[2.6] Qualitative Research

• QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

  • It is a method of inquiry that seeks to understand behavior, experiences, attitudes, and social phenomena.
  • It focuses on exploring the meaning and interpretation of events rather than measuring them in numerical terms (qualitative data - descriptive).
  • It is widely used in fields such as social science, education, healthcare, and marketing.
• PURPOSE

  Quantitative:

  • Test hypotheses or theories

  Qualitative:

  • Explore, describe, understand, explain
• DATA TYPE

  Quantitative:

  • Numerical (interval, ratio) 
  • Categorical (ordinal)

  Qualitative:

  • Text, audio, video, artifact (or document)
• APPROACH

  Quantitative

  • Test (experimental)
  • Measure (survey)

  Qualitative:

  • Observe, interpret
• ANALYSIS

  Quantitative:

  • Statistical (descriptive/inferential)

  Qualitative:

  • Themes, statement, model, or theory
• NARRATIVE APPROACH


  Collect participants’ story or capture a group of participant’s stories and retell their stories
• PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACH


  Capture participants’ experiences and examine how they make sense of their experiences
• GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH


  Develop an explanation, a model, or a theory that helps in understanding a phenomenon, situation, or process
• CASE STUDY APPROACH


  In-depth study of well-defined cases using multiple data sources
• ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH


  Explore a phenomenon by studying a group of people or individuals in their natural environment.
• TRUSTWORTHINESS


  Transparency in documentation, consistency, and accuracy in reporting research findings.
• REFLEXIVITY


  The researcher’s acknowledgment of his position/possible bias in relation to the research.
• TRANSFERABILITY


  Transferability of the insights to other settings or contexts.
• SATURATION & RICH INTERPRETATION


  Adequately collected data, exhaustive development of themes, and well-grounded insights/findings to theory or body of knowledge.