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Qualitative Methods

Qualitative methods encompass a wide range of types of data and approaches to analysis. Qualitative methods are favored to provide understanding of people’s subjective lived experiences. These approaches are often referred to as inductive methodology. A qualitative approach is differentiated from quantitative methods that primarily use measurement approaches involving ratings, experimental designs to test causation, or other predetermined assessments. However, qualitative methods are not antithetical to experimental study. The primary distinction between these two types of approaches is that quantitative methods focus on numeric understanding of the world (using counts, rates, and ratios to measure phenomena) and statistical analyses. By contrast, qualitative methods use linguistic description and other representations as data including narrative interpretation and logical organization methods for discovery and verification. This entry describes the key features and major distinctions of qualitative methods in developmental science.

Definition of Qualitative Methods

Rather than attempting to assess the prevalence or quantity of a developmental factor or process, qualitative researchers focus on the meaning of phenomena in context. This approach typically involves talking to, observing, or seeking testimony from people to gain their viewpoints. The data gathering may range from fully iterative sampling (i.e., understanding comes from a conversation involving reactions to what each respondent says and does) to highly structured questioning (i.e., little variation in what is asked of each participant). Data gathering may be well-formed with a strong theoretical basis such as interviews to test agency from a decision-making theory perspective. Alternately, interviews may deliberately be minimally theoretically structured with the intent to have the participant’s direct understanding and theoretical formulation.

Although qualitative methods have often been defined as exploratory, there is increasing recognition that qualitative methods can provide in-depth, contextualized, and naturalistic understanding. Case studies can illustrate developmental pathways that might not be well understood in whole-group quantitative representations. Qualitative methods can help answer why questions, providing deeper understanding, and illustrate meaningful variations not understandable by quantitative methods. For example, case studies using qualitative methods may provide a nuanced description of the aspect of a mentoring relationship that helped an at-risk child change his self-expectations—information lost in quantitative surveys and group trends.

Qualitative data (words gathered through interviews or observations) can be subjected to qualitative or quantitative analyses. In fact, qualitative data can be analyzed quantitatively (i.e., counted), and quantitative data (i.e., numbers) can be analyzed qualitatively (i.e., by exploring patterns inductively rather than hypothesis testing). Similarly, qualitative and quantitative data can be complementary rather than competing in expanding and deepening understanding.

Types of Qualitative Data Collection

Qualitative methodology explicitly recognizes the limitations and biases of each method (including quantitative methods). It is common to combine multiple qualitative methods, a technique called triangulation, to capitalize on strengths of different methods and improve confidence that findings are valid. Some of these methods can be applied across the life span, whereas some require ability to reflect and respond to questions, limiting use to children able to do so (usually individuals aged 10 or older).

Observations in qualitative research focus on capturing thick (extensive) description, social interactions, and activity in a natural setting. Qualitative observational methods are often grounded in the anthropological method of ethnography. Ethnography focuses on characterizing a culture’s norms and rules through participant observation. During participant observation, the researcher takes part in social activities while simultaneously observing and recording activities and interactions through the writing of detailed field notes. For example, a researcher might study parent and preschool children playground socializing by coming to a neighborhood park and becoming part of the regular attenders and recording notes to track how parent social networks affect children’s play patterns. These notes serve as the data to be analyzed. Yet as with any method, the observational method has inherent limitations. People may behave differently when being watched (although ethnography attempts to minimize this by the researchers’ spending extended periods of time in the setting), and field notes record human activity through the lens of the person observing. In addition, field notes cannot capture individuals’ thoughts, motivations, or beliefs. Often these notes are combined with interviews to gain both the external and internal aspects of the culture.

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