Qualitative Research Planning
A strong foundation for a research study is based on careful planning, including defining what, where, when, why, and how. Research planning comes before collecting and analyzing data. You need to identify what you are trying to understand, the reasons why you want to undertake the project, and the resources needed for it.
Research Questions, Aims, and Goals
What is it? Research questions, aims, and goals provide a starting point for your research, as well as boundaries by which to focus your study. A project that begins with sound research questions, aims, and goals is more likely to be successful and yield results that address a specific problem, need, or objective.
Your research questions guide your research, as well as clarify the specific directions your study will take, such as research design, data collection, and analysis approach. They should always be filling a knowledge “gap” – regardless of your field of work. They should be clear, focused, appropriately complex, and worded in a way that aligns properly with the nature of your inquiry.
It is invaluable to discuss your ideas with those who understand the data collection and analysis needs of your study, as well as the end goal. Our consultants can help you craft your FINER (feasible, interesting, novel, ethical, and relevant) research questions, with the end goal in mind.
Depending on your research interest, you may be required to create research aims and/or goals. In some instances, aims or goals fill the place of your research questions. A research aim or goal is also referred to as a research objective. It is a statement about the specific actions that will be taken in a research study, or a statement giving details on actions taken to answer a research question. Our consultants can help you define your research questions, aims, and goals so that the steps required to move forward are clear.
How can we help you?
- Soundboard and hone compelling questions, ideas, and concepts
- Assist in crafting the language of your questions with analysis in mind
- Develop aims and overall goals for your research project
- Identify potential directions from potential research findings
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A generic design does not directly align with a specific qualitative research design. If your research contains methods from more than two designs. It could be defined as generic. For example, you want to focus on shared experiences (Grounded Theory) of experts in higher education (Delphi) as a participant-observer in an institution for an academic year (ethnography); this will be considered a generical qualitative design.
Each generic qualitative research design is unique due to the diverse elements from a variety of qualitative research designs. The number of participants may be one or more than 25.
The grounded theory is an iterative process. Thus, the length of the study will depend on the number of participants, time spent on the analysis at each iteration, and recruitment process. It is not likely to complete a grounded theory in less than 3 months.
The number of participants for grounded theory varies. It is suggested to have no less than 20 participants. However, data saturation is more important than the number of participants.
Narrative research consists of several in-depth interviews and other types of data to chronologically arrange participants’ story or life events. The availability of data and participants will inform the length of the study. Some narrative projects take 3 or more months.
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