How Many Interviews Are Enough to Identify Metathemes in Multisited and Cross-Cultural Research? Another Perspective on Guest, Bunce, and Johnson's (2006) Landmark Study

Autor/inn/en	Hagaman, Ashley K.; Wutich, Amber
Titel	How Many Interviews Are Enough to Identify Metathemes in Multisited and Cross-Cultural Research? Another Perspective on Guest, Bunce, and Johnson's (2006) Landmark Study
Quelle	In: Field Methods, 29 (2017) 1, S.23-41 (19 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1525-822X
DOI	10.1177/1525822X16640447
Schlagwörter	Interviews; Data Collection; Qualitative Research; Cross Cultural Studies; Data Analysis; Sample Size; Identification; Homogeneous Grouping; Research Design; Water; Foreign Countries; Ethnography; Bolivia; New Zealand; Fiji; Arizona (Phoenix) + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Data capture; Datensammlung; Qualitative Forschung; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Auswertung; Identifikation; Identifizierung; Homogene Gruppierung; Niveaugruppierung; Streaming; Forschungsdesign; Wasser; Ausland; Ethnografie; Bolivien; Neuseeland; Fidschi
Abstract	There is much debate over the number of interviews needed to reach data saturation for themes and metathemes in qualitative research. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the number of interviews needed to reach data saturation for metathemes in multisited and cross-cultural research. The analysis is based on a cross-cultural study on water issues conducted with 132 respondents in four different sites. Analysis of the data yielded 240 site-specific themes and nine cross-cultural metathemes. We found that 16 or fewer interviews were enough to identify common themes from sites with relatively homogeneous groups. Yet our research reveals that larger sample sizes--ranging from 20 to 40 interviews--were needed to reach data saturation for metathemes that cut across all sites. Our findings may be helpful in estimating sample sizes for each site in multisited or cross-cultural studies in which metathematic comparisons are part of the research design. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01