Qualitative Research in Veterinary Medical Education: Part 2—Carrying Out Research Projects

Abstract

This is the second of two articles that together comprise an orientation and introduction to qualitative research for veterinary medical educators who may be new to research, or for those whose research experience is based on the quantitative traditions of biomedicine. In the first article ( Part 1—Principles of Qualitative Design), we explored the types of research interests and goals suited to qualitative inquiry and introduced the concepts of research paradigms and methodologies. In this second article, we move to the strategies and actions involved in conducting a qualitative study, including selection and sampling of research sites and participants, data collection and analysis. We introduce some guidelines for reporting qualitative research and explore the ways in which qualitative research is evaluated and the findings applied. Throughout, we provide illustrative examples from veterinary and human medical education and suggest useful resources for further reading. Taken together, the two articles build an understanding of qualitative research, outline how it may be conducted, and equip readers with an improved capacity to appraise its value.

Assessment of a Teaching Module for Cardiac Auscultation of Horses by Veterinary Students

“…Leximancer™, a qualitative analysis software platform that statistically analyses a document's text for keywords and concepts through the use of algorithms then displays these in a visual concept map without subjectivity and bias when qualitatively analyzing the data set [22][23][24][25]. The comparison of manually-coded and Leximancer analyses constitutes a form of triangulation and strengthens the reliability of this study's qualitative findings [22,26,27].…”

“…Thematic analysis can be criticized as being highly subjective and lacking in scientific rigor when measured against quantitative evaluative criteria [20,21,26,38]. However, qualitative research strategies, such as thematic analysis, allow researchers to generate a granularity of findings that cannot be obtained through quantitative means [20,21,26]. Participants can give voice to their individual perspectives and are not constrained by the researcher's hypotheses [20,21,26].…”

Gender discrimination of veterinary students and its impact on career aspiration: A mixed methods approach

“…The scripts were designed to obtain qualitative data to provide deeper insights into student experiences. 18 …”

“…The scripts were designed to obtain qualitative data to provide deeper insights into student experiences. 18 The questionnaire comprised three sections. Section one collected demographic information.…”

“…The results from the questionnaire were used to inform the focus group scripts utilised in phase two of the study. The scripts were designed to obtain qualitative data to provide deeper insights into student experiences 18 …”