How Do You Know Why (and How) Something Works?
This chapter provides guidance on what qualitative evaluation is and where it stems from. More detailed guidance is contained in the Background Document (pdf - 390kb)
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What is qualitative research and evaluation?
Qualitative research and evaluation emerged out of a tradition in social sciences which was guided by:
- capturing and describing naturally occurring data in their real-life context;
- a concern with social life as it is experienced by people;
- an in-depth understanding of social action and the meanings social actors themselves attach to it.
Different academic disciplines inform theoretical positions and methods of inquiry, including sociology, anthropology, philosophy, linguistics and psychology.
The best-known qualitative methods of inquiry include in-depth interviews, focus groups, documentary analysis and participant observation.
Key features of qualitative research
Qualitative research approaches in evaluation are characterised by:
- a concern with meanings, especially the subjective and inter-subjective (shared) meanings of participants;
- a commitment to viewing (and sometimes explaining) phenomena from the perspective of those being studied;
- an awareness and consideration of the researcher's role and perspective;
- inquiry in the 'real world' rather than in experimental or manipulated settings;
- a concern with micro-social processes (i.e. their manifestation at the level of individuals, groups or organisations);
- a mainly inductive rather than deductive analytical process (i.e. broadly, developing findings from research data, rather than testing existing theories).
Qualitative research is characterised by:
- prolonged immersion in, or contact with, the research setting;
- the use of a flexible (emergent) research strategy;
- the use of non-standardised, semi-structured or unstructured methods which are sensitive to the social context of the study;
- the capture of data that are detailed, rich and complex;
- data which are considered in their contexts;
- the collection and analysis of data that are mainly in the form of words and images rather than numbers (although not exclusively);
- a commitment to retaining diversity and complexity in the analysis;
- a respect for the uniqueness of each case as well as themes and patterns across cases;
- categories and theories which emerge from data;
- explanations offered at the level of research participants' individual and shared meanings and experiences;
- explaining social interactions from within cases.
Application of qualitative research or evaluation
Key contributions of qualititive research to policy evaluation are that it:
- helps to understand the processes, impacts and outcomes of the policies and programmes;
- addresses the complexity of social intervention and draws out and understands the multiple layers of policies;
- addresses the personal, structural and environmental contexts of policy;
- draws out processes, barriers, and facilitators of policy interventions;
- highlights the intended and unintended consequences of an intervention;
- identifies people's values, judgements and choices;
Qualitative research is particularly helpful in understanding why, how, and under what conditions policies, programmes and projects work or fail to work. It helps policy making by identifying:
- the context in which the policy operates, and what this means for the design, development and likely success of the policy;
- how the policy is delivered and experienced on the ground;
- what impacts it has and which aspects of the policy contribute to them;
- explanations of why the policy works for some people, or in some circumstances.
In process (formative) evaluation, qualitative research provides a tool for identifying and understanding:
- what interventions are involved in a service or policy;
- who provides the intervention;
- what forms interventions take;
- how interventions are delivered.
In impact and outcome (summative) evaluation, qualitative research can contribute to understanding:
- the complexity of outcomes;
- the range and types of impact and outcomes;
- the meanings and attitudes of those delivering and receiving the intervention.
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Example: Fathers in Sure Start Local Programmes (Lloyd et al., 2003)
www.surestart.gov.uk
The Sure Start programme is a good example of how qualitative research is used alongside quantitative evaluation to provide a rounded understanding of how this programme is working. In addition to a national survey of 250 Sure Start areas and 50 Sure-Start-to-be areas, the evaluation team is also undertaking a series of themed studies and local context analyses. By using in-depth interviews, informal observations and documentary sources, qualitative research identified, for example, that fathers were a hard-to-reach group for Sure Start and other community-based programmes and that their needs were not always recognised or accommodated by these government programmes. It was also able to identify successful strategies for engaging fathers in Sure Start programmes. |
(See also Magenta Book guidance notes chapter 1, under Summative and Formative Evaluation.)
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