Qualitative Research Resources
Below is a list of resources to help you get started with developing and analysing qualitative research.
Methods
Thinking outside the box; exploring further creative research methods ideas
Izzy's list of research methods, to help with planning and developing (co-)creative SoTL projects.
Developed by drawing on ideas from the Universal Methods of Design Book (Martin and Hanington, 2012), with a couple more pulled in from further reading around the subject.
The following methods have been selected to help spark some further thought into some more creative methods of collecting primary data during your LITE project. It is important to
mention this list is not exhaustive and while the focus is on higher education research and how these methods can be used for SoTL, this was not possible for all scenarios. Most of the
links below will provide details of academic papers where the specific method has been used but one or two will simply provide a little more information or another example that has
some practical adaptations to a more relevant field.
Note on co-creation with students
It is important to consider the benefits of co-creation with students as part of any choice of creative research method. Below are some links to theoretical underpinnings and principles, and an example of a recent co-creative LITE project.
Design thinking for student projects - University of Leeds (exlibrisgroup.com)
https://www.qmul.ac.uk/queenmaryacademy/students/co-creation/what-is-co-creation-/
https://teachingexcellence.leeds.ac.uk/decolonising-the-curriculum-via-student-co-creation/
Creative methods list
Card sorting
Users show comprehension by sorting cards into meaningful categories.
Card sorting allows researchers to gain insight into participants knowledge, beliefs and preferences. Participants reveal their thought processes and subjective viewpoints, and the method promotes a more student-orientated approach.
Using a Card-Sorting Task to Elicit and Clarify Science-Teaching Orientations on JSTOR
Collage
Allows participants to visually express thoughts, feelings and desires using creative materials.
Collage can be beneficial when you want participants to express their thoughts and feelings, but this may be more difficult using traditional methods, depending on the topic. Collage allows participants to express themselves in a more holistic way and provides a unique opportunity to portray what words alone cannot.
Creative interviews
Direct contact with participant to collect first-hand accounts, but rather than using a predefined structure, these types of interviews are more flexible and can have the added element of engaging participants in creative activities like drawing, collage, creating diagrams, taking pictures or looking at them.
(PDF) Interviewing as Educational Research Method(s) (researchgate.net)
Creative interviewing | methods@manchester | The University of Manchester
Cultural Probes
Provocative instruments to inspire new forms of self-understanding and communication about a participant’s life, environment, thoughts, and interactions.
Cultural probes consist of prompts, questions or instructions along with artefacts for recording thoughts and feelings e.g. a diary, camera, postcards or maps. They are particularly useful for exploring cultural, social, and emotional experiences in a more open-ended way.
Design Workshops
Consolidating creative co-design methods into organised sessions for several participants to work with design team members.
(PDF) Workshops as a research methodology (researchgate.net)
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3393914.3395856
Diary Studies
Using diaries and journals and guiding artifacts.
Diary studies involve participants maintaining personal diaries to capture daily experiences, thoughts, emotions and reflections. They can take various forms, such as written or audio. In higher education diary studies have been used to explore topics such as identity, faith and employability.
Empathy Map
A collaborative tool used to gain deeper insights into the target audience’s needs, feelings thoughts and pain points.
Empathy maps help researchers understand what people say, do, think and feel and can help capture emotions, behaviours and thoughts around learning experiences.
Empathy maps can also be relevant in design thinking processes, for example they have been used to investigate students’ STEM learning processes to enhance pedagogy (see first link).
How Empathy Maps Can Help Teachers Connect With Middle and High School Students | Edutopia
Microsoft Word - Juliet Lammers copy.docx (uwindsor.ca)
Graffiti Walls
An open canvas where participants can freely write and draw about a specific topic, environment, system etc.
While most existing research around graffiti walls explores graffiti across campus, as a research method the idea is to provide an open canvas where participants can freely offer written or visual commentary. Simulating this can offer a unique lens into student's experiences and perspectives, offering a canvas to explore for unspoken narratives.
Graffiti Boards Teaching Strategy | Facing History & Ourselves
I wish that
Collecting suggestions and comments on stickers or post its to allow participants to express desires, needs and aspirations, completing the sentence; ‘I wish that…’
This method can be used on most participants (students, teachers, administrative staff) to express aspirations, desires, ideal scenarios.
Researchers have the opportunity to gain insight into participants hopes, frustrations and visions for change around areas such as policies and practices, training and resources, curriculum and reaching methods or facilities and support systems.
LEGO Serious Play
Use LEGO bricks to enhance creativity, communication and problem-solving.
LEGO Serious Play is about unlocking ideas emotions and collaborative solutions. It should give everyone a voice, encouraging diverse perspectives, exploring concepts and generating ideas. It can be a great way to get rich data you may not acquire through more traditional methods.
Using LEGO® Serious Play® in UX Research | by Kyle Soucy | Medium (though not directly an educational study it should help identify some adaptations)
Listening rooms
This method can give us the opportunity to hear genuine student voice we may otherwise not hear, asking pairs of students to have a one-to-one recorded conversation using topic prompts. The researcher briefs and debriefs participants, but is not present during the discussion, which is recorded and transcribed.
Listening rooms toolkit - Produced by six members of staff as they used the listening room method in two separate research projects at the University of Leeds.
Friendship as method - Article written by Emma Heron (2019) who introduced the use of the listening rooms method at Sheffield Hallam University.
The Love Letter and the Breakup Letter
A personal letter written revealing insights into what people appreciate, admire, or enjoy about a to a product, service, or experience.
This method has been found to have a particularly useful application in medical education research in aspects such as clinical decision-making, empathy, resilience, and teamwork offering a unique way of exploring these emotional dimensions.
R2_Proof_hi.pdf (manchester.ac.uk)
Photo elicitation
A participatory-oriented method of research which incorporates photographs in the interviews.
In the method, images are used to prompt and guide in-depth interviews and to evoke reactions from the interview participant. Either the interviewer or the subject may provide the images.
Using photo elicitation to gain insight - Talk at the University of Cumbria on the use of photo elicitation in gaining sight in a study with HE students focusing on student satisfaction.
Role-playing
Acting out realistic scenarios to gain deeper empathy and highlight challenges to address.
Role-play and research | 30 | v8 | Research Methods in Education | Car (taylorfrancis.com)
SNAP surveys
Also known as lightning surveys or exit interviews, as created by Cynthia Heiner are a dynamic way of collecting feedback quickly from several students. Engaging with a student/small group as they leave a lecture/seminar and asking them no more than three quick questions. The term SNAP surveys was since used to describe this method when used by Barbara Kempf in her LITE fellowship project.
LightningInterviews-overview-EN-HeinerStudentU.docx
Storyboards
Provide a visual narrative that generates empathy and communicates context.
Storyboarding can be a valuable approach to help organise and visualise complex processes, they can be used in higher education research to plan and structure curriculum development, serve as a blueprint for the development of educational materials and can also be used to help represent participants experiences, learning journeys and experiences of classroom dynamics.
Story Circles
A Story Circle refers to a group of individuals talking about personal experiences through stories with the aims of creating a space for sharing and learning from different people’s perspectives.
Story Circles: Global Community Conversations case study and toolkit - Sway document written by Jenna Isherwood about her experience in conduction story circles as part of her LITE research project.
Manual for Developing Intercultural Competencies: Story Circle – the book that Jenna used to develop her LITE project.
Story Stems
The beginning of a story that participants are asked to complete.
A good story stem should have a balance between providing participant with a meaningful story and leaving enough ambiguity that wouldn’t restrict the direction in which participants might take their stories.
Story Stems - video by Dr Helen Kara. Story Stems method asks participants to complete a story created by the researcher. The purpose is to understand participants' experiences and perspectives of a topic through their story telling. May be a useful method working with student participants.
Using Story Completion Methods in Qualitative Research - Journal article by Clarke, Braun, Firth and Moller
Walking Interviews
An innovative method that, as the name suggests, involves the researchers and participants taking a walk together. It has been suggested that walking interviews can allow opportunity for deeper understanding of lived experiences in particular places. The multisensory data generated can be both valuable and empowering as a means of qualitative inquiry.
Walking Interviews | SpringerLink
Please feel free to contact Izzy if you have suggestions to extend this list further or with any questions regarding anything you have read: e.harvey@leeds.ac.uk
Reference
Martin, B and Hanington, B (2012) Universal Methods of Design. Beverly: Rockport Publishers
Transcribing
Transcribing audio files using Word - demonstration by the University of Hull on how to use word for automated transcriptions.
Analysing Qualitative Research
Getting Started with NVivo - A series of short YouTube videos by the University of Hull that cover a range of topics to introduce using NVivo. NVivo is useful for managing and coding data. You can also create thematic maps.
Thematic Analysis: a practical guide – Braun and Clarke's Six Phased approach detailed in this book is a good starting point for those who are new to analysing qualitative data.
Thematic Analysis – an introduction - Video of Professor Virginia Braun and Dr Victoria Clarke giving an introductory presentation of their approach. Skip ahead to 27.50 for a break down of the six phases.