Qualitative Research

• Qualitative research


  An act of inquiry or investigation of real-life events, concerned with own experiences of a life event, and the aim is to interpret what has been said in order to explain why it is said
• Qualitative research is important practically because most things cannot just be quantified: they need to be described. Appreciating the nature of life and experience is vital than simply counting things. We need to understand the quality of some things in order for them to have meaning.
• Characteristics of Qualitative Research


  • Human understanding and interpretation in data analysis
  • Active, powerful and forceful in data gathering and rephrasing interview questions
  • Multiple research approaches and methods that allows you to plan your study and being multi-method research
  • Specificity to generalization on specific ideas will lead to generalizations or conclusions
  • Contextualization - context or situation of individual's life
  • Diversified data in real-life situations on collecting data in a natural setting
  • Abounds with words and visuals that presents people's view in a picture, video, drawing or graphs
  • Internal analysis on examining the data yielded by the internal traits of the subject persons
• Strengths of Qualitative Research

  • It adopts a naturalistic approach to its subject matter
  • Promotes a full understanding of human behavior/personality traits in their natural setting
  • It is instrumental for positive societal changes
  • It engenders respect for people's individuality
  • It's a way of understanding & interpreting social interactions
  • Increases researcher's interests in the study
  • Offers multiple ways of acquiring and examining knowledge about something
• Weaknesses of Qualitative Research


  • It involves a lot of researcher's subjectivity in data analysis
  • It is hard to know the validity/reliability of the data
  • It is open-ended questions yield "data overload" that requires long-time analysis
  • It is time-consuming
  • It involves several processes, whose results greatly depend on the researcher's views or interpretations
• Kinds of Qualitative Research


  • Case Study
  • Ethnography
  • Phenomenology
  • Content and Discourse Analysis
  • Historical Analysis
  • Grounded Theory
  • Narrative Report
  • Biography
  • Action Research
• Case Study


  Long time study of a person, group, organization or situation and an empirical inquiry that investigates current phenomenon
• Ethnography


  A study of a particular cultural group
• Phenomenology


  "Live-experienced" of a phenomenon
• Content Analysis


  A research technique that analyzes the modes of communication such as letters, e-mails etc.
• Discourse Analysis


  The study of social life, understood through analysis of language it includes face-to-face talk, non-verbal interaction, images and symbols
• Historical Analysis


  A qualitative method where there is an examining of past events to draw conclusions and make predictions about the future
• Grounded Theory


  Takes place when there is a discovery of new theory which underlies your study at the time of data collection and analysis
• Narrative Report


  Designed to present things or events that have happened in the past through a logical progression of the relevant information. The main purpose of a narrative report is to present a factual depiction of what has occurred.
• Five common types of biography

  • Scholarly Chronicles
  • Intellectual Biography
  • Life History Writing
  • Memoir Biography
  • Narrative Biography
• Scholarly Chronicles


  Focus on the historical portrayal of an individual life
• Intellectual Biography


  Narrative of a life through the conceptual analysis of the subject's motives and beliefs within the world of ideas
• Life History Writing


  Recording of life memories, experiences, whether one's or another's
• Memoir Biography


  Stylistic presentation of the biographer's reflections and insights in relation to the factual account of life
• Narrative Biography


  A nonfiction account of life experiences of a person
• Action Research


  Classroom-based or school-based research seeks transformative change through the process of taking action and doing research, which are linked together by critical reflection. This type of research is commonly conducted by the teachers to give solutions to the existing problems to improve students' academic performance and positive attitudes.
• Characteristics of Research

  • Empirical
  • Logical
  • Cyclical
  • Analytical
  • Critical
  • Methodical
  • Replicability
• The Seven Steps of the Research Process

  • Define and develop your topic (Research Problem)
  • Find background information about your chosen topic (Review of Related Literature)
  • Plan your research design including your sample (Methodology)
  • Gather necessary data using open ended questions (for qualitative research) and closed-ended questionnaire or paper pencil test questionnaire (for quantitative research) (Data Gathering Activities)
  • Process and analyse data using thematic analysis (for qualitative research) and statistical tools (for quantitative research)
  • Formulate new insights gained (for qualitative research) conclusions (for quantitative research) and recommendations
  • Define new problem
• Ethical considerations in conducting research


  • Objectivity and integrity
  • Respect of the research subjects 'right to privacy and dignity and protection of subjects from personal harm
  • Presentation of research findings
  • Misuse of research role
  • Acknowledgement of research collaboration and assistance
  • Distortions of findings by sponsor
• What are these ethics in research?

  • Informed Consent
  • Honesty
  • Objectivity
  • Integrity
  • Carefulness
  • Openness
  • Respect for Intellectual Property
  • Confidentiality
  • Responsible Mentoring
  • Responsible Publication
  • Respect for Colleagues
  • Social responsibility
  • Non-discrimination
  • Competence
  • Legality
  • Animal Care
  • Human Subjects protection
• Rights of Research Participants

  • Human Rights
  • Intellectual Property
  • Copyright Infringement
• Researchers should advertise through lifelong education and learning; take steps to promote competence in science as a whole.
• Know and obey relevant laws and institutional and government policies.
• Show proper respect and care for animals when using them in research. Do not conduct unnecessary or poorly designed animal experiments.
• When conducting research on human subjects, minimize harms and risks and maximize benefits; respect human dignity, privacy, and anonymity.
• Human Rights


  Moral principles or norms that describe certain standards of human behaviour and are regularly protected as natural and legal rights. They constitute a set of rights and duties necessary for the protection of human dignity, inherent to all human beings.
• Intellectual Property


  It protects creations of the mind, which have both a moral and a commercial value.
• Copyright Infringement


  The use or production of copyright-protected material without permission of the copyright holder. Copyright infringement means that the rights accorded to the copyright holder, such as the exclusive use of a work for a set period of time, are breached by a third party.
• Copyright Infringement

  • Downloading movies and music without proper payment for use
  • Recording movies in a theatre
  • Using others' photographs for a blog without permission
  • Copying software code without giving proper credit
  • Creating videos with unlicensed music clips
• Voluntary Participation


  People must not be coerced into participating in research process. Prospective research participants must be informed about the procedures and risks involved in research and must give their consent to participate.
• Anonymity


  The protection of people's identity through not disclosing their name or not exposing their identity. It is a situation in data gathering activities in which informant's name is not given nor known.
• Privacy


  Someone's right to keep his personal matters and relationships secret. It is the ability of an individual to seclude him from disturbance of any research activity.
• Research Misconduct includes fabrication, falsification, or plagiarism. It doesn't include honest error of differences of opinion. It can erode trust between researchers and funding agencies, which make it more difficult for colleagues at the same institution to receive grants.
• Plagiarism


  The act of using another person's ideas, works, processes, and results without giving due credit. It should not be tolerated as the unauthorized use of original works, a violation of intellectual property rights.
• Acts considered plagiarism


  • Failure to cite quotations and borrowed ideas
  • Failure to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks
  • Failure to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words