Using standard tool to measure qualitative data

 What are Research skills?
Research skills refer to the ability to search for, locate, extract, organize, evaluate and use or present information that is relevant to a particular topic. Academic research is a specific type of research: a process of detailed and methodical investigation into some area of study.

What is qualitative research?
Quantitative research is a research strategy that focuses on quantifying the collection and analysis of data. It is formed from a deductive approach where emphasis is placed on the testing of theory, shaped by empiricist and positivist philosophies.
Associated with the natural, applied, formal, and social sciences this research strategy promotes the objective empirical investigation of observable phenomena to test and understand relationships. This is done through a range of quantifying methods and techniques, reflecting on its broad utilization as a research strategy across differing academic disciplines.
The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories, and hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between empirical observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.
Quantitative data is any data that is in numerical form such as statistics, percentages, etc. The researcher analyses the data with the help of statistics and hopes the numbers will yield an unbiased result that can be generalized to some larger population. Qualitative research, on the other hand, inquires deeply into specific experiences, with the intention of describing and exploring meaning through text, narrative, or visual-based data, by developing themes exclusive to that set of participants.
Quantitative research is widely used in psychology, economics, demography, sociology, marketing, community health, health & human development, gender studies, and political science; and less frequently in anthropology and history. Research in mathematical sciences, such as physics, is also "quantitative" by definition, though this use of the term differs in context. In the social sciences, the term relates to empirical methods originating in both philosophical positivism and the history of statistics, in contrast with qualitative research methods.
Qualitative research produces information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only hypotheses. Quantitative methods can be used to verify which of such hypotheses are true. A comprehensive analysis of 1274 articles published in the top two American sociology journals between 1935 and 2005 found that roughly two-thirds of these articles used quantitative method.
Qualitative research is defined as a market research method that focuses on obtaining data through open-ended and conversational communication.
This method is not only about “what” people think but also “why” they think so. For example, consider a convenience store looking to improve its patronage. A systematic observation concludes that the number of men visiting this store is more. One good method to determine why women were not visiting the store is to conduct an in-depth interview of potential customers in the category.
For example, on successfully interviewing female customers, visiting the nearby stores and malls, and selecting them through random sampling, it was known that the store doesn’t have enough items for women and so there were fewer women visiting the store, which was understood only by personally interacting with them and understanding why they didn’t visit the store, because there were more male products than female ones.
Qualitative research is based on the disciplines of social sciences like psychology, sociology, and anthropology. Therefore, the qualitative research methods allow for in-depth and further probing and questioning of respondents based on their responses, where the interviewer/researcher also tries to understand their motivation and feelings. Understanding how your audience takes decisions can help derive conclusions in market research.
What is Qualitative data?
Qualitative data describes qualities or characteristics. It is collected using questionnaires, interviews, or observation, and frequently appears in narrative form. For example, it could be notes taken during a focus group on the quality of the food at Cafe Mac, or responses from an open-ended questionnaire.
What measurement tools are used in qualitative research?
There are many different tools for collecting quantitative and qualitative data. Questionnaires, observations, focus groups, and interviews are among some of the most commonly used techniques.
 
Types of qualitative research methods with examples
One-on-one interview: Conducting in-depth interviews is one of the most common qualitative research methods. ...
Focus groups: ...
Ethnographic research: ...
Case study research: ...
Record keeping:
Process of observation:
Types of qualitative research methods with examples
Qualitative research methods are designed in a manner that helps reveal the behavior and perception of a target audience with reference to a particular topic. There are different types of qualitative research methods like an in-depth interview, focus groups, ethnographic research, content analysis, case study research that are usually used.
The results of qualitative methods are more descriptive and the inferences can be drawn quite easily from the data that is obtained.
Qualitative research methods originated in the social and behavioral sciences. Today our world is more complicated and it is difficult to understand what people think and perceive. Online qualitative research methods make it easier to understand that as it is more communicative and descriptive.
The following are the qualitative research methods that are frequently used. Also, read about qualitative research examples:

1. One-on-one interview:
Conducting in-depth interviews is one of the most common qualitative research methods. It is a personal interview that is carried out with one respondent at a time. This is purely a conversational method and invites opportunities to get details in depth from the respondent.
One of the advantages of this method provides a great opportunity to gather precise data about what people believe and what their motivations are. If the researcher is well experienced asking the right questions can help him/her collect meaningful data. If they should need more information the researchers should ask such follow up questions that will help them collect more information.
These interviews can be performed face-to-face or on phone and usually can last between half an hour to two hours or even more. When the in-depth interview is conducted face to face it gives a better opportunity to read the body language of the respondents and match the responses.
2. Focus groups:
A focus group is also one of the commonly used qualitative research methods, used in data collection. A focus group usually includes a limited number of respondents (6-10) from within your target market.
The main aim of the focus group is to find answers to the “why” “what” and “how” questions. One advantage of focus groups is, you don’t necessarily need to interact with the group in person. Nowadays focus groups can be sent an online survey on various devices and responses can be collected at the click of a button.
Focus groups are an expensive method as compared to the other online qualitative research methods. Typically they are used to explain complex processes. This method is very useful when it comes to market research on new products and testing new concepts.
3. Ethnographic research: (relating to the scientific description of peoples and cultures with their customs, habits, and mutual differences.)
Ethnographic research is the most in-depth observational method that studies people in their naturally occurring environment.
This method requires the researchers to adapt to the target audiences’ environments which could be anywhere from an organization to a city or any remote location. Here geographical constraints can be an issue while collecting data.
This research design aims to understand the cultures, challenges, motivations, and settings that occur. Instead of relying on interviews and discussions, you experience the natural settings first hand.
This type of research method can last from a few days to a few years, as it involves in-depth observation and collecting data on those grounds. It’s a challenging and a time-consuming method and solely depends on the expertise of the researcher to be able to analyze, observe and infer the data.
4. Case study research:
The case study method has evolved over the past few years and developed into a valuable qual research method. As the name suggests it is used for explaining an organization or an entity.
This type of research method is used within a number of areas like education, social sciences and similar. This method may look difficult to operate, however, it is one of the simplest ways of conducting research as it involves a deep dive and thorough understanding of the data collection methods and inferring the data.
5. Record keeping:
This method makes use of the already existing reliable documents and similar sources of information as the data source. This data can be used in new research. This is similar to going to a library. There one can go over books and other reference material to collect relevant data that can likely be used in the research.
6. Process of observation:
Qualitative Observation is a process of research that uses subjective methodologies to gather systematic information or data. Since, the focus on qualitative observation is the research process of using subjective methodologies to gather information or data. Qualitative observation is primarily used to equate quality differences.
Qualitative observation deals with the 5 major sensory organs and their functioning – sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. This doesn’t involve measurements or numbers but instead characteristics.
Qualitative research: data collection and analysis
A. Qualitative data collection
Qualitative data collection allows collecting data that is non-numeric and helps us to explore how decisions are made and provide us with detailed insight. For reaching such conclusions the data that is collected should be holistic, rich, and nuanced and findings to emerge through careful analysis.
1.            Whatever method a researcher chooses for collecting qualitative data, one aspect is very clear the process will generate a large amount of data. In addition to the variety of methods available, there are also different methods of collecting and recording the data.
For example, if the qualitative data is collected through a focus group or one-to-one discussion, there will be handwritten notes or video recorded tapes. If there are recording they should be transcribed and before the process of data analysis can begin.
2.        As a rough guide, it can take a seasoned researcher 8-10 hours to transcribe the recordings of an interview, which can generate roughly 20-30 pages of dialogues. Many researchers also like to maintain separate folders to maintain the recording collected from the different focus group. This helps them compartmentalize the data collected.
3.        In case there are running notes taken, which are also known as field notes, they are helpful in maintaining comments, environmental contexts, nonverbal cues etc. These filed notes are helpful and can be compared while transcribing audio recorded data. Such notes are usually informal but should be secured in a similar manner as the video recordings or the audio tapes.
B. Qualitative data analysis
Qualitative data analysis such as notes, videos, audio recordings images, and text documents. One of the most used methods for qualitative data analysis is text analysis.
Text analysis is a  data analysis method that is distinctly different from all other qualitative research methods, where researchers analyze the social life of the participants in the research study and decode the words, actions, etc. 
There are images also that are used in this research study and the researchers analyze the context in which the images are used and draw inferences from them. In the last decade, text analysis through what is shared on social media platforms has gained supreme popularity.
Characteristics of qualitative research methods

1.            Qualitative research methods usually collect data at the sight, where the participants are experiencing issues or problems. These are real-time data and rarely bring the participants out of the geographic locations to collect information.
2.            Qualitative researchers typically gather multiple forms of data, such as interviews, observations, and documents, rather than rely on a single data source.
3.            This type of research method works towards solving complex issues by breaking down into meaningful inferences, that is easily readable and understood by all.
4.            Since it’s a more communicative method, people can build their trust on the researcher and the information thus obtained is raw and unadulterated.
Qualitative research method case study
Let’s take the example of a bookstore owner who is looking for ways to improve their sales and customer outreach. An online community of members who were the loyal patrons of the bookstore were interviewed and related questions were asked and the questions were answered by them.
At the end of the interview, it was realized that most of the books in the stores were suitable for adults and there were not enough options for children or teenagers.
By conducting this qualitative research the bookstore owner realized what the shortcomings were and what were the feelings of the readers. Through this research now the bookstore owner can now keep books for different age categories and can improve his sales and customer outreach.
Such qualitative research method examples can serve as the basis to indulge in further quantitative research, which provides remedies.
When to use qualitative research
Researchers make use of qualitative research techniques when they need to capture accurate, in-depth insights. It is very useful to capture “factual data”. Here are some examples of when to use qualitative research.
·        Developing a new product or generating an idea.
·        Studying your product/brand or service to strengthen your marketing strategy.
·        To understand your strengths and weaknesses.
·        Understanding purchase behavior.
·        To study the reactions of your audience to marketing campaigns and other communications.
·        Exploring market demographics, segments, and customer groups.
·        Gathering perception data of a brand, company, or product.
Qualitative research methods vs quantitative research methods
The basic differences between qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods are simple and straightforward. They differ in:
·        Their analytical objectives
·        Types of questions asked
·        Types of data collection instruments
·        Forms of data they produce
·        Degree of flexibility

RESEARCH TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

Introduction

This section describes the tools and techniques that are used in quantitative and qualitative methods.

Quantitative research tools

Quantitative methods involve the collection and analysis of objective data, often in numerical form. The research design is determined prior to the start of data collection and is not flexible. The research process, interventions and data collection tools (e.g. questionnaires) are standardized to minimize or control possible bias. Table 8 provides an overview of quantitative data collection strategies.

Qualitative research techniques and tools

Qualitative research is generally used to explore values, attitudes, opinions, feelings and behaviors of individuals and understand how these affect the individuals in question. Researchers using qualitative methods are concerned with individuals’ perceptions of specific topics, issues or situations and the meanings they assign to their lives. This kind of research is important for generating theory, developing policy, improving educational practice, justifying change for a particular practice, and illuminating social issues. It may also be used to explain the results of a previous quantitative study or to prepare for the development of a quantitative study.

If your research team decides to use qualitative methods in your study, you will need to describe how qualitative methods will provide the information to help you address your research objectives and research question(s). For example, qualitative research may be appropriate because you intend to explore the values and behaviors of individuals in the study area in relation to a public health intervention, and to understand how these affect the phenomena in question.

For example, why do some households have bed nets but do not use them? Or, why do individuals in a study area decline services from a specialized antenatal clinic? Qualitative methods can provide context, a deeper understanding of stakeholders’ needs and participants’ perspectives.

When collecting qualitative data, it is preferable to use more than one data collection method. Obtaining information on the same phenomena in a variety of ways allows the researcher to triangulate the data, adding rigour to the research. By nature, qualitative data collection is emergent and the design is intentionally flexible to enable the researcher investigate themes (findings) in more detail as they emerge.

Qualitative methods use data collection methodologies such as interviewing, observation, discussions and review of documents (e.g. diaries, historical documents). The results of qualitative research are descriptive or explanatory rather than predictive, and are typically time-consuming to collect and analyse. The following table may be helpful to you as you decide which qualitative tools and techniques are most appropriate for your IR project (Table 9).

Unlike quantitative data collection, qualitative data collection can be more flexible allowing the research to incorporate emerging themes in the ongoing data collection. This allows the researcher to test and validate findings as they collect the data. For example, perhaps in one in-depth interview, the researcher learns that people do not attend the lymphatic filariasis mass drug administration because they use traditional medicines and therefore feel that they are already under treatment. The researcher may then add a related question to subsequent in-depth interviews to see how prevalent this phenomenon is in the study population.

Table 10 describes situations when various qualitative data collection techniques can be used.

Pre-testing

 All study instruments (quantitative and qualitative) should be pre-tested to check the validity and reliability of data collection tools. Pre-testing allows the research team to check whether the research instructions and questions are clear, context specific, and that adequate time has been allowed to administer the questionnaire, etc. Pre-testing should be conducted from a comparable study population and environment. Since data management is critical to the success of the research, the data management team should be available during the discussion that follows the pre-test, in order to incorporate changes into the final design of the tool and facilitate the incorporation of appropriate checks into the data entry system. This stage includes designing the forms for recording measurements, developing programmes for data entry, management and analysis; and planning dummy tabulations to ensure the appropriate variables are collected.

5 ways to measure qualitative results

Measuring results is important, but not every result can be counted, tracked and fit neatly into an M&E framework. Some results are intangible – things like “empowerment”, “confidence” or “improved capacity”.

Just because these things are difficult to count that doesn’t mean you can’t measure them. You just need to measure them in a different way, using qualitative methods or mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative combined).

Define success

Before you decide on a method you need to define what you are looking for. For example, if your program aims to empower women, what does “empowerment” actually look like? Does it mean that women have control over some household decisions? Does it mean they participate in community meetings? Or that they can leave abusive relationships?

When deciding your definition you should start by reviewing how other people have defined the same concept. For example, 

empowerment is often divided into ‘four powers’ – power within, power with, power to and power over.

Choose your method(s)

There are many different methods that can be used to measure qualitative results. Just a few are described here. It can be useful to combine different methods in order to get different perspectives. You should also adapt or modify methods to suit your program.

Interviews or focus groups

When people think of qualitative methods they usually jump to interviews and focus groups first. These methods can be used to meet directly with beneficiaries and stakeholders to discuss their experiences, and the results they have seen from the program.

Although interviews and focus groups are the most common methods, it doesn’t mean they are the best methods for every circumstance. Think carefully about what what you are trying to measure, and whether another method might give you more useful information.

Should I use interviews or focus groups?

How to do great semi-structured interviews

Diaries, logs or journals

Diaries, logs and journals can by used by people managing a program, by participants or by stakeholders. For example in a program I am currently working on, the Program Manager keeps a log of all meetings and interactions with government partners. Through this log it is possible to see improvements in government services that have come about through advocacy by the program staff.

An excerpt from an activity log 

Similarly, participants could be provided with a journal or diary to record their experiences and thoughts. Reviewing the journal entries could show if they have changed their attitudes or practices as a result of the program.

Pictures, paintings or photos

Some people find it easier to express changes visually. Pictures, paintings and photos can all be used to measure qualitative results. For example, vulnerable children could be asked to draw a picture showing their life before and after they joined the program.

In photovoice you give each participant a camera and ask them to take photos of their community, focussing on particular themes. In many photovoice projects the best photos are included in an exhibition for community members and stakeholders.

A photovoice exhibition at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts where Wilmington teens exhibited their images to parents, community leaders and local policy makers. Photo by Christiana Care

Tiny Tools

Tiny Tools are a collection of quick and easy tools to help community members express how their lives have changed. They were developed by NGO-IDEA.

Each Tiny Tool is designed to be used by a facilitator with a group of community members during a short workshop or focus group. The purpose of the tools is to help the community members assess the impact that the project has had on their lives.

Simple, quick and easy – Tiny Tools for impact assessment

An example of a Lifeline from the Tiny Tools

Most Significant Change

The Most Significant Change technique works by collecting stories of change brought about by the program and systematically analysing them for their significance. Stories are collected from the field with the most significant stories being filtered up the organisation.

It is considered a participatory technique because many stakeholders are involved in collecting and analysing the data.

Using the ‘Most Significant Change’ (MSC) Technique to measure the intangible

An example of a story produced by the Most Significant Change technique:

Title of story	Woman community facilitator voted as president of community network.
Who was involved and what took place?	A local woman, who has received capacity building support and training on leadership skills, has been voted as president of the community facilitator network representing 5 villages.
What change took place?	A local woman is now representing her community as a leader in local development issues. She had the confidence to put herself forward and was voted by her community to play a leading role in the community’s development process.
Why is story significant?	The story shows that women in communities where the NGO works are playing an increased role in local politics and decision making as a result of capacity building and training from the NGO.
Lessons learned / recommendations for the wider program	Training and capacity building can help build women’s confidence to participate in local politics. If women are given the opportunity to become involved in local politics they will. The beneficiary can be a role model for other local women.