it was derived.
Grounded theory has become an important research method for the study of nursing themes of
phenomena relevant to nurses. It is an approach to study of social process. It is different from other
methods because of its specific access to theory development. As per grounded theory, there should be
an ongoing interplay between data collection and data analysis. The main focus is on developing social
experience, the social and psychological stages and phases that characterize a particular event episode.

Characteristics of the Grounded Theory

Overview and phases of grounded theory: Grounded theory begins with a research situation. Within
that situation, the task of researcher is to understand what is happening there (core variable), and how
the players manage their role. After each hour of data collection, the researcher notes down key issues;
this is known as note taking. Constant comparison lies at the heart of the process. First, the researcher
compares one interview (or other data) to another (or other comparative data). From this comparison, a
theory emerges. Researchers compare the initial data to the theory; and the results of this comparison
are written in the margin of the notes taken as 'codes'. The researcher's task is to identify categories and
their properties from these codes. In the researcher codes, there may be links between categories or a
core category may emerge (a category which appears central to study), and proceeding to this step
provides the researcher with a final theory. The researcher writes further notes about this theory, which
is called memoing. If this process saturates, it is the time for sorting. Researcher groups memos, line-
by-line, and sequences them in whatever order will make his/her theory clearer. Over time a grounded
theory works through the mostly overlapping phases

Methodology: The steps of the grounded theory research occur simultaneously. An important
methodological technique in grounded theory is constant comparison. Although this method is
frequently considered to be an inductive means of developing theory (from the data actually gathered),
in reality a combined inductive and deductive process is utilized (deductive means what is expected to
be found in social life). For example, a community health nurse is using grounded theory methodology
to study scapegoating in dysfunctional families. The nurse limits the study to those families that have
children (under 10). Observation for the purpose of collecting data occurs primarily in the homes of the
participants. Family interaction and communication patterns are assessed through observation and
interviews as well as through role-playing (manipulation) and observation of family members in their
work or school environment.

Sources of data collection: For data collection, the researcher will use all his/her senses. There is a lot
to be learned just by observing, some of it is evident within minutes of entering a situation. Sources of
data collection vary with the focus of enquiry.

Data analysis: Typically, grounded theory research projects in nursing studies tend to have a sample of
25-50 people, and are conducted by in-depth interviews, data collection notes, typed interview
transcripts, or video-taped/audiotaped conversations that contain multiple pieces of data to be stored
and analysed. The process is initiated by coding and categorizing the data. There are several types of
coding: open, axial, and selective coding.

Open coding: It is the part of the analysis related to categorizing, identifying, naming, and describing
phenomenon as found in the text. Essentially, each paragraph, line, sentence, etc., are read in search of
the answer to the repeated question, What is this about? What is being referred to here?'
 These labels can refer to anything like hospitals, information gathering, friendship, social loss,
etc. Part of the analysis process is to identify the more general categories that these things are a
part of, such as institutes, work activities, social relations, social outcomes, etc for example, the
 researcher views pain as having different properties, like intensity (it varies from a little to a
lot), consequences (when it hurts a lot, we do not want to get out of our beds, do not feel like
doing anything), agents of pain relief (drug), duration of pain relief (could be temporary), and
effectiveness (could be partial).
 One can see that this sort of analysis has a very emic cast to it; even though most grounded
theories believe they are theorizing about how the world is rather than how respondents see it,
coding can be done very formally and systematically or quite informally. In this it is done
informally. As the codes are developed, it is useful to write memos known as code notes that
discuss the codes. These memos become source for later development into reports.
Axial coding: It is the process of connecting codes (properties and categories) to each other through
deductive and inductive thinking. In order to simplify this process, besides looking at other kinds of
relations, grounded theorists point out causal relationship and fit things into a main frame of generic
relationship. Grounded theorists do not show much interest in the consequences of the phenomenon
itself.
Selective coding: Selective coding is the act of selecting one category as the core category and
connecting all categories to that category. The main idea is to find out a single storyline around which
everything else is draped. It is about finding the driver that impels the story forward.

Types of the Grounded Theory

There are mainly two types of grounded theories.
Substantive theory: It is grounded in data on a specific substantive area, such as postpartum
depression.
Formal theory: Substantive theory serves as a springboard for developing a higher, more abstract level
of theory from a complicated substantive grounded theory study regarding a particular phenomenon.

HISTORICAL RESEARCH DESIGN

The systematic collection and critical evaluation of data relating to past occurrences of a particular phenomenon is
also a tradition that relies primarily on qualitative data. Historical research is undertaken to answer questions
concerning causes, effects, or trends relating to past events that may shed light on present behaviour or practices.

Characteristics of Historical Research Design

1. It is important not to confuse historical research with a review of literature about historical events.
Historical research involves the careful study and analysis of data about past events.
2. Historical research is a critical investigation of events, their development, experiences of the past, the
careful weighing of evidence of the validity of courses of information from the past, and the interpretation
of the weighed evidence.
3. The purpose is to gain a clearer understanding of the impact of the past on present and future events
related to the life process. It involves detailed analysis of what has been written or done and is used to
describe, explain, or interpret these events.
4. Generally, historical research involves the review of written materials, but may include oral
documentation as well.
5. Historical research typically relies on available data. Data for historical research are usually in the form of
written narrative records of the past, diaries, letters, newspapers, minutes of meetings, reports, and so on.
6. The results of the historical research studies contribute to a clearer understanding of past, present, or future
events as they relate to nursing, healthcare, and the life process. For example, a nurse investigator may be
interested in studying the professional nurse's role as an advocate for pregnant women since the Second
World War. Knowledge of how the advocate's role has been fulfilled in the past may provide nurses with
helpful information regarding how that role might best be carried out today.
 7. Historical method of research also covers categories, such as historical, legal, documentary,
bibliographical, biographical, ideational, institutional, and organizational.

Areas of Historical Study

 Periods: Historical studies often focus on events and developments that occurred during particular blocks
of time in the past. Historical researcher gives these periods of time names in order to allow the
organization of ideas and the classificatory generalization to be used by these historical researchers. The
names given to a period can vary with geographical location as can the dates of the start and end of a
particular period. Centuries and decades are commonly used periods, and the time they represent depends
on the dating system used. Most periods are constructed retrospectively and so reflect value judgement
made about the past. The way periods are constructed and the names are given to them can affect the way
they are viewed and studied.
 Geographical locations: Particular geographical locations can form the basis of historical study, for
example, continents, countries, and cities.
 Military history: Military history concentrates on the study of conflicts that have happened in human
society. This includes examining the wars, battles, military strategies, and weaponry. In addition, the effect
of these events on the society and health may also be examined.

Methods and Tools Used in Historical Research

1. Photography: A methodological tool for the collection of all known information about individuals in a
given period.
2. Historical revisionism: Traditionally used in a completely natural sense to describe the work or idea of
historian who has revised a previously accepted view of a particular topic.
3. Change log: Log or record of changes made to a project, such as a website or software project.
4. Human evolution: Process of change and development or evolution by which human beings emer
5. Social change: Changes in the nature, the social institutions, the social behaviour, or the social relations of
a society or community of people. For example, 'The historical evolution and political/moral contents of
technological instruments in obstetric surveillance and diagnosis, and the use of those instruments by
nurses/ signify social changed as distinctively special.

CASE STUDY
 Case studies are in-depth examination of people, places or institutions. Robscn defines case study as the
development of detailed, intensive knowledge about a single 'case' or a small number of related cases. This
strategy is of particular interest if researcher wishes to gain a rich understanding of the context of the
research and its processes. While H. Odum defines that case study method is a technique by which
individual factor whether it be an institute or just an episode in the life of an individual or a group analysed
in its relationship to any other in the group.
 Case study is often used when the selected case might offer insight into a unique situation or when
researcher wants to know more about a particular phenomenon within a real-life context. Using case study
methodology, researchers are able to maintain the richness and complexity of the concept of interest,
while simultaneously highlighting specific details.
 Based on purpose of carrying out case studies, they are classified in three major type, i.e. descriptive,
exploratory, and explanatory case studies.
 Descriptive case studies allow researchers to describe characteristics, features, and qualities of a yet
unstudied person, institution, or situation.
 Exploratory case studies offer an opportunity to clarify key concepts, ask more relevant questions, and
better understand a concept of interest, often as a prelude to understand a large study of the issue.
Explanatory case studies can be used as pilot studies in the development of a conceptual framework,
which can serve to organize the data collection in large study. Explanatory case studies give new or
 refined meaning to previously explored concepts while the researcher holds extent to theories and prior
assumptions in abeyance.

 Each type of case study uses multiple data sources and data collection methods to obtain a
broad view of the phenomenon. For example, a researcher is interested in end- of-life issues of
the terminally ill cancer patient. The researcher may conduct a case interviewing the terminally
ill patient with cancer or nurses working in hospice. In case studies, data collection might be
both qualitative and quantitative. For example, in case study, researcher may obtain the pain on
a numerical pain measurement scale, respiration rate during pain (quantitative), and/or may ask
patient to describe person's experience of pain and discomfort (qualitative).

 In nursing sciences, case study methodology is used since a long time for in-depth study of a
single patient or a group of patients to generate knowledge for solving nursing problems of
patients suffering with specific disease conditions.

CONCLUSION:
qualitative study design typically evolves over the course of project. The researcher adopt very flexible
approach in qualitative research. So it is the investigation of phenomena typically in an indepth and
holistic fashion, through the collection of rich narrative material, using a flexible research design.

REFERENCE:
1. Pareek B. a text book of nursing research and statistics: qualitative research design. 3 rd ed.
Jalander, India: s.vikas & company India; 2011. p. 87.
2. Sharma SK. Nursing research and statistics: qualitative research design. 2 nd ed. New Delhi,
India: reed Elsevier India pvt ltd. 2014. p.182-192.
3. Polit DF, Beck C. Nursing research: qualitative research design and approaches. 9 th ed. New
Delhi, India: wolters kluwer pvt ltd; 2011. p.487.

SANKAR MADHAB COLLEGE OF NURSING

PRESENTATION
 ON
NURSING RESEARCH

TOPIC: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN

SUBMITTED TO:
MADAM BHAGYA DEVI DAS
ASST. PROFESSOR
DEPT. OF CHILD HEALTH NURSING
SMCON

SUBMITTED BY:
CHUBAKATILA
ROLL NO:4
M.Sc (N) 1ST YEAR