Applied Qualitative Research Boot Camp

1. Applied Qualitative Research Boot Camp Ron Chenail TQR Second Annual Conference January 8, 2011

2. Abstract As a participant in this workshop, you will work as qualitative research consultants assisting the directors of the TQR Second Annual Conference to evaluate the quality of the two-day event based upon the participants’ experiences and to enhance and improve the event. To this end, you will learn how to design and implement an applied qualitative research project collaboratively with a client by generating, collecting, processing, and analyzing qualitative data and reporting the results of your research.

3. Qualitative Research • Naturalistic • Discovery-oriented • Other-oriented • Generic Approaches • Designer Approaches • Ethnography • Phenomenology • Grounded Theory • Narrative Inquiry

4. Applied Qualitative Research • Basic Qualitative Research • Problem-oriented • Action-oriented • Change-oriented • Evaluation-oriented

5. Design Choices • Primary Qualitative Research • Secondary Qualitative Data Analysis • Qualitative Meta-Study • Collaborative Inquiry and Design • Mixed Method • Qualitative Evaluation

6. Applied Qualitative Research Project • Evaluate the quality of the TQR Second Annual Conference based upon the participants’ experiences • Enhance and improve the event

7. Project Steps • Learn conference directors’ goals and objectives regarding the evaluation of the TQR conference. • Draft a statement identifying the preliminary conference evaluation area of interest and justifying its real-world importance. • Hone your conference evaluation focus (Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How).

8. Project Steps • Compose your initial conference evaluation inquiry question. • Define your goals and objectives. • Conduct a review of the relevant conference evaluation literature (optional). • Develop your study design (Participants/Materials, Methodology and Methods, Quality Control).

9. Project Steps • Conduct a self-assessment in order to determine what strengths you have that will be useful in your conference evaluation study and what skills you will need to develop in order to complete your inquiry. •  Plan, conduct and manage the conference evaluation study. • Communicate regularly with the conference directors •  Compose and submit your report.

10. Conference Goal and Objectives • Create a high-quality event where the world comes to learn qualitative research • Provide program to meet critical needs of beginning, intermediate, and advanced qualitative researchers • Provide interesting and important conference theme • Provide engaging qualitative research presenters • Provide a variety of effective presentation formats • Provide effective conference participant support and service

11. Participants’ Experience • Type of Experience: What aspect of the participants’ conference experiences is the focus? • Value of Experience: What is the value assumption guiding the inquiry – neutral, positive, and/or negative perspective? • Time of Experience: When in the participants’ conference experiences do you want to learn their perspectives? • Unit of Experience: How broadly or how narrowly do you operationalize participants’ conference experiences?

12. Data Collection Alternatives • Observer: Video and Audio Recordings • Participating Observer: Shop Along • Observing Participant: Mystery Shopper • Participant: Diaries and Social Networking • ZMET – Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique • IPR - Interpersonal Process Recall • Surveys • Artifacts • Interviewing

13. Qualitative Interviewing • Discovery-oriented • Constructionist-oriented • Phenomenological-oriented • Epoché and Bracketing • Lived Experience = Meaning + Facts • Semi-structured Organization • Opened-ended Questions • Follow-up Questions

14. Interviewing Exercise • Select conference objectives and experience perspectives • Generate questions • Create interview template • Conduct first interview • Conduct second interview • Flesh out notes

16. Qualitative Data Analysis • Saying some thing about some thing • Transformation from data, to information, to knowledge, to wisdom • Separating qualitative differences to connecting qualitative similarities • Focus on description, interpretation, explanation, or analysis • Circularity: Horizontal and Vertical • Documentation

17. 4-T Qualitative Data Analysis • Target: The portion of the text that has caught your interest • Tag: The name you give to the target that reflects the meaning you ascribe to it • Tale: The story of the tag’s meaning in relationship to the target in which you make the evidential qualities of the target in support of your tag overt • Thesis: The proposition that connects the patterns reflected across the tales of the tags’ relationships to their targets

18. SEWI Evaluation • Strengths • Enhancements • Weaknesses • Improvements

19. Within-Case Analysis • 4-T Qualitative Data Analysis • SEWI Evaluation

20. Across-Case Analysis • 4-T Qualitative Data Analysis • SEWI Evaluation

21. Reporting Findings • Data as Star • Juxtaposition • Exemplars • Hedging • Avoid Errors of Deficiency and Exuberance • Develop a Rhythm • Maintain Coherence and Build Confidence • Stay Focused • The Role and Place of the Literature

22. Develop a Rhythm • List Section Heading • Present the Distinction or Finding • Introduce the First Data Exemplar of this Distinction • Display the First Data Exemplar of this Distinction • Comment on the First Data Exemplar as Evidence • Make Transition to Second Data Exemplar and Repeat the Pattern Until the Closing of this Section

23. Reporting Exercise • Evaluation of Goal and Objectives Achievement • Surprises and Discoveries • Limitations • Implications • Recommendations

24. Next Steps for TQR Conference • Reflect on these findings • Reflect on other findings • Make changes accordingly

25. Next Steps for You • Check TQR Web Site • Self-assessment • Conduct studies!

26. Contact Ron Chenail, Ph.D. The Qualitative Report Nova Southeastern University 3301 College Avenue Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33317 USA ron@nova.edu