Embarking on large-scale qualitative research: reaping the benefits of mixed methods in studying youth, clubs and drugs

Abstract

Qualitative research is often conceptualized as inherently small-scale research, primarily conducted by a lone researcher enmeshed in extensive and long-term fieldwork or involving in-depth interviews with a small sample of 20 to 30 participants. In the study of illicit drugs, traditionally this has often been in the form of ethnographies of drug-using subcultures. Such small-scale projects have produced important interpretive scholarship that focuses on the culture and meaning of drug use in situated, embodied contexts. Larger-scale projects are often assumed to be solely the domain of quantitative researchers, using formalistic survey methods and descriptive or explanatory models. In this paper, however, we will discuss qualitative research done on a comparatively larger scale—with in-depth qualitative interviews with hundreds of young drug users. Although this work incorporates some quantitative elements into the design, data collection, and analysis, the qualitative dimension and approach has nevertheless remained central. Larger-scale qualitative research shares some of the challenges and promises of smaller-scale qualitative work including understanding drug consumption from an emic perspective, locating hard-to-reach populations, developing rapport with respondents, generating thick descriptions and a rich analysis, and examining the wider socio-cultural context as a central feature. However, there are additional challenges specific to the scale of qualitative research, which include data management, data overload and problems of handling large-scale data sets, time constraints in coding and analyzing data, and personnel issues including training, organizing and mentoring large research teams. Yet large samples can prove to be essential for enabling researchers to conduct comparative research, whether that be cross-national research within a wider European perspective undertaken by different teams or cross-cultural research looking at internal divisions and differences within diverse communities and cultures.

An examination of gender and situational interest in multimedia learning environments

“…These qualitative and mixed methods approaches to studying SI hold immense potential, but run into the challenge of being inherently stigmatized as small scale. However, large scale studies ( N > 100) present different challenges with respect to “data management, data overload and problems of handling large‐scale data sets, time constraints in coding and analyzing data, and personnel issues including training, organizing and mentoring large research teams” (Hunt, Moloney, & Fazio, , p. 1). Among self‐reporting surveys, one of the most commonly referenced and used/modified instruments is known as the Situational Interest Survey (Linnenbrink‐Garcia et al ., ).…”

It’s hard to reach the “hard-to-reach”: the challenges of recruiting people who do not access preventative healthcare services into interview studies

“…Alternative approaches commonly used to recruit other “hard-to-reach” populations include time-location (or time-space) sampling, and venue-based sampling, where recruitment is conducted at times and locations within the community where groups of “hard-to-reach” populations are likely to be found (Karon, 2005) (e.g., Mutagoma et al, 2017; Wittenberg et al, 2015), indigenous field worker sampling, where individuals from the local community are trained to recruit and collect data in place of researchers (Shaghaghi et al, 2011) (e.g., Greene et al, 2009) and community-based outreach (e.g., Halcón & Lifson, 2004). Examples of successful recruitment into interview studies using such approaches are provided by Hunt, Moloney, and Fazio (2011) who used venue-based sampling, amongst other approaches, to recruit participants into an in-depth interview study about their drug use and youth culture, and by Elliott, Watson, and Harries (2002), who used peer interviewers to recruit and interview parents who use illegal drugs.…”

The Challenges and Benefits of Employing a Mobile Research Fellow to Facilitate Team Work on a Large, Interdisciplinary, Multi-Sited Project

“…Such projects are likely to increase at a time of funding cuts as they can offer greater 'value for money'. Similarly, with increased emphasis on 'impact' (ESRC, 2013), large multi-sited comparative studies can have more significant policy implications than single site small-scale projects (Hunt et al, 2011).…”