Methodological Rigor in Qualitative Research: How Appropriate Population Selection Enables the Generation of Multiple Qualitative Analysis.
Methods:. An approach was initiated by creating a Z index using indicators such as the prevalence of single parent households, unemployment rates, and migrant populations, among others. This index facilitated the stratification of neighbourhoods into three socioeconomic tertiles: low, medium, and high. Selecting five neighbourhoods from each city based on their socioeconomic status provided a diverse contextual backdrop for the research. Focusing on educational centres within these neighbourhoods, qualitative data were collected through 36 semi structured interviews, including 12 with key informants who offered in depth insights into community dynamics. Additionally, 24 focus groups were conducted—6 with students, 12 with teachers, and 6 with parents—to capture a wide spectrum of perspectives and experiences. To analyse the data and deepen the understanding of participants' lived experiences and the meanings they ascribe to them, an interpretative/constructivist paradigm within a case study design was adopted, utilizing grounded theory for data analysis. Furthermore, to expedite and enhance the analysis, Atlas.ti 23 software was employed to create codes and categories using axial coding.
Results: The flexibility of this qualitative approach not only enriched the data collected but also provided multiple angles from which to analyse complex social phenomena. By engaging various stakeholders, we obtained nuanced information on topics determining adolescents’ behaviour such as economic hardships, gender inequality, insecurity, lack of infrastructure or peer pressure. This multifaceted dataset empowers researchers to address different research questions and themes, leading to the development of several scientific papers, each focusing on specific aspects uncovered during the study.
Conclusion: Utilizing municipalities’ databases for precise population selection enhances qualitative studies, enabling comprehensive exploration of complex such as health topics and producing robust research outputs.