Qualitative article analysis methods and applications

Shraga, O. & Shirom, A. The construct validity of vigor and its antecedents: A qualitative study.

Human Relations, 62: 271.

Qualitative study is a unique approach to research and the acquisition of knowledge that prioritizes narrative, experiential learning vs. data-driven hypothesis testing via the scientific method. The fact that the article by Ofira Shraga and Arie Shirom on 'employee vigor' takes a qualitative approach is plainly proclaimed in its title: "The construct validity of vigor and its antecedents: A qualitative study." The study attempts to analyze the concept of 'vigor' using coded interview responses and personal and anecdotal information of a small number of research subjects in a specific environment.

According to the authors, the study was designed to validate their "conceptualization of vigor as comprising physical strength, emotional energy and cognitive liveliness," specifically in its work-related incarnations through interviews with 51 randomly-selected employees who were undergoing a routine health examination (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 277). Vigor was conceptualized for the purposes of the study through the authors conducting a very far-reaching, broad-based literature review that made use of the Japanese cultural tradition of ki as well as management literature on the value of vigor as a prolonged, affective state that can have a positive impact upon the workforce. " We posit that focusing on vigor as a positive affect and on its antecedents has the potential of enriching and extending our understanding of employees' attempts to survive and flourish within their work environment" (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 273).

Although the approach is specifically identified as a qualitative one, it should be noted that the authors do briefly discuss some quantitative data-gathering instruments that have attempted to offer a more objective definition of the concept. "Vigor was identified as a distinct factor and therefore was measured by a distinct scale in the Profile of Mood State…Items used in POMS to assess vigor (e.g. energetic, full of pep, vigorous) reflect the physical strength facet of vigor, as conceptualized above. The UWIST Mood Adjective Checklist (Matthews & Jones, 1990) includes a subscale of energetic arousal that contained items gauging physical strength (e.g. 'energetic', 'vigorous') and also items gauging cognitive liveliness (e.g. 'alert')" (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 274). These preexisting instruments are used to give validity to the construction of vigor as a distinct concept, separate from other emotions or moods.

The study as a whole clearly contained some non-standard elements to the qualitative approach: it began with a definition of what was being studied in a deductive fashion, rather than defining the concept of vigor inductively after analyzing the interviews. The respondents were also randomly selected (albeit from a specific population). However, there was no attempt to create an experimental or control group, to use large numbers of respondents, or to create a diverse sampling as in quantitative research. All subjects were selected from the same workplace and were interviewed personally as well as had their health records voluntarily assessed. Interviews were conducted over the phone and were relatively open-ended although the researchers did have a targeted purpose, namely "confirm or disconfirm the suggested three-factor structure of vigor" (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 278). In contrast to a quantitative study, there was no attempt to create a control group or even find a large number of individuals of a wide range of backgrounds who might have different conceptions of 'vigor' based upon their culture and personal experiences. Finally, 71% of the very small pool of respondents was male, which could have further skewed results (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 277).

In contrast to a pure 'case study' approach to qualitative data, analysis of the research was still systematized in terms of thematic content, using the phenomenon of "cycling" of common themes (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 275) "In order to maintain the independence of the replication logic, each rater first read each interview and noted down the ideas that emerged from it. Only then did we proceed to search for patterns or themes that repeated themselves across the different interviews" (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 276). Responses were then 'coded' by different raters for common themes which emerged. The subjective nature of this process was acknowledged by the researchers: "In the development of the coding protocol, we created mutually exclusive themes and categories. Still, a possible interrelatedness of some of the categories must be acknowledged" (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 277). For example, both success and coping with challenges were seen by the respondents as part of their personal definition of vigor, but there can be obvious overlap given that someone who overcomes challenges might be regarded as a success.

The authors believed that "the results clearly supported the three-component conceptualization of vigor as most employees (77%) related to vigor as a multifaceted variable" but the small test population makes this assertion of relatively limited value, other than as an exploration of the concept within a very particular workplace setting, which presumably has employees of fairly similar backgrounds (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 277). It should also be noted that 13 of the respondents could not remember showing vigor at work at all and "tended to be employed in clerical or semi-skilled occupations as rank-and-file employees, whereas those experiencing vigor tended to be employed in occupations like engineering or in managerial positions" (Shraga & Shirom 2009: 285).