Some of you have developed research questions and designs that involve qualitative research interviews and others have focused more on quantitative surveys. Do you all appreciate the difference? This is really important - other modules focus on quantitative research (e.g. epi and stats) and the rest of THIS module focuses on qualitative research methods (e.g. interviews, ethnography, discourse analysis).
Quite a few of the examples in this week's seminar have said they are using qualitative interviews, but have then developed topic guides that use closed questions (e.g. with limited answers like 'yes/no'), and are more like questionnaire surveys. I know that you have lots on but have you read the chapters from this week? The Byrne chapter is particuarly useful on what qualitative interviews can offer and emphasises the role of interviews - and open questions - in encouraging people to talk e.g. about their experience of, or attitudes to, health and illness. For an example, take a look at a recent post on 'Dementia and the patient' - like all of the threads, the proposal is in the early stage, but the starting point is exploring how patients with dementia view their condition by asking a series of open questions.
