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An Essay of Understanding The Methods of Qualitative Research In Social Science

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17 views4 pages

An Essay of Understanding The Methods of Qualitative Research In Social Science

Uploaded by

Jahid Hassan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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An Essay of Understanding

The Methods of Qualitative Research In Social Science

In qualitative research, non-numerical data are collected and analyzed in order to get a
better understanding of social life via the study of particular people or regions. Social
interaction is studied at the micro-level in qualitative research in sociology, while macro-
level patterns and occurrences are studied in quantitative research. Interviews, focus
groups, oral history, observation and engagement are some popular methods of
qualitative research.

Qualitative research allows researchers to study the meaning of people’s activities,


behaviour, relationships with others. And this attribute of qualitative research makes it
more appealed to social scientists. qualitative researchers focus more on
interpretations, processes, symbols and hits of the social life of the people. By the
process of qualitative research, we can gather lots of descriptive data which must be
explained using complex and structured methods of analysis of trends, coding and
transcribing. This research method helps to create new theories and hypotheses using
the inductive approach (MOHAJAN, 2018). These theories and hypotheses can be
tested and evaluated with further researches.

Qualitative researchers rely on their senses and wits to gather detailed perceptions and
descriptions of selected individuals or groups as well as specific events, places, and
circumstances. Among the number of methods, researchers may use more than one
method depending on the situation and type of study (Sutton and Austin, 2021). The
methods of qualitative research will be discussed in detail here. A Focus group is a
popular method of qualitative research that engages participants of a small group to
generate ideas and opinions about the questions of the study. When the social scientist
wants to know about any trends or event within a particular community, they often use
this method in qualitative research. Direct observation is another method where
individuals are being observed closely. This must be conducted in a public setting
where privacy is not a concern. The participants do not know that they are being
observed and hence the researchers examine their actions and behaviours through this
method. For example, a researcher may observe human interactions while they are
watching a music performer in the street. Qualitative research can also be conducted by
content analysis. In this method, the arts, music, films and other cultural aspects are
being analyzed by the social scientist. The closely analyses the meaning of images and
words of the media (MOHAJAN, 2018). They find the underlying meaning of the media
and by analyzing these cultural products the researcher can get close to accurate
information about the taste and culture of a certain community. This method is getting
popular among social scientists because of its speciality and accuracy of this method.
The ethnographic observation method is the most extensive and in-depth way of
observing. Originally developed in anthropology, this study approach involves a
researcher living among the participants for months or years. As a result, the researcher
tries to witness the daily life of the people being researched from their perspective in
order to produce long-term and detailed descriptions of the community, events, or
trends being observed. The oral history method is all about a series of in-depth
interviews with one or more participants. It is performed over a period of time to
construct a historical record of a community, group or event. Although many surveys
aim to gather quantitative data, many are also structured for the generation and analysis
of qualitative data with open-ended questions (Bryman and Burgess, 2016). For
example, a survey of choosing favourite food along with why it is their favourite can be
used to gather qualitative data as well. The use of automated software is getting
attention from social scientists because of its fast processing power during analyzing
and coding the researched data. This software can be very useful when the data set is
huge and human faces difficulties to analyze the data and make a conclusion (Sutton
and Austin, 2021).

Qualitative research has some strong sides. The open-ended methods reveal more
doors and unpredicted ideas which can be used for a broad inquiry. Qualitative research
brings out detailed information about a community that is facing a situation. As this
method does not rely on statistics, this can show descriptive and narrative results which
is a good insight. Possible causes, effects and relationships can be suggested through
this research method. By considering the cultural values this research method is
capable enough to show behind the scene facts to the social scientists. This method
gives the researcher the flexibility to explore new perspectives. The researcher can
make a framework based on available data. This research method has some downsides
as well. The data quality mostly depends on the participants and participants can be
driven by external factors. The possibility of verified information is not certain and the
cost of data collection is high in this method. The process of analyzing qualitative data is
very tough and it requires rigorous focus and analyzing power (Bryman and Burgess,
2016). The result from this method can not be generalized as the data is unclear. The
application of conventional standards of validity and reliability is not possible as the data
has subjective nature. Also, the interviewers have to be skilled to bring out the best
answers from the participants. These all complications make this method a complex one
but if the researcher can make sure all the requirements of this method, then it can
produce a good quality of result and conclusion.

The qualitative research method adds descriptive value to a research paper.


Researchers use it as per situation and requirements. This method is capable enough
to produce a quality research study that can be a good source of knowledge.
References

Bryman, A. and Burgess, R., 2016. Qualitative research. London: SAGE.

MOHAJAN, H., 2018. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY IN SOCIAL


SCIENCES AND RELATED SUBJECTS. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and
People, 7(1), p.23.

Sutton, J. and Austin, Z., 2021. Qualitative Research: Data Collection, Analysis, and
Management.

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