please discuss

Qualitative research provides a summary of what Goodwin and Goodwin (2017) describe as "analytical narratives." When developing a qualitative design, Richards and Morse (2013) advocate for the importance of methodological purposiveness and congruence. These concepts suggest that there is a qualitative method that best aligns with the purpose of any research project, and that the individual aspects of research can (and should) align to provide the best answer to a research question.

The first step in the armchair walkthrough (Morse, 1999, as cited in Richards & Morse, 2013, p. 36) is finding your topic - mine will be understanding the relationship between one's personal identity and their social media identity. The question is how one's sense of personal identity is shaped or impacted by the existence of a curated social media identity. Based on my understanding, grounded theory would by the most purposive method to use, as it considers "experiences in which change is expected" (Richards & Morse, 2013), and it seeks to understand personal experience and psychological processes. I would think case study may also be appropriate for this question; however, my research purpose is hoping to be both descriptive and interpretive, as I think there could be a behavioural or social process which drives the desire to hold these two differing identities. Qualitative research would be preferred here because of the importance of understanding subjective experience to answer this question.

43

Goodwin, K. A., & Goodwin, C. J. (2017).Research in psychology: Methods and design(8th ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Richards, L., & Morse, J. M. (2013). Readme first for a user's guide to qualitative methods (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.