PR

• Case study - studies a person, program or event in a defined time frame (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001). It is used in a study that is comprehensive, that needs in- depth examination of a specific individual, group of people, or institution.
• Grounded Theory - is to build a theory that is faithful to the evidence (Neuman, 2007). It is used to extract a general abstract theory of a process through opinions, set of actions, perceptions, observations, artifacts, documents, reactions, or processes.
• Ethnography - studies groups of people that share a common culture. It is used to analyze the shared pattern of behaviors, social religious, beliefs, languages, practices among participants.
• Narrative Research - studies the life experiences of individuals over time. Narrative research is a type of research that consists of obtaining and then reflecting on people’s lived experiences ex.autobiography
• Phenomenology - the purpose of this study is to understand an experience from the research participant’s point of view. Phenomenological research is a qualitative strategy in which the researcher identifies the essence of human experiences about a phenomenon as described by participants in a study.
• sampling - refers to the act, process, or technique of selecting a representative part of a population for the purpose of determining parameters or characteristics of the whole population.
• sample - is the group of individuals who will actually participate in the research.
• sampling procedures - the process of getting the participants drawn from the population
• TWO MAJOR SAMPLING PROCEDURES

  • Probability
  • Non-Probability
• Probability - It involves random selection, allowing you to make statistical inferences about the whole group.
• Non-Probability - It involves non-random selection based on convenience or other criteria, allowing you to easily collect initial data
• PROBABILTY SAMPLING METHODS

  • Simple Random Sampling
  • Stratified Random Sampling
  • Cluster Sampling
  • Systematic Sampling
• Simple Random Sampling - is a method of choosing samples in which all the members of the population are given an equal chance to be selected as respondents. It is an unbiased way of selection as samples drawn by chance.
• Stratified Random Sampling - the population is first divided into different strata then the sampling follows. Age, gender, and educational qualifications are just some of the criteria used in dividing the population into strata.
• Cluster Sampling - this is used in large scale studies in which the population is geographically spread out. In these cases, sampling procedures may be difficult and time consuming.
• Systematic Sampling - It is a method of selecting every nth of element of the population (e.g. every fifth, eight, ninth, or eleven element). After the size of the sample has been determined, the selection of the sample follows.
• NON-PROBABILITY SAMPLING

  • Quota Sampling
  • Purposive Sampling
  • Convenience Sampling
• Quota Sampling - It is somewhat similar to stratified sampling in which the population is divided into homogenous strata and then sample elements are selected from each stratum. 
• Purposive Sampling - It involves the handpicking of subjects. This is also called judgmental sampling.
• Convenience Sampling - A convenience sample simply includes the individuals who happen to be most accessible to the researcher. This is an easy and inexpensive way to gather initial data, but there is no way to tell if the sample is representative of the population, so it can’t produce generalizable results.
• Interview - is the most common format of data collection in qualitative research in which the conversations are designed to obtain specific kind of information. The skill of the interviewer is necessary to enable the interviewee to express his or her thoughts clearly.
• TYPES OF INTERVIEW

  • Unstructured Interviews
  • Semi-structured Interviews
• Unstructured interviews - These are generally suggested in conducting long-term field work and allow respondents to let them express in their own ways and pace, with minimal hold on respondents’ responses. This can be in the form of normal conversations or a freewheeling exchange of ideas.
• TYPES OF UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS

  • Non-directive Interviews
  • Focused Interview
  • Informational Conversational Interview
• Non-directive interviews- aim to gather in-depth information and usually do not have pre-planned set of questions
• Focused interview- interviewer is well aware of the respondent and in times of differing away from the main issue the interviewer generally transfers the respondent towards key subject.
• Informational conversational interview - based on unplanned set of questions that are generated rapidly during the interview.
• Semi-structured interviews. There is a specific set of questions, but there are also additional probes that may come in the form of follow-up questions that are not included in the list of original questions. Through the process, the researcher can gather additional data from a respondent that may add depth and significance to the findings.
• Structured Interviews - A type of interview where the interviewer asks a series of pre-set questions. The interviewer does not as questions that are not part of the questionnaire but he or she asks the interviewee to clarify his or her answers.
• The instrument often used in this method is the interview schedule.
• Researchers can use interview schedules to ensure that the interviews stays on track, and even to give their interview the desired amount of structure.
• Group Interviews - are interviews conducted with several respondents simultaneously- ideally six to ten persons. This method maybe used when a certain effect is desired, or if a topic calls for it. Researchers conducting group interviews often use instruments called topic guides, which resembles interview schedules, but are less restrictive in structure to allow the respondents a more free and dynamic exchange of ideas
• TWO TYPES OF GROUP INTERVIEWS

  • Focus Group
  • Natural Group
• Focus group - involves a moderator-led discussion among a group of individuals who share a need, habit or life circumstance relevant to the research issue at hand. Typically one to two hours in length, this often includes from two to ten respondents. Aside from usual face to face focused group discussion, they can also be conducted remotely by teleconferencing by videoconferencing or through the internet using text chat, online bulletin boards, online collaboration tools, desktop video conferencing or various forms of tele/web conferencing.
• Natural group- the participants belong to a group that exists independently of the study, e.g., all members of the marketing department of a certain department of a certain company; members of a local sports team.
• Another data collection method is observation. This is appropriate for collecting data on naturally occurring behaviors in their usual context (environment). Observation is a systematic data collection approach wherein the researchers use all of their senses to examine people in natural settings or naturally occurring situations.
• Non-Participant or Naturalistic Observation is a kind of observation method which studies the spontaneous behavior of participants in natural surroundings. The researcher simply records what they see in whatever way they see it.
• Participant observation on the other hand, is a variation on natural observations where the researcher joins in and becomes part of the group they are studying to get a deeper insight into their lives.
• TWO TYPES OF OBSERVATION

  • Structured Observation
  • Unstructured Observation
• Structured observation. The researcher devices a checklist as a data collection tool wherein expected behaviors of interest have been specified. The researcher just records the frequency of the occurrences of the behavior.