Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Longitudinal Measurement and Analysis

Project Number: R40 MC 04293-03
Project Date: 01/01/2005
Grantee: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Department/Center: Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute

Final Report

Pending

Principal Investigator

Margaret Burchinal PhD,
Senior Scientist, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute,
Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, Sheryl Mar, CB #8185, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-8185
burchina@mail.fpg.unc.edu

Abstract

Understanding the complex factors that influence maternal and child health and development requires a matching complexity and integration of methods at multiple levels. Advances in both quantitative and qualitative methods have enhanced our ability to measure developmental outcomes, describe patterns of change, and identify factors associated with change. However, the integration of both approaches in applied research has lagged behind their use individually. The methods provide complementary information, and, indeed, the weaknesses of one method can be offset by the strengths of the other. To oversimplify, qualitative data can provide in-depth information about developmental processes and their contexts, but usually include observations of only a small number of individuals so generalizability of findings is suspect. Quantitative data can describe developmental trajectories and identify correlates of change in a manner that facilitates generalizabllity, but is less useful for describing process or the meanings that underlie health behaviors and attitudes. Integration of these methods should provide greater breadth and depth of understanding. However, there are many barriers to integrating methods at all levels (sampling, measurement development and/or selection, data collection, data analysis and interpretation), and few successful examples exist. This study will demonstrate the feasibility and utility of integrated analyses by extending the data collection and analysis in three large, recently funded, longitudinal studies of child development during the first five years of life. The investigators propose data collection and analysis that is not included in these ongoing projects and is not covered by current funding. The investigators plan to integrate methods to optimize the appropriateness and cultural sensitivity of parenting and child outcome instruments by using traditional psychometric analyses, item response theory analyses using differential item function, and semi-structured interviews. Further, the investigators will examine two research questions relating parenting beliefs and practices to child safety practices and to the development of self-regulation. Information about developmental processes collected in qualitative data through cultural models analysis and structural discovery approaches will be combined with information about developmental trajectories collected in the quantitative data through growth curve and latent profile analyses. The three projects involve longitudinal assessments of low and middle-income children in rural and urban settings, and include children from diverse ethnic backgrounds. One includes children with a specific genetic disorder, fragile X syndrome. This proposed study extends those projects by providing additional methodological time and expertise to integrate methods within both measurement and analysis phases within and across projects, and to conduct an ethnographic study of the process of integrating methods across the three projects to identify characteristics of research designs and teams that facilitate integration.

Publications

Listed is descending order by year published.

Burchinal, M. R., Vernon-Feagans, L., & Cox, M. (2008). Cumulative social risk and infant development in rural low-income communities. Parenting: Science and Practice, 8, 41-82.

Flower, K. B., Willoughby, M., Cadigan, J., Perris, E. M., Randolph, G., (2008). Understanding breastfeeding initiation and continuation in rural communities: A combined qualitative/quantitative approach. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 12, 402-414 (doi:10-1007/s10995-007-02486)

Skinner, D., & Burchinal, M. (2008). Interdisciplinary research. In L. Givens (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods. Sage.

Wheeler, A., Skinner, D., & Bailey, D. B. (2008). Perceived quality of life in mothers of children with fragile X syndrome. American Journal on Mental Retardation, 133(3), 159-177.

Willoughby, M., Cardigan, J., Burchinal, M., & Skinner, D. (2008). An evaluation of the psychometric properties of and criterion validity of the Religious Social Support Scale. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 47, 147-159.

Zolotor, A., Burchinal, M., Skinner, D., & Rosenthal, M. (2008). Maternal psychological adjustment and knowledge of infant development as predictors of home safety practices in rural low-income communities. Pediatrics, 121, 6, pp. e1668-e1675 (doi:10.1542/peds.2007-1255)

Brady, N., Skinner, D., Roberts, J., & Hennon, E. (2006). Communication in young children with fragile X syndrome: Mothers' perspectives. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 15, 353-364.