ART THERAPY

1. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research

2. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research: A
Philosophy of Knowing
 Focuses on understanding from the perspective
of whoever and whatever is being studied.
 Rather than try to establish “objective”
descriptions and relationships as quantitative
research does, qualitative studies are based on
the assumption that reality is subjective and
dependent on context
 There are “multiple realities’ that need to be
described in detail to result in a complete and
deep understanding of the phenomena being
investigated

3. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Characteristics of Qualitative
Research
 Search for meaning
 Constructed reality
 Natural settings
 Rich narrative description
 Direct data collection
 Concern with process
 Inductive data analysis
 Participant perspectives
 Emergent research design

4. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Quantitative? Qualitative?
 Quantitative research involves the use of
numerical indices to summarize, describe and
explore relationships among traits—reliance
on control, statistics, measurements, and
experiments
 Qualitative research—the emphasis is on
conducting studies in natural settings using
mostly verbal descriptions, resulting in stories
and case studies, not statistical reports

5. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research Designs
Ethnography
– Involves direct engagement with the participants
and environments--immersion into the culture being
investigated
– In-depth description and interpretation of behavior
within a culture or social group
– Start with a straightforward description of the
setting and events--no footnotes, just facts
– Analysis--search for “patterned regularities” in the
data
– Conclusions are based on a synthesis of the data

6. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research Designs
Case study
– In-depth analysis of one or more “bounded
systems”
– A case is study is“...an exploration of a
bounded system or a case (or multiple cases)
over time through detailed, in-depth data
collection involving multiple sources of
information rich in context.” Creswell (1998)
– “A qualitative case study is an intensive,
holistic description and analysis of a single
instance, phenomenon or social unit.” Stake (1994)

7. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Case study
Some examples of cases are...
an innovative program
all schools in Sweden
a classroom
graduate students at KSU

8. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Case study
What is the intent of the case study?
– Descriptive case study:
• to give a detailed account
– Interpretive case study:
• to develop conceptual categories–to illustrate,
support or challenge theoretical assumptions
– Evaluative case study:
• description, explanation, and judgment; good to use
when you can’t evaluate using normal standards

9. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research Designs
 Phenomenology
– Examines in depth the experiences and
perceptions of selected participants
– Purpose: to understand the essence, the
meaning of participants’ perspectives
– Discovery oriented: focuses on a systematic
investigation of the content of consciousness
(Van Manen, 1990)
– Researchers seek the essential, invariant
structures, or the research participants’
consistent patterns of relating to the world, as
well as the essence of the central underlying
meaning of experience. (McPhail, 1995)

10. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research Designs
 Grounded Theory
– Purpose: to discover or generate a theory
that pertains to a specific entity or
phenomenon
– Grounded in data from the field, especially
in actions, interactions, and social process of
people
– The researcher recognizes that the primary
outcome of the study is a theory with specific
components: a central phenomenon, causal
conditions, strategies, conditions and
context, and consequences.
– Usually the theory is related through a
model

11. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research Designs
 Critical Studies
– Designed to provide alternative perspectives
on contemporary societal problems
– Focus on exposing social manipulation and
oppressive social structures to advocate
changes in social systems
– Researcher approaches research with the
belief that his/her assumptions are important
determinants of what is perceived and
concluded
– Used with critical, postmodern, racial,
feminist theory

12. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Qualitative Research Designs
 Biography
– A study of an individual and his/her
experiences as told to the researcher or found
in documents and archival material
(sometimes through interviews)
– The life story of an individual is written by
someone other than the individual being
studies using archival documents and records
– There are varying types of biography
including Classical biography and
Interpretive Biography

13. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Information is gathered from…
 Individuals
 Groups
 Documents
 Existing data bases and
 Other sources

14. EDUC 7741/Paris/Terry
Steps in research
(may vary depending on the nature of the study)
1. Frame the initial question or problem
2. Determine what previous research says
about the question or problem
3. Frame research questions
4. Design a plan for collecting data to
address the question or problem
5. Analyze the results of gathered data
6. Generate conclusions