CHAPTER 3
METHODS
Look at every path closely and deliberately, then ask
ourselves this critical question: Does this path have a heart?
If it does, then the path is good. If it doesn't, it is of no use.
Introduction
This chapter presents the methods of data gathering and procedures used
to analyze the information obtained. The study relies on qualitative methods
of data gathering to better understand the social and cultural contexts
within which participants operate.
Qualitative Research Paradigm
My task in this study was to record my participants' stories with fairness
and integrity to create an accurate picture of individual lived experience.
The use of qualitative research methods, guided by the theoretical basis
outlined previously, is ideally suited for this purpose (Lincoln & Guba,
1985). While quantitative methods generally require minimal contextual
connections to the social world in order to formulate correlations from data
that is often
numerical in nature, research conducted within a qualitative paradigm
requires a linkage to phenomena that are located in natural settings as a
means of uncovering
the experiences of participants from their personal perspectives. Qualitative
research uses inductive inquiry, from which descriptions, concepts,
and abstractions emerge from the data (Merriam, 2001). A qualitative research
paradigm is less
concerned with outcomes, products, comparisons, correlations, or in
the deductive support of theory and hypothesis testing, but rather focuses
on providing a
rich description and a broad view of the processes and events being
studied, sometimes building towards a theory (Merriam, 2001). |