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Qualitative research
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Qualitative research is a field of inquiry that crosscuts disciplines and subject matters . Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The discipline investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed rather than large random samples.
History
Qualitative research was one of the first forms of social studies (conducted e.g.
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Qualitative research is a field of inquiry that crosscuts disciplines and subject matters . Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior. The discipline investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed rather than large random samples.
History
Qualitative research was one of the first forms of social studies (conducted e.g. by Bronislaw Malinowski or Elton Mayo), but in the 1950s and 1960s - as quantitative science reached its peak of popularity - it was diminished in importance and began to regain recognition only in the 1970s. The phrase 'qualitative research' was until then restricted as a discipline of anthropology or sociology, and terms like ethnography, fieldwork, participant observation and Chicago school (sociology) were used instead. During the 1970s and 1980s qualitative research began to be used in other disciplines, and became a significant type of research in the fields of education studies, social work studies, women's studies, disability studies, information studies, management studies, nursing service studies, human service studies, psychology, communication studies, and other. Some qualitative research occurred in the consumer products industry during this period: researchers most interested in investigating consumer new product and product positioning opportunities worked with a handful of the earliest consumer research pioneers including Gene Reilly of The Gene Reilly Group in Darien, CT, Jerry Schoenfeld of Gerald Schoenfeld & Partners in Tarrytown, NY and Martin Calle of Calle & Company, Greenwich, CT. In the late 1980s and 1990s after a spate of criticisms from the quantitative side, paralleling a slowdown in traditional media spending for the decade, new methods of qualitative research evolved, to address the perceived problems with reliability and imprecise modes of data analysis.
In the last thirty years the acceptance of qualitative research by journal publishers and editors has been growing. Prior to that time many mainstream journals were prone to publish research articles based upon the natural sciences and which featured quantitative analysis .
Distinctions from quantitative research
The term qualitative research is most often used in the social sciences in contrast to quantitative research. It differs from quantitative research in many ways. First, sampling is typically not random but is purposive. That is, cases are chosen based on the way that they typify or do not typify certain characteristics or participate in a certain class. Secondly, the role of the researcher is key. Researchers must reflect on their role in the research process and make this clear in the analysis. Thirdly, data analysis differs considerably. Researchers must carefully code data and discern themes in a consistent and reliable way.
One way of differentiating qualitative research from quantitative research is that largely qualitative research is exploratory (i.e., hypothesis-generating), while quantitative research is more focused and aims to test hypotheses. However it may be argued that each reflects a particular discourse; neither being definitively more conclusive or 'true' than the other. In addition, qualitative research speaks to content validity -- do measures measure what a researcher thinks they measure? Quantitative data are of the kind that may lead to measurement or other kinds of analysis involving applied mathematics, while qualitative data cannot always be put into a context that can be graphed or displayed as a mathematical term. However, qualitative data may be useful to explain puzzling quantitative results, or may be used to generate additional variables to include in an analysis.
Qualitative research is also highly useful in policy and evaluation research, where understanding why and how certain outcomes were achieved is as important as establishing what those outcomes were. Qualitative research can yield useful insights about program implementation -- were expectations reasonable? Did processes operate as expected? Were key players able to carry out their duties?
A specialized form of qualitative research is cognitive testing, used to develop survey items. Survey items are piloted on study participants to see what reactions they elicit. Another specialized method is focus groups, often used in market research but also in other contexts where a range of responses from a target group is useful (eg, a group of nurses might give their reactions to new work requirements).qualitative research is basically a kind of systematic work that actually happens at many areas of field
Data Collection
Qualitative research categorizes data into patterns as the primary basis for organizing and reporting results. Qualitative researchers typically rely on four methods for gathering information:
Participant Observation
Non-participant Observation
Field Note
Reflexive Journal
Structured Interview
Unstructured Interview
analysis of documents and materials .
The ways of participating and observing can vary widely from setting to setting. Participant observation is used by researchers who become members of a culture, group, or setting, and adopt roles to conform to that setting. By doing this, researchers gain a closer insight into the culture's motivations and emotions. Observing without participating may inhibit the researchers' ability to understand the experiences of the culture. Participant observation is a strategy of reflexive learning, not a single method of observing.
Some distinctive methods are the use of focus groups and key informant interviews.
Qualitative researchers may use different approaches in collecting data, such as the grounded theory practice, narratology, storytelling, classical ethnography, or shadowing. Qualitative methods are also loosely present in other methodological approaches, such as action research or actor-network theory. Forms of the data collected include text, pictures, etc.
Data Analysis
The most common analysis of qualitative data is observer impression. That is, expert or layman observers examine the data, form an impression, and report their impression in a structured, many times, quantitative form. These impressions can be the final conclusion of the analysis, or some quantitative characteristics of the data to be further analyzed using some quantitative methods. An example of quantitative characteristics is word frequencies in textual data.
Contemporary qualitative studies are sometimes supported by computer programs. The benefits of these types of programs are mostly limited to storing and segregating data, rather than in processing or analyzing them.
Paradigmatic Differences
Contemporary qualitative research has been conducted from a large number of various paradigms that influence conceptual and metatheoretical concerns of legitimacy, control, data analysis, ontology, and epistemology, among others. Research conducted in the last 10 years has been characterized by a distinct turn toward more interpretive, postmodern, and critical practices. Guba and Lincoln (2005) identify five main paradigms of contemporary qualitative research: positivism, postpositivism, critical theories, constructivism, and participatory/cooperative paradigms. Each of the paradigms listed by Guba and Lincoln are characterized by axiomatic differences in axiology, intended action of research, control of research process/outcomes, relationship to foundations of truth and knowledge, validity (see below), textual representation and voice of the researcher/participants, and commensurability with other paradigms. In particular, commensurability involves the extent to which paradigmatic concerns “can be retrofitted to each other in ways that make the simultaneous practice of both possible”. Positivist and postpositivist paradigms share commensurable assumptions but are largely incommensurable with critical, constructivist, and participatory paradigms. Likewise, critical, constructivist, and participatory paradigms are commensurable on certain issues (e.g., intended action and textual representation).
Validation
One of the central issues in qualitative research is validity (also known as credibility and/or dependability). There are many different ways of establishing validity, including: member check, interviewer corroboration, peer debriefing, prolonged engagement, negative case analysis, auditability, confirmability, bracketing, and balance. Most of these methods were coined, or at least extensively described by Lincoln and Guba (1985)
Validation, however, is inherently based on a philosophy of positivism. Non positivistic viewpoints include the idea that findings do not need to be reproducible, verifiable, or consistent, and idea that comes from the notion that there are multiple realities, not just one. For positivistic viewpoints, though, validation is as important as the research itself.
Academic Research
By the end of the 1970’s many leading journals began to publish qualitative research articles and several new journals emerged which published only qualitative research studies and articles about qualitative research methods .
In the 1980’s and 1990’s, the new qualitative research journals became more multidisciplinary in focus moving beyond qualitative research’s traditional disciplinary roots of anthropology, sociology, and philosophy .
The new millennium saw a dramatic increase in the number of journals specializing in qualitative research publications with at least one new qualitative research journal being launched each year.
See also
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