Tài liệu Qualitative Research in Physical Activity and the Health Professions - William A. Pitney, Jenny Park

Qualitative Research in Physical Activity and the Health Professions
William A. Pitney, EdD, ATC
Jenny Parker, EdD
Northern Illinois University
Publisher: Human Kinetics Publishers
Published: 01 July 2009
Format: Paperback 232 pages



Contents
Preface vii ã Acknowledgments xi
Part I Learning About Qualitative Research
1 Introducing Qualitative Inquiry 3
The Nature of Research 3 ã Quantitative and Qualitative
Inquiry 4 ã Attributes of Qualitative Research 5 ã Considerations,
Contemplations, and Consternations 7 ã Summary 8
2 Dissecting a Qualitative Research Study 11
Recognizing a Qualitative Research Study 11 ã Identifying the
Components of a Qualitative Research Study 13 ã Summary 26
Part II Conducting a Qualitative Research Study
3 Conceptualizing Your Study 31
Formulating a Research Plan 31 ã Designing an
Introduction 32 ã Assembling a Literature Review 37 ã Summary 38
4 Collecting and Analyzing Qualitative Data 41
Explaining the Interpretive Process 41 ã Sampling and
Participants 42 ã Collecting Qualitative Data 45 ã Analyzing
Qualitative Data 54 ã Summary 58
5 Ensuring Trustworthiness of Data 61
Defining Trustworthiness of Data 61 ã Reviewing
Trustworthiness Strategies 63 ã Considering the Contextual
Influences 68 ã Summary 69
6 Attending to Ethical Issues 71
An Overview of Research Ethics 71 ã Research Regulations 72 ã
Principles of Research Ethics 72 ã Special Considerations 78 ã
Institutional Reviews 79 ã Summary 80
Part III Writing Qualitative Research
7 Assembling Your Research Plan 85
Components of a Proposal 85 ã Oral Presentations 94 ã
Summary 94
8 Writing Your Results and Discussing Your Findings 97
Components of a Report 97 ã Results Section 98 ã Discussion
Section 107 ã Final Review 110 ã Summary 111
Part IV Continuing Your Qualitative Research Journey
9 Understanding Forms of Qualitative Research 117
Beyond the Basics 117 ã Grounded Theory 118 ã
Ethnography 120 ã Phenomenology 122 ã Additional Types
of Qualitative Research 126 ã Summary 127
10 Being a Good Consumer of Qualitative Research 131
Evaluating Research 131 ã Starting the Process 133 ã Digging
Deeper 134 ã Conducting a Full Review 135 ã Recognizing
Specific Types of Qualitative Research 138 ã Summary 139
11 Looking Back and Moving Forward 143
Looking Back 143 ã Defending Your Qualitative Research 143 ã
Combining Methods 147 ã Using Practical Considerations 148 ã
Summary 152
Appendix A 155 ã Appendix B 169 ã Appendix C 187 ã Appendix D 203 ã
References 205 ã Index 213 ã About the Authors 219

Preface
This is an exciting time for professionals associated with physical
activity and the health professions. We have seen a substantial
increase in the amount and type of research being conducted.
Qualitative research has grown in popularity and has gained
respect as a viable method of answering important research questions.
Despite its broad appeal and inclusion in many disciplines,
however, qualitative research often has an ethereal or mystical
feel to it, particularly for those practitioners with strong roots in
physical activity and the health professions.
As qualitative researchers, we have conducted many studies, taught many graduatelevel
research courses, and advised a great many graduate students in using qualitative
methods for their theses and dissertations. Our experiences as educators and researchers
give us a unique view of qualitative methods. Our lens is broad in regard to physical
activity and health professions, and includes athletic training, physical education, physical
therapy, health education, nursing, and general medical disciplines.
You may be asking, “Another research text? Aren’t there enough?” Indeed, there is
no shortage of research texts. However, an informal appraisal of the textual resources
for research classes reveals an interesting paradox. On one hand, though many general
research textbooks do a fantastic job of presenting a broad spectrum of research methods,
their discussion of the guiding principles and applications of qualitative research is
limited. One or two chapters may provide an overview of qualitative methods, but the
text lacks a depth of information required to do the topic justice.
On the other hand, numerous texts on qualitative research exist in the disciplines of
social science, such as sociology, anthropology, and education. However, most of these
texts contain an enormous amount of information, and it is hard for students, practitioners,
and novices of qualitative research to sort out and apply the important concepts and
procedures. For example, although some texts present introductory content for beginners
to qualitative methods, they also include advanced ideology related to qualitative
research, such as critical theory and postmodernism. These tangential discussions, though
important in their own right, tend to muddy the clarity of the methods for those just
learning the ropes of interpretive inquiry. We believe that for many students in physical
activity and the health professions, and for practitioners alike, qualitative research
methods look very foreign as compared to quantitative research methods that are more
common and traditional.
Qualitative Research in Physical Activity and the Health Professions addresses these problems
by explaining the underlying principles of qualitative inquiry in a clear manner that
helps students and practitioners fully understand how to design, conduct, and evaluate
a qualitative research study. We systematically present the content with terms that are
consistent with traditional forms of research to reveal how qualitative methods frame
a researchable problem, derive purposes and questions from the problem, and guide
procedures for data collection and analysis. Additionally, this text includes excerpts from
published studies in the chapters and full research articles in the appendices so readers
can put principles into practice. For example, when explaining how to create purpose
statements and research questions, we provide real samples from scholarly publications.
The concise nature, real examples, dialogue boxes, recommended learning activities, and
suggested supplemental readings make this a very versatile textbook.
As professionals in the fields of physical activity and the health professions, we function
in complex environments and interact with many different people. Because the
majority of our work occurs in social contexts, we are constantly prompted to consider
the human condition. We are required to make significant decisions and to effectively
solve clinical and educational problems. Systematic inquiry certainly guides our professional
practice and informs our ability to make decisions. We must be good consumers
of research, including the qualitative methods that are now entering the fold. We have
written this text to explain the qualitative research principles so practitioners can effectively
evaluate published qualitative studies. Our text is organized into four parts.
Part I outlines the characteristics of qualitative research and introduces the general
principles that guide this form of inquiry. It also dissects a qualitative study to foreshadow
the content of part II.
Part II explains how to conceptualize and conduct a qualitative research study, describing
the modes of data collection and analysis, as well as the steps needed to obtain trustworthy
data. This part concludes with a discussion of the ethical principles that guide
the qualitative research process.
Part III discusses how to write qualitative research. It begins with the process of
assembling a research plan and progresses to writing results and discussing findings. The
chapter on writing research provides concrete examples of how to present and discuss
findings after a study has been completed.
The final section of the text, part IV, contains information for those who plan to
continue learning about qualitative research. Chapter 9 discusses the various forms
of qualitative methods that researchers and consumers encounter. Chapter 10 focuses
on how to evaluate qualitative studies. Chapter 11 contains advice about handling the
common challenges and criticisms of qualitative inquiry. This section includes other
important aspects of qualitative research, such as how it is combined with traditional
methods to form a mixed-methods approach. The chapter concludes with practical advice
and resources for pursuing projects in qualitative research.
We have used a variety of pedagogical strategies to facilitate learning. Each part opener
introduces its content in both written and graphic form. For example, the following
figure illustrates the overall structure of our text.
We set out to write a practical text for those who are first learning about qualitative
research. We hope you enjoy reading the text as much as we have enjoyed writing it.