Watch on YouTube

12:57

Five primary qualitative approaches

Qualitative traditions are tools for different questions. Ethnography uses long immersion when culture and context are central, as when fieldwork in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda found ART adherence protected the relationships people relied on to survive. Grounded theory builds theory from data through open, axial and selective coding. Phenomenology asks what an experience is like, such as leaving the ICU for a general ward. Case studies examine one case in its context and triangulate sources, and participatory research makes community members partners from the question to the solution.

Also covered: ethnography · grounded theory and coding · phenomenology and bracketing · case studies and participatory research