Role of the researcher in qualitative research

Discussion board post for NURS603 Facilitating Inquiry, posted on November 22, 2022. Post is in response to thread about the researcher's role in qualitative research and whether subjectivity is inevitable.

As a general rule, qualitative research cannot truly be separated from the researcher. Every aspect of the research process cannot be separated from the researcher, from choosing the topic of study, phrasing the question in a way that focuses or highlights some specific phenomenon or group to be studied, designing the data collection questions and selecting respondents/participants, and analyzing data to develop meaning or understanding. Ultimately, there will always be some level of subjectivity in each of these elements of research.

This is no different in case study research, in which the "researcher is recognised as the primary analytic instrument, moving recursively through the data continuously until arriving at theoretical saturation" (Shaban et al., 2017, p. 18). The degree to which the researcher will be immersed into the context of the phenomenon they are studying will inevitably influence that context to some degree. "Whether reality exists independent of the researcher or it exists on its own has been a matter of debate among philosophers" (Rashid et al., 2019, p. 3). Case study relies on the researcher being immersed in the context so that they can glean an in-depth, rich understanding of the phenomenon under study, and through this immersion and interaction with the context, including speaking to native members of that context and even just observing people, it may affect or influence their behaviours, thus influencing reality.

This is an inherent aspect of any research method that attempts to gather rich data to enhance understanding through engagement in an open system, such as are most of our real-life, day to day contexts. This is unlike traditional scientific experiments in a lab setting that can be controlled and kept constant with many external variables removed. While this is a limitation of case study research, it does not necessarily need to reduce the validity of the research. As long as the researcher is skilled, can reflect appropriately on their influence to the study context, and provide a disclaimer if they were excessively intrusive or encountered problems with subjectivity, studies could still be critically reliable.

References

Rashid, Y., Rashid, A., Warraich, M. A., Sabir, S. S., Waseem, A. (2019). Case study method: a step-by-step guide for business researchers. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919862424

Shaban, R. Z., Considine, J., Fry, M., & Curtis, K. (2017). Case study and case-based research in emergency nursing and care: Theoretical foundations and practical application in paramedic pre-hospital clinical judgment and decision-making of patients with mental illness. Australasian Emergency Nursing Journal, 20(1), 17–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aenj.2017.01.002