What people say they believe and

say that they do are often

contradicted by their behavior.
 roots in traditional ethnographic
research, whose objective is to help
researchers learn the perspectives
held by study populations
 the researcher engaged in participant
observation tries to learn what life is
like for an “insider” while remaining,
inevitably, an “outsider.”
 Participant observation is also useful
for gaining an understanding of the
physical, social, cultural, and
economic contexts in which study
participants live; the relationships
among and between people, contexts,
ideas, norms, and events; and
people’s behaviors and activities –
what they do, how frequently, and
with whom.
 The main disadvantage of participant
observation is that it is time-consuming
 A second disadvantage of participant
observation is the difficulty of documenting
the data – it is hard to write down everything
that is important while you are in the act of
participating and observing
 A third disadvantage of participant
observation is that it is an inherently
subjective exercise, whereas research
requires objectivity
 participant observation data consist of
the detailed field notes that the
researcher records in a field notebook
 typically textual, such data may also
include maps and other diagrams,
such as kinship or organizational
charts
 Maintaining confidentiality means
ensuring that particular individuals
can never be linked to the data they
provide
 This means that you must not record
identifying information such as names
and addresses of people you meet
during participant observation
 Recording what you experienced, what you
learned through interaction with other people,
and what you observed.
 include an account of events, how people
behaved and reacted, what was said in
conversation, where people were positioned in
relationship to one another, their comings and
goings, physical gestures, your subjective
responses to what you observed, and all other
details and observations necessary to make the
story of the participant observation experience
complete.
 One of the most popular and
frequently used methods of
gathering information from
people about anything
 Interpersonal process
 It is a qualitative method of research
often used to obtain the interviewees’
perceptions and attitudes to the
issues
 The key issue with interviewing is
making decisions about who are the
key people to talk to and what type of
interview are you going to use
1. Structured-follows a set of specific
questions; used when the researcher wishes
to acquire information where the responses
are directly comparable; appropriate to use
when interviews require that the participant
give a response to each ordered question,
which are often shorter in nature.
 The questions in a structured interview are
like those in a job interview, where the
employer asks the same set of questions for
consistency.
 In diabetes, an example of a research
question in a structured interview is "from the
following six items, tell me, which one of
these positively affects your diabetes control
the most and why."
 A structured interview is helpful when the
researcher knows much about the topic and
creates the questions in a survey-like format
with open-ended questions.
 According to Denzin and Lincoln (p.
124), there are five guidelines to keep in
mind:

Stay consistent with the study introduction,

sequence of questions and question wording.
 Do not let another person answer for the
participant or offer his/her opinion about the
question.
 Do not suggest an answer or agree or
disagree with an answer. You do not want to
give the respondent any idea of your personal
views on the topic.
 Do not interpret the meaning of a
question. If the participant does not
understand the question, you should
just repeat the question and ask
him/her to give the best response or
choose to skip the question.
 Do not improvise, such as adding
answer categories or making word
changes.
2. Semi-structured-more commonly
used technique that follows a
framework to address key themes
rather than specific questions
 Ina semi-structured interview, the
researcher sets the outline for the
topics covered, but the
interviewee's responses determine
the way, in which the interview is
directed.
 1. Tell us something about yourself (your
work, family, what you enjoy doing in your
spare time).

2. What were your symptoms at diagnosis?

What were you feeling?

3. Where did you learn to take care of your

diabetes? What kinds of things did you learn?

4. What are some of your motivations for

wanting to control your diabetes?
5. What do you do to manage your diabetes?
6. Walk me through a typical day. What time do you
wake up, exercise, eat, take your medications,
check your blood sugar and go to bed?
7. Please tell me what you ate yesterday at each
meal, drink and snacks?
8. What do you do in particular that helps you the
most with your diabetes?
9. Did you always take care of your diabetes? Tell
me about that.
10. What are you thinking when you are checking
your blood sugar or doing something good for
yourself?
 11. What's your biggest struggle that you have
with daily diabetes self-management?
12. What keeps you on track?
13. What happens when you get off track?
14. How do you manage low blood sugars? What
are you thinking? What do you do?
15. How do you manage high blood sugars? What
are you thinking? What do you do?
16. If you could describe your diabetes when you
were first diagnosed in the form of a picture or an
image or a word, how would you describe or
imagine it? How would you describe or imagine it
now?
 In general, the interviewer has a paper-based
interview guide to follow, which is based on
the research question.
 It is called semi-structured because
discussions may diverge from the interview
guide, which can be more interesting than the
initial question that is asked.
 The participant does not need to answer the
questions in order.
 Semi-structured interviews allow questions to
be prepared ahead of time, which allows the
interviewer to be prepared, yet gives the
participant freedom to express views with
his/her own words.
3. Unstructured- does not follow
any predetermined pattern of
questions or themes
 non-directive interview
 more informal and free flowing
than a structured interview, much
like an everyday conversation.
 EXAMPLE: Early in your field work you should
have several conversations about different
childhood illnesses in the community. The
conversation might flow as follows:
 Researcher: "What kinds of illnesses do children
in this village get?"
 Caregiver: "Well, diarrhea is the most common;
also cough and cold, measles, fever, typhoid."
 Researcher: "Are there any others? Any that are
more common during cold or hot weather..."
 Caregiver: "Pneumonia and whooping cough.
They are both very common during cold
weather."
 Researcher: "Can you tell me something about
measles?"
 Caregiver: "During measles, it is good to give cold
water because measles is very hot. The child
should be kept in the house away from other
children."
 Researcher: "Why should the child be kept in the
house away from other children?"
 Caregiver: "Because measles spreads from child to
child very easily. Once one child gets measles, all
the children in the family get it."
 Researcher: "How does measles spread from child
to child?"
 Caregiver: "I think it must happen through smell
and sweat. Maybe it happens when a child touches
something a sick child has touched. I'm not sure."
 Researcher: "You said that diarrhea is
a common disease in children. Is that
spread from child to child?"
 Caregiver: "Not usually. Only some
kinds of diarrhea are."
 Researcher: "Which kinds can be
spread from child to child?"
 Caregiver: "I think peach (bloody
diarrhea) must be spread this way
because once one child in a family
gets it, the others do too.”
 Some general rules for conducting
unstructured interviews are:

 Avoid leading questions

 Probe beyond the expected answer;

 Explore inconsistencies;

 Record participants' own words.

 The best way to ask questions is to allow people to
answer in their own terms, voicing their own views,
values, and experiences. Leading questions are
phrased to suggest a particular answer or to imply
that one answer is expected or more correct.
 For example:
 What fears do you have when your baby's diarrhea
does not stop?
 What actions do you take to stop his/her diarrhea?
 How good was the treatment your baby got at the
health center?
 These questions are phrased to elicit
answers related to fear, actions, and
treatments, respectively. Nonleading
questions on the same topics would
be asked in this way:
 How do you feel when your baby's
diarrhea does not stop?
 What do you do when his/her diarrhea
does not stop?
 How do you feel about the treatment
your baby got at the health center?
 To probe means not to stop too soon when
discussing an important topic.
 Ask the same question in a number of
different ways to better understand beliefs
and assumptions. An advantage of
unstructured interviews is the opportunity
they provide for rich insight and
understanding beyond mere "answers. "
 The following example from Indonesia illustrates
how you might probe the perceived causes of
diarrhea:
 Researcher: "You say that children here often get 'regular
diarrhea,' which lasts only a few days, is not accompanied
by vomiting, and does not make the child very ill. What
causes this 'regular diarrhea'?"
 Caregiver: "I don't know, it just comes."

(A skilled interviewer does not stop here, but tries to ask

the question in a different way.)
 Researcher: "Is regular diarrhea more common during
certain times of the year?"
 Caregiver: "Yes, during the dry season."

 Researcher: "Why do you think 'regular diarrhea' is more

common during the dry season?"
 Caregiver: "Because the river water is so dirty."
 Researcher: "The river water is dirty?"
 Caregiver: "Yes the water is very low so you can
see all the feces and garbage and dead animals
that are in the river."
 Researcher: "How is that related to 'regular
diarrhea'?"
 Caregiver: "Sometimes children drink the river
water without boiling it, or the water gets in
their mouths when they are swimming."
 Researcher: "And how does that lead to
diarrhea?"
 Caregiver: "The dirty water causes the diarrhea."
 Sometimes caregivers' statements will appear
to contradict their previous statements or
explanations. This may simply reflect the fact
that all people hold some beliefs that are not
completely consistent with their other beliefs
It is possible, also, that they misunderstood
the question, resulting in an apparent
contradiction. Nevertheless, it is important to
explore apparent inconsistencies to clarify a
misunderstanding or gain new information.
 EXAMPLE: In reviewing her notes from an
unstructured interview conducted in northern
India, a researcher found some
inconsistencies about the characteristics of
illnesses and treatments. In that culture,
illnesses and treatments are believed to have
"hot" and "cold" humoral qualities. Hot
illnesses are treated with cold remedies.
Although the caregiver had described
"diarrhea with vomiting" as a cold illness, she
treated it with a cold traditional medicine.
When later questioned, she explained that the
cold medicine had been prepared with boiled
water, thereby making it a hot remedy.
 By exploring the inconsistency, the
researcher learned that cold remedies
can become hot remedies if prepared
with boiled water.
 This knowledge was useful in
promoting Oral Rehydration Salts
(ORS) for all types of diarrhea. ORS
could be given with clean cool water
for hot types of diarrhea and with
boiled water for cold types of
diarrhea.
 When taking and rewriting notes, reproduce
the respondent's own words and phrases as
faithfully as possible. Of course, you cannot
record everything a person says during the
interview. Focus on new words or pieces of
information and on subjects that seem
unclear or confusing. Very often, the
particular words or phases used provide
valuable keys to understanding the culture.
 EXAMPLE: In continuing the conversation
about the causes of regular diarrhea (see
above), the researcher learned about a new
word and a new concept.
 Researcher: "Can you tell me more about how
dirty water causes diarrhea?"
 Caregiver: "Sometimes people don't boil the
water enough. For example, the farmer leaves
the water on the fire when he goes to the
field, but the fire goes out before the water
boils. If the water is not boiled,
the kuman (tiny living creatures that can
cause disease) don't die."
 Researcher: "The kuman?"
 Caregiver: "There are kuman inside
the stomach when there is diarrhea.
The kuman comes out with the stool.
The child is well when
the kuman come out and the diarrhea
stops.
 Researcher: "Are you saying
that kuman cause diarrhea?"
 Caregiver: "Yes, kuman sometimes
cause diarrhea, but other things can
also cause diarrhea."
 Researcher: "Do kuman cause any other kind
of illnesses?"
 Caregiver: "Yes, they can cause skin problems
and tuberculosis."
 In this example the researcher unexpectedly
identified a new word and concept (kuman)
that she thought might be important. When
reviewing her notes later, the researcher
found the exact quotes of the caregiver's
words very helpful. For example, the
Caregiver noted that if water is not boiled,
"Kuman don't die." This suggested that the
Caregiver considered kuman to be living
things - a point that could be further
explored at a later time.
 The caregiver's statement
that kuman are inside the stomach
and come out with the stool gave the
researcher an idea. She thought it
might be useful to discourage the use
of antidiarrheals by explaining that
antidiarrheals keep the kuman in the
stomach. By preventing
the kuman from coming out in the
stool, antidiarrheals can prevent the
child from becoming better.
 One reason for their popularity is that they
are very effective in giving a human face to
research problems
 In-depth interviewing is a qualitative research
technique that involves conducting intensive
individual interviews with a small number of
respondents to explore their perspectives on
a particular idea, program, or situation.
 The in-depth interview is a technique
designed to elicit a vivid picture of the
participant’s perspective on the research
topic
 In-depth interviews are usually conducted
face-to-face and involve one interviewer and
one participant.
 In-depth interviews are useful when you want
detailed information about a person’s
thoughts and behaviors or want to explore
new issues in depth. Interviews are often
used to provide context to other data (such
as outcome data), offering a more complete
picture of what happened in the program and
why
 For example, you may have measured
an increase in youth visits to a clinic,
and through in-depth interviews you
find out that a youth noted that she
went to the clinic because she saw a
new sign outside of the clinic
advertising youth hours. You might
also interview a clinic staff member to
find out their perspective on the
clinic’s “youth friendliness.”
 In-depth interviews should be used in
place of focus groups if the potential
participants may not be included or
comfortable talking openly in a group,
or when you want to distinguish
individual (as opposed to group)
opinions about the program. They are
often used to refine questions for
future surveys of a particular group.
 Questions should be open-ended rather than closed-
ended.
 For example, instead of asking “Do you know about
the clinic’s services?” ask “Please describe the clinic’s
services.”
 You should ask factual question before opinion
questions.
 For example, ask, “What activities were conducted?”
before asking, “What did you think of the activities?”
 Use probes as needed. These include: • Would you
give me an example? • Can you elaborate on that
idea? • Would you explain that further? • I’m not sure
I understand what you’re saying. • Is there anything
else?
 In-depth interviews are useful for learning
about the perspectives of individuals
 They are an effective qualitative method for
getting people to talk about their personal
feelings, opinions, and experiences
 Interviews are also especially appropriate
for addressing sensitive topics that people
might be reluctant to discuss in a group
setting
 Interview data consist of tape
recordings, typed transcripts of tape
recordings, and the interviewer’s
notes.
 Notes may document observations
about the interview content, the
participant, and the context.
 Modeling respect for confidentiality
 Do not say:
 “You know, I always promise to keep what people
tell me confidential, so I can’t tell you what Mary
told me when I saw her yesterday. However, I
hope you appreciate that I also will not be able to
tell her what you tell me.”
 Do say:
 “You know, I always promise to keep what people
tell me confidential, so I can’t tell you who else I
have seen or what anyone has said. This also
means that I will not be able to tell anyone that
you and I had this interview, nor will I talk to
anyone about what you tell me today.”
 Focus groups are a qualitative data
collection method effective in helping
researchers learn the social norms of a
community or subgroup
 This method serves to solicit
participants’ attitudes and
perceptions, knowledge and
experiences, and practices, shared in
the course of interaction with different
people
 Focus groups are interactive
discussion groups. They are preferred
over personal interviews because of
their interactive effect: statements of
one participant can generate
comments by others.
 Typically, several groups are run and
then the results are interpreted
judgmentally by observers and the
moderator. Participants are not forced
to give a fixed response.
 ‘Natural groups’: consist of multiple
participants who belong to a pre-existing
informal or formal group (e.g. family or kin,
co-workers, elderly group, women’s self-help
group, neighborhood club, teachers’ credit
association) prior to the study.

 ‘Expert groups’: consist of several people

who have particularly good and broad expert
knowledge and experience of the research
topic(s)
 The typical size of a focus group
discussion is 6 to 12 participants;
however, smaller groups are also fine
and informative, giving all participants
enough time and opportunity to share.
A group of only 3 to 4 participants is
called a ‘mini group’. A general rule of
the thumb is that the more experience
and knowledge the participants have
on the given subject, the smaller the
group could be.
 Examples:
 A focus group of parents of preschoolers meets
to discuss child care needs. Parents share their
views on local child care programs, and on
what could be done to improve them.
 A focus group of senior citizens meets at the
new senior center. What do they think of the
programs being offered? What are their own
suggestions and ideas?
 An agency wants to open a group home for
developmentally disabled adults in a quiet
residential area. It convenes a group of
prospective neighbors. What are their
concerns? Can this work?
 Start the discussion with an ‘ice-breaker’, e.g. a
round of introduction of participants.
 Introduce the main topic and the overall research
question (e.g. orally, on a poster or as a projected
presentation).
 Ask specific questions listed in the discussion
guide (not necessarily in the pre-specified order); a
skilled moderator will be able to ensure that all
important questions (which may be photocopied
and distributed to the participants) are covered,
without interrupting the natural flow of the
discussion.
 Thank participants and say good-bye.
 The main difference is the group has a
specific, focused discussion topic.
 The group has a trained leader, or facilitator.
 The group's composition and the group
discussion are carefully planned to create a
nonthreatening environment in which people
are free to talk openly. Members are actively
encouraged to express their opinions.
 When you are considering the introduction of
a new program or service.
 When you want to ask questions that can't
easily be asked or answered on a written
survey.
 When you want to supplement the knowledge
you can gain from written surveys.
 When you know, or can find someone, who is
an experienced and skilled group leader.
 When you have the time, knowledge, and
resources to recruit a willing group of focus
group participants.
 Focus group data consist of tape recordings,
transcripts of those recordings, the
moderator’s and note-taker’s notes from the
discussion, and notes from the debriefing
session held after the focus group.
 Notes are initially handwritten in field
notebooks, on the focus group guide, or on
special forms.
 After data collection, all handwritten notes
are expanded into more complete narratives,
then entered into a computer.