Qualitative Lab Report (Essay Sample)

Qualitative Lab Report
Title: Qualitative research on life stories
MSIS No: M00421968
Word Count: 1,551
Abstract
This research was a qualitative and was conducted on life stories whereby people’s memories of their childhood experiences were relied upon. The research involved two female participants who were interviewed by two individuals regarding their life stories, their childhood and adolescents’ experiences. Transcripts of the interview were given to psychology students for reading purposes. They were supposed to read the transcript and relate the life stories in IPA approach. Using logic, and related notes, they were to make major themes and sub themes. In this research, sample codes are mentioned under each code. The main objective of this was to show how individuals recall their childhood experiences. Over the years, numerous studies have been conducted regarding peoples life experiences using IPA approach. The IPA approach was selected owing to its high credibility and precision levels to such research studies.
Introduction
In this research, behaviors of the participants have been put into consideration. Such behaviors not only focused on the childhood of the participant, but also their current situation and intelligent projection of the future. It was hoped that by critically analyzing the childhood of an individual, it would be comparatively easier to predict how their present situation was related. This is because the research is qualitative in its very nature. The nature of a qualitative research is that which concentrates on understanding the behavior of the individuals involved so as to gather results which further offer guidance to the researcher. The research makes use of interviews as the method of data collection. While direct interviews are the primary and major source of data collection, it is important to note that in the analysis of the sub theme category data; there was the incorporation of other research methodologies such as direct comparison. Such comparison can be affected by the use of any comparison strategy such as bar graphs and line graphs. Researchers conduct a field research that involves outside activity of getting information from individuals, groups or organizations. As opposed to getting results, qualitative research aims at getting functionality of ideas, opinions and people’s views. It is deemed more befitting due to the fact that such personal application of the current and present situation would lead to not only a more valid outcome, but also make the research study more credible. Such credibility is a direct result of the integration of relevant data to the study. People’s attitudes, behaviors, their understanding of issues and the reason behind their behaviors are also put into consideration. It is hoped that by analyzing the attitudes of the individuals who were interviewed, their behavior as well as response to activities could be analyzed more credibly. In addition to the above, such attitudes would help understand the relation between the childhood of an individual and their present situation. While the underlying theme was that the factors listed above were directly applicable in the determination of a particular circumstance, other divergent factors which were to be proved otherwise were incorporated in the research study. Therefore, this research method does begin with a statement of hypothesis but rather the hypotheses are formulated based on the results retrieved from research and analysis. The chief aim of this research is by and large to understand and explore issues in order to explain a situation. The merits of using such analysis are dues to its level of flexibility (Holloway & Todress, 2003). In addition to qualitative research, the researcher has an idea of what to expect at the end of the study. This is dissimilar to quantitative research where the end results are unknown to the researcher. In qualitative research, the researcher is able to note the behavior of the individuals involved. This report will elaborate on peoples life stories and their ability to recall their past life experiences and the effect of those memories to their well-being. it is worthy to note that the experiences that were analyzed were of both positive and negative characteristic depending on the particular circumstance. It was necessary to include both categories in order to ensure that a more balanced result was achieved. Life stories start happening from when a baby is born and develops more as the child develops. This process is dependent on a child’s social and cultural environment. According to Fivush, Haden, & Adam, there is evidence to the fact that a child can recall events that has taken place in his of their life from the early age. They recall these events as a single emotional event. Their ability to describe these memories improves over the preschool and early school years. Nonetheless, the ability to narrate a real and consistent life stories develops during young adulthood and adolescents stages (Habermas & Bluck, 2000). Life experiences refer to the process of undergoing, encountering and observing things as they occur over a period. These experiences have the ability to nature the perceptions of individuals and to determine how individuals relate with each other in the society (Fivush et al, 1997). According to a study conducted by Sarason etal, there is a significant link between stress encountered in life and changes in health of a person (Sarason et al, 1978). In another study conducted by Pals, it is demonstrated that difficult life experiences play a huge role in defining the identity of a person, and the way he perceives the world (Pals, 2006). Lason notes that when teens are undertaking their youthful activities, they learn how to organize themselves and overcome the obstacles faced on a daily basis. This enables them to attain their goals. This study aims at analyzing the life experiences of a participant so as to understand the effect of these experiences on their future. For this reason, this study’s main objective is to demonstrate how life experiences shape the development of an individual. This will be achieved by answering the research question: How Participants experienced life when growing up(Lason2000).
 Methods
1. Sample: As required in the course, the participants physically participated in this research. The participants of this research were two females. One of them was 20 years old and the other one was 19 years old. They were both university students who moved from their home country to Dubai.
2. Data collection method: To effect the research, A quiet room was prepared and a semi-structured interview on the subject was commenced. Focus was made on the participant’s life stories and experiences. During the interview, Voice recorders were positioned on the table and questions were directed to both participants one at a time. The interview was by way of consent as both participants expressed their willingness to take part in the interview. There was research assistant issued the two participants with consent forms and upon which they gave consent to the interview. The form also contained guidelines and the activities associated with the interviewing process.
3. Data analysis methods: the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method was used to analyze data in this research. After the transcription of the interview by the research assistants, reading of the recorded data was conclusively done. Such conclusiveness was essential as it enabled the final data sampled to be of high integrity value. Further, the data was measured against a known value to determine the credibility. All the essential details were analyzed using the IPA method. Such details were inclusive of all the responses that were obtained from the individuals’ interviewed. Similar data gathered during the interview were noted for making the themes. The determination of the theme to be utilized bordered between high relevance as well as its practicability to the matter under study. The IPA method of analyzing data was preferred because it is more detailed in analyzing life stories .This methods does not focus only on one life story which helps to be more accurate in research. It is also an efficient method in the sense that it can be used to incorporate quite an array of data that has been collected.
4. Reflexivity: During my research, there are other external factors that affected my analyzing of data. Tough in a way, these factors contributed to the success of my research outcomes. The experiences of the two participants were similar to mine. This was of essence to my research as I could easily relate to them. By contrast, I found a lot of coincidence in relation to the participant’s childhood and adolescence experiences. They grew up away from their parents a similar experience to mine. I was therefore able to undertake a detailed qualitative research that involved comparing experiences. The data was then to be analyzed into themes. It is also important to underline that the close relation to the experience shared by both the participants and mine was necessary as well as highly critical in the ensuring that my research proved to be a success.
Findings
Table 1: During Childhood
Memories

Experiences

First word

loneliness

Safety toy

pressured

Not around parents

independent

Sample codes:
Not around parents: "Carey: I came without my parents”, "Sally: I wasn’t with my mum and my father was away a lot”
Table 2: Experiences the participants had
At Childhood

At Adolescence

Loneliness

responsibility

Pressured

Two different personalities

Independent