(NCU) Create a Qualitative Study Design Chart

Create a Qualitative Study Design Chart 
BTM 8108, Assignment 7 
DuBose, Justin Z. 
Dr. Craig Martin 
2 September 2018 

​Introduction 
This paper will present a chart of three different types of qualitative studies.  The first type of qualitative study is a grounded theory research study.  The second type of qualitative study is a case study, and the third type of qualitative study is a narrative study.  With each study, data collection method will be included along with the type of qualitative research study being conducted. 
Each case study works within the same research scenario.  This scenario examines e-leadership of virtual teams in the context of a regional district of a Christian denomination within the United States.  This district is led by a District Superintendent and is comprised of thirty-nine churches spread out over a four-state area in the midwestern United States.  The leadership challenge presented here is direct responsibility and oversight for thirty-nine individual churches distributed over an area of more than 400,000 square miles.  These thirty-nine churches are grouped into six “teams”, each of which has a virtual team leader. 
This scenario undertakes an examination of e-leader/individual virtual team leader interaction and the perceived effect on virtual team cohesion and performance.  In this scenario, the researcher will observe virtual interactions between the e-leader and virtual team leaders under his supervision.  These virtual meetings consist of regularly scheduled video conferences between e-leader and virtual team leaders.  Observations will be made by the researcher during virtual meetings between the e-leader and virtual team leaders.  Furthermore, individual face-to-face interviews will be established between the researcher and virtual team leaders as a follow-up to these meetings.  These meetings will be digitally recorded with audio-visual equipment and accompanied by copious written notes and observations on the part of the researcher.  This is all accomplished in an effort to understand the perceived impact of virtual meetings between the e-leader and virtual team leaders.  By studying these virtual professional development and coaching sessions between the e-leader and individual virtual team leaders, this study will provide e-leaders with research to positively improve their virtual team performance and effective e-leadership of virtual teams. 
Type of Study 
Data Collection Method 
Explanation 

Grounded Theory Research 
Survey 
This qualitative study will utilize grounded theory research to discover virtual team member perception of truth by means observation and interviews with virtual team leaders throughout the district.  These observation and interviews will subsequently be translated into categorized statements about causal relationships between actors (Suddaby, 2006).  These categorized statements about causal relationships will then form the basis of theory-generation which contribute to the field of study (Hussein et al, 2014).  As befits grounded theory research, the study will conclude with an action agenda for reform for the e-leader, who, in this case, is the District Superintendent.  This action agenda will be rooted in the generated theory of e-leadership which surfaces following a close examination of the categorized statements.  This action agenda is to better inform the e-leader of his perceived effectiveness by virtual team leaders and to improve team effectiveness and performance. 

Case Study 
Interview 
This qualitative case study is undertaken to discover virtual team member perception of truth by means observation and interviews with virtual team leaders throughout this single district.  This case study will serve as one unique example of e-leadership which will be shared with other District Superintendents of this denomination across the country.  This research purpose is consistent with Gomm, Hammersley, & Foster (2009) and others who note that the primary goal of case study research is to discover causal relationships in one case, not to determine whether they exist elsewhere. 
These observation and interviews will subsequently be translated into categorized statements about causal relationships between actors (Suddaby, 2006).  These categorized statements about causal relationships will then form the basis of theory-generation which contribute to the field of study (Yin, 1981). 

Narrative Study 
Interview 
This narrative qualitative study is conducted to give the virtual team leaders in this district a voice by means observation and interviews with the researcher.  This narrative study will serve as one unique example of e-leadership which will be shared with other District Superintendents of this denomination across the country.   
 
Like all narrative studies, several key elements will be included in communicating the results of this study.  One major distinguishing factor of narrative research is clear organization and craftsmanship.  Lincoln & Cuba (2002) noted that good narrative writing in case study research possesses four common characteristics: unity, overall organization, clarity, and craftsmanship.  There is, therefore, a creative element present is the presentation of data discoveries by the narrative researcher.  The findings of the researcher will be better received by recipients if research categories and concise, clearly defined, and crafted in a well-organized manner. 
In this narrative study, then, an extra emphasis will be placed upon communicating the voice of the research subjects.  Interviews will be video recorded so as to provide the researcher an opportunity to not only listen multiple times to the words of the virtual team leaders, but also to the non-verbal language used during the interview process. 
In analyzing and categorizing data, the researcher will utilize constant comparison analysis.  Constant comparison analysis is frequently utilized in narrative qualitative research.  In constant comparison analysis, text from speeches and interviews with research participants are entered into the coding software.  The software then takes words and phrases used by the participants and compares these words and phrases to the rest of the data.  From this coding of data, themes begin to emerge and are categorized into larger groups (Davis & Meyer, 2009). 
 

References 
Davis, N. W., & Meyer, B. B. (2009). Qualitative data analysis: A procedural comparison. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 21(1), 116-125.  
Gomm, R., Hammersley, M., & Foster, P. (2009). Case study method London, : SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9780857024367 
Hussein, M. E., Hirst, S., Salyers, V., & Osuji, J. (2014). Using Grounded Theory as a Method of Inquiry: Advantages and Disadvantages. The Qualitative Report, 19(27), 1-15. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol19/iss27/3 
Lincoln, Y. & Cuba, E. (2002). Judging the quality of case study reports. In Huberman, A. M., & Miles, M. B. The qualitative researcher's companion (pp. 204-215). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412986274 
Suddaby, R. (2006). From the editors: What grounded theory is not. Academy of Management Journal, 49(4), 633-642. Retrieved from http://amj.aom.org 
Yin, R.K. (1981). The case study crisis: Some answers. Administrative Science Quarterly, 26, 58-65. Retrieved from https://www.johnson.cornell.edu/Administrative-Science-Quarterly