Characteristics of Qualitative Research PDF

CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Subtitle  DESIGN  a. Naturalistic: refers to studying real-world situations as they unfold naturally; nonmanipulative and noncontrolling; the researcher is open to whatever emerges.  b. Emergent: acceptance of adapting inquiry as understanding deep...

CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Subtitle  DESIGN  a. Naturalistic: refers to studying real-world situations as they unfold naturally; nonmanipulative and noncontrolling; the researcher is open to whatever emerges.  b. Emergent: acceptance of adapting inquiry as understanding deepens and/or situations change; the researcher avoids rigid designs that eliminate responding to opportunities to pursue new paths of discovery as they emerge.  c. Purposeful: cases for study are selected because they are “information rich” and illuminative. That is, they offer useful manifestations of the phenomenon of interest; sampling is aimed at insight about the phenomenon, not empirical generalization derived from a sample and applied to a population.  COLLECTION OF DATA  a. Personal experience and engagement: The researcher has direct contact with and gets close to the people, situation, and phenomenon under investigation.  b. Empathic neutrality: An empathic stance in working with study respondents seek vicarious understanding without judgment [neutrality] by showing openness, sensitivity, respect, awareness, and responsiveness; in observation, it means being fully present [mindfulness].  c. Dynamic systems: There is attention to process; assumes change is ongoing, whether the focus is on an individual, an organization, a community, or an entire culture, therefore, the researcher is mindful of and attentive to system and situational dynamics.  ANALYSIS  a. Unique case orientation: Assumes that each case is special and unique.  b. Inductive analysis: Immersion in the details and specifics of the data to discover important patterns, themes, and inter-relationships; begins by exploring, then confirming findings, guided by analytical principles rather than rules.  c. Holistic perspective: The whole phenomenon under study is understood as a complex system that is more than the sum of its parts; the focus is on complex interdependencies and system dynamics that cannot be reduced in any meaningful way to linear, cause and effect relationships and/or a few discrete variables.  ANALYSIS  d. Context sensitive: Places findings in a social, historical, and temporal context; researcher is careful about the possibility or meaningfulness of generalizations across time and space; emphasizes careful comparative case analyses and extrapolating patterns for possible transferability and adaptation in new settings.  Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Research  Qualitative Research is more focused on exploring the issues, understanding the actual problem and enabling oneself to answer all the questions. It is more dependent on deriving the value of variables in their natural setting. The data via this method is collected by asking open ended questions and serving with the direct quotations. Qualitative can be beneficial in the following ways:  Strengths and Weaknesses of Qualitative Research  a. All the problems and the topics covered under this research are in detail.  b. This method majorly focuses on small groups which ultimately do not require more expenses when compared to quantitative research.  c. On the emergence of new developed information and findings, the revision, direction and framework of the data can be done easily quickly.  d. The data is collected from a small group which bounds it to be universal for a large population. e. The data with this method is collected based on genuine efforts and gives a clear vision on what can be expected.  Weaknesses of Qualitative Research  a. As the data is collected for a small group, due to which assumptions cannot be made beyond the small group of people.  b. It becomes difficult to demonstrate, maintain and assess the rigidity of the data.  c. Collection of statistical data is not easy and cannot be done solely by using this method.  d. As the data is in big quantity, analysis and interpretation of the data takes much time.  e. The responses of the subjects might be affected as the researchers are bound to be present during the process of data gathering.  Kinds of Qualitative Research a. Ethnography  A qualitative research method often used in the social sciences that is often used in gathering data on human societies/cultures. Ethnography, simply stated, is the study of people in their own environment through the use of methods such as participant observation and face-to-face interviewing. Data collection is done through participant observation, interviews and questionnaires.  Kinds of Qualitative Research  b. Phenomenology  Describes the structure of experience as they present themselves to consciousness, without resources to theory, deductions or assumptions from other discipline such as the social sciences. It seeks to achieve deep understanding of the phenomenon by rigorous and systematic examination of it. Its purpose is to describe essence of lived experiences.  Kinds of Qualitative Research c. Grounded Theory  An inductive technique developed for health- related topics. It is emerged from the discipline of sociology. The term “grounded” means that the theory developed from the research is grounded or has its roots from the data from which It has derived.  Kinds of Qualitative Research d. Historical Research  Historical Research is the systemic collection and objective evaluation of data related to past occurrence. e. Case Study  A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. It is used to test theoretical models by using it in real world situation.  Importance of Qualitative Research Across Fields  a. Social Work  Qualitative Research Studies in social work represents the best available research on emerging problems or application of evidence to diverse population.  b. Marketing  Qualitative research in marketing can be used to test new ideas or products and to gain a realistic view of how customers or clients would react to that particular product.  c. Business  Data from quantitative research such as market size, demographics, and user preferences provide important information for business decisions. Qualitative research provides valuable data for use in the design of a product including data about user needs, behavior patterns, and use cases.  Importance of Qualitative Research Across Fields  d. Sports  The results of qualitative research can inform stakeholders about facilitators and obstacles to exercise, motivation and adherence, the influence of experiences, beliefs, disability and capability on physical activity, exercise engagement and performance, and to test strategies that maximize physical performance.  e. Medicine  The goal of qualitative research is to help us gain an understanding as to how or why certain things occur. Qualitative research seeks that understanding through observation and interviews, both of which provide insight into the research question.  Importance of Qualitative Research Across Fields  f. Psychology  Qualitative research is an important alternative to quantitative research in psychology. It generally involves asking broader research questions, collecting more detailed data (e.g., interviews), and using non-statistical analyses.  g. Arts  Qualitative is important in arts since with the use of this research people could be able to reach new ideas and conclusions which will help people improve arts and discover new techniques and any other more.  Importance of Qualitative Research Across Fields  h. Literature  The way one deals with the literature plays a crucial and guiding role in the iterative process between theory and data because it determines how existing theories are dealt with in the design and conduct of research. As such, considerations as to when and how to use the literature acquire great importance.  i. Agriculture and Fisheries  Interviews are a key element of qualitative research fisheries scientists may incorporate to improve understanding of why fisheries operate as they do, and what the effects of policy changes are likely to be.