Table 1 QD design issues as proposed by Sandelowski [1]
From: Qualitative description – the poor cousin of health research?
Qualitative Description Design Issues | |
|---|---|
Design issues | Design specifics |
Philosophy | Pragmatic approach Overtones of other qualitative approaches (phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography or a narrative study) |
Sample | Purposeful sampling Maximum variation sampling is especially pertinent |
Data collection | Minimally-to-moderately structured open-ended interviews with individuals or focus groups Researchers are interested in the Who, What, Where and Why of the experience Observation of specific occurrences Review of documents or other pertinent materials |
Analysis | Qualitative content analysis using modifiable coding systems that correspond to the data collected When appropriate "Quasi-statistical" analysis methods are added using numbers to summarize data with descriptive statistics Stay close to the data – low level interpretation (if using qualitative software such as NVivo, the use of "in vivo coding" procedures works well here) Goal of the analysis strategy is to understand the latent variable (useful for concept clarification and instrument development) |
Outcomes | Straight description of the data organized in a way that "fits" the data (chronologically by topic, by relevance etc.) |