Qualitative Research Design and Rationale
What are the construction workers’ perceptions on I/VR training effectiveness for the transfer of knowledge to enhance job performance?
[Restate research questions exactly as written in Chapter 1. State and define central concept(s)/phenomenon(a) of the study. Identify the research tradition (e.g., qualitative and the selected design such as narrative research, case study, phenomenology, ethnography, or grounded theory). Provide a rationale for the chosen tradition. Explain why other possible choices would be less effective. Note: This section should be between one and three pages in length.]
Role of the Researcher
[Define and explain your role as observer, participant, or observer-participant. Reveal any personal and professional relationships you, as the researcher, may have with participants, with emphasis on supervisory or instructor relationships involving positions of power with the participants. State how any researcher biases and/or power relationships are or will be managed. Describe other ethical issues as applicable (these could include doing a study within one’s own work environment, conflict of interest or power differentials, and justification for use of incentives) and the plan for addressing these issues. Note: This section should one or two pages in length.]
Methodology
[Needs to be described in sufficient depth so that other researchers can replicate the study.]
Participant Selection Logic
[Identify the population (if appropriate). Identify and justify the sampling strategy. State the criterion/a on which participant selection is based. Establish how participants are known to meet the criterion/a. State the number of participants/cases and the rationale for that number. Explain specific procedures for how participants will be identified, contacted, and recruited. Describe the relationship between saturation and sample size. Notes: Qualitative phenomenological studies should have a sample size of 20 participants or until saturation occurs. Sample sizes for other qualitative studies may vary. For example a case study may collect data from appropriate participants with other data coming from observations, or other collected data sets. This section should be two or three pages in length.]
Instrumentation
[Identify each data collection instrument and source (e.g., observation sheet, interview protocol, focus group protocol, videotape, audiotape, artifacts, archived data, and other kinds of data collection instruments). Identify the source for each data collection instrument (i.e., published or researcher produced). If historical or legal documents are used as a source of data, demonstrate the reputability of the sources, and justify why they represent the best source of data. Establish sufficiency of data collection instruments to answer research questions.]
[For published data collection instruments, add the following: Who developed the instrument and what is the date of publication? Where and with which participant group has it been used previously? How appropriate is it for current study (i.e., context and cultural specificity of protocols/instrumentation) and whether modifications will be or were needed? Describe how content validity will be or was established. Address any context- and culture-specific issues specific to the population while developing the instrument specific to the population. Note: If the instrument was researcher developed, do not respond to these questions.]
[For researcher-developed instruments, add the following: Basis for instrument development (i.e., literature sources or other bases, such as a pilot study). Describe how content validity will be/was established. Establish sufficiency of data collection instruments to answer the research questions. Notes: If the instrument was published by another researcher, do not respond to these questions. This section may be between three and five pages in length.]
Procedures for Recruitment, Participation, and Data Collection
[For each data collection instrument and research question, provide details of data collection.
- From where will data be collected?
- Who will collect the data?
- Frequency of data collection events.
- Duration of data collection events.
- How data will be recorded?
- Follow-up plan if recruitment results in too few participants.
- Explain how participants exit the study (e.g., debriefing procedures).
- Describe any follow-up procedures such as requirements to return for follow-up interviews.
Note: This section should be between two and six pages in length.]
Data Analysis Plan
[For each type of data collected, identify:
- Connection of data to a specific research question.
- Type of and procedure for coding.
- Any software used for analysis.
- Manner of treatment of discrepant cases.
Note: This section should be between three and six pages in length.]
Issues of Trustworthiness
Credibility
[Credibility (internal validity): Describe appropriate strategies to establish credibility, such as triangulation, prolonged contact, member checks, saturation, reflexivity, and peer review. Note: This section should be less than a page in length.]
Transferability
[Transferability (external validity): Describe appropriate strategies to establish transferability, such as thick description and variation in participant selection. Note: This section should be less than a page in length.]
Dependability
[Dependability (the qualitative counterpart to reliability): Describe appropriate strategies to establish dependability, such as audit trails and triangulation. Note: This section should be less than a page in length.]
Confirmability
[Confirmability (the qualitative counterpart to objectivity): Describe appropriate strategies to establish confirmability, such as reflexivity. Note: This section should be less than a page in length.]
Ethical Procedures
[Agreements to gain access to participants or data. Include actual documents in the Institutional Review Board (IRB) application. Describe the treatment of human participants including the following (include actual documents in the IRB application):
- institutional permissions, including IRB approvals that are needed (for the proposal) or were obtained (for the completed dissertation, include relevant IRB approval numbers)
- ethical concerns related to recruitment materials and processes and a plan to address them
- Eehical concerns related to data collection/intervention activities; these could include participants’ refusing participation or early withdrawal from the study and response to any predicable adverse events and a plan to address them
Describe treatment of data, including archival data, including issues of:
- whether data are anonymous or confidential and any concerns related to each, and
- protection for confidential data (i.e., data storage procedures, data dissemination, who will have access to the data, and when the data will be destroyed).
Other ethical issues as applicable: These issues could include doing a study within one’s own work environment, conflict of interest or power differentials, and justification for use of incentives. Note: This section should be between one and two pages in length.]
Summary
[Summarize the main points in the chapter. Provide a transition statement to Chapter 4. Note: This section should about a page in length.]
