RSCH FPX 7868 Assessment 4 Research Topic

Name

Capella university

RSCH-FPX 7868 Qualitative Design and Analysis

Prof. Name

Date

Research Topic

This final assessment will compare the Grounded Theory and Phenomenology methodological approaches to the qualitative research topic of “What effects does gender pay equity have in the workplace?” This assessment will include an overview of each methodological approach, addressing the following items: research question, rationale, data collection plan, data analysis strategy, and potential ethical issues.

Methodological Approach 1: Phenomenology

Research Question

What effects does gender pay equity have in the workplace? (Erwin, 2022). In qualitative research, phenomenology focuses on an individual’s personal experience. An example of a phenomenology question for this qualitative research study is: “This qualitative research study aims to explore pay equity disparities women face in positions as opposed to their male counterparts.”

Rationale

In research from Neubauer et al. (2019), phenomenology is defined as a form of qualitative research focusing on studying an individual’s lived experiences. The rationale for using this method is that the researcher will better understand research participants’ experiences as they relate to the research question based on personal experiences that they may have encountered with pay disparity and/or gender inequality.

Data Collection Plan

The data collection plan for the Phenomenology methodological approach for this research study will be one-to-one interviews. Research from Sutton and Austin (2015) suggests that data collection will involve large amounts of data. The researcher will use an audio recorder to record the one-to-one interviews and will transcribe the audio recordings.

Data Analysis Strategy

Priest (2013) describes that phenomenological analysis aims to produce a description of a phenomenon of everyday experiences to fully understand its essential structure. The first task in this strategy is to secure collected and stored data to protect the confidentiality of research participants. The raw data from interviews must be transformed into a usable format for this study. Researchers should create and maintain master and working copies of all documents. Collected data should be repeatedly reviewed to fully understand the participant’s meaning of the data. The researcher must develop a psychological perspective to delineate the transition meaning, focus on the phenomenon being investigated, and look for meaningful information related to the study.

Any redundancies in the data should be eliminated. The data collected must be transformed into meaningful units in psychological language to describe the intent of the statement from the research participant. Once the meaningful units are developed, the researcher must use a consistent approach with all data collected. From the final units, the researcher must identify what remains unchanged in the variations and develop a consistent statement of the research participants’ experiences. The last step is for the researcher to synthesize the statements into one consistent statement that describes “What effects does gender pay equity have in the workplace?” This process must be repeated for all research participant responses.

Potential Ethical Issues

Potential ethical issues in a research study can include conflicts of interest, redundant publication, and plagiarism. In research by Sanjari et al. (2014), they discuss critical ethical concerns when conducting qualitative research such as anonymity, confidentiality, and informed consent.

Methodological Approach 2: Grounded Theory

Research Question

What effects does gender pay equity have in the workplace? Grounded theory research questions primarily focus on social processes or actions. An example of a grounded theory question for this qualitative research study is: “This qualitative research study aims to explore pay equity disparities women face in positions as opposed to their male counterparts” (Erwin, 2022).

Rationale

In research from Mayes (2018), it is suggested that grounded theory offers the researcher methods that complement varied forms of qualitative data collection and will expedite the researcher’s work. This method helps the researcher better understand the research participants’ experiences with explicit, sequential guidelines.

Data Collection Plan

The data collection plan for the Grounded Theory methodological approach for this research study will involve interviewing participants with open-ended questions. The researcher will determine initial research questions, then recruit participants and collect data. The researcher will be required to break down the data from the transcripts and code the data. Data will need to be grouped by excerpts to code and then grouped into categories. The final step is to analyze more excerpts and compare the codes.

Data Analysis Strategy

The first task in this strategy is to secure collected and stored data to protect the confidentiality of research participants. The steps used for data analysis in this research study will include gathering qualitative data to conduct the research. Master and working copies of all documents should be created. Interviews and focus groups will be used to collect data. The data collected will be stored in electronic documents. If qualitative data has been collected through feedback from employee engagement surveys, that data will be included in the research study. The next step in the analysis strategy is to organize all collected qualitative data.

Dye (2021) suggests that the classic method of structuring qualitative data is to enter all collected data in a spreadsheet. The data from the spreadsheet will be entered into a data feedback repository that will be organized and unified with other data. Data in the repository is easily searchable and taggable. IBM SPSS is the statistical analysis software used to code the data from the spreadsheet. The data will then be analyzed to find meaningful insights. These insights will answer the research question of “What effects does gender pay equity have in the workplace?” The last step is to report on the data collected via a narrative that includes an outline of the research study, the findings and insights, and future research in pay gender equity. A series of charts and tables to support the narrative will be included.

Potential Ethical Issues

Potential ethical issues in a research study can include conflicts of interest, redundant publication, and plagiarism. In research by Sanjari et al. (2014), they discuss critical ethical concerns when conducting qualitative research such as anonymity, confidentiality, and informed consent.

References

Neubauer, B. E., Witkop, C., & Varpio, L. (2019, April 5). How phenomenology can help us learn from the experiences of others. Perspectives on Medical Education. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40037-019-0509-2

Sanjari, M., Bahramnezhad, F., Fomani, F. K., Shoghi, M., & Cheraghi, M. A. (2014). Ethical challenges of researchers in qualitative studies: the necessity to develop a specific guideline. Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine, 7, 14.

Sutton, J., & Austin, Z. (2015). Qualitative research: Data collection, analysis, and management. The Canadian Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, 68(3). https://doi.org/10.4212/cjhp.v68i3.1456

RSCH FPX 7868 Assessment 4 Research Topic

Mayes, R. (2018). Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide for Qualitative Research. SAGE Publications.

Priest, H. (2013). Analyzing qualitative data. Nurse Researcher, 20(5), 4-6.

Dye, J. (2021). Structuring qualitative data for grounded theory research. Qualitative Research Journal, 21(2), 123-136.471-5634-5_5