LESSON OBJECTIVES

1. Define Quantitative and Qualitative Research.

2. Differentiate Quantitative and Qualitative Research in terms of key
aspects.
3. Describe the characteristics of qualitative research.
4. Describe the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research.
5. Describe the kinds of qualitative research.
6. Illustrates the importance of qualitative research across fields.
QUALITATIVE VS
QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
 Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way

of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed
into usable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions,
behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalize results
from a larger sample population.
 Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is

used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions,
and motivations. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover
trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the
problem.
 Group Activity

Spot the differences between the two examples in

each table. Write your answer in ½ sheet of paper.
 
Qualitative Quantitative
Purpose To explain and gain insight and To explain, predict, and/or control phenomena
understanding of phenomena through through focused collection of numerical data.
intensive collection of narrative data. Test hypotheses
Approach to Subjective Objective
Inquiry
Research Setting Natural setting Controlled to the degree possible
 
Sampling Purposive: Intent to select “small, ” not Random: Intent to select “large, ” representative
necessarily representative sample in order to sample in order to generalize results to a
get in-depth understanding population
Measurement Non-standardized, narrative Standardized, numerical (measurements,
numbers),
Data Collection Interviews/Focus Group discussion Administration of tests and questionnaires
Strategies (un-/structured, semi-structured, in-/formal). (close ended). Observation.
  Observation. Taking of extensive, detailed
field notes.
Data Analysis Raw data are in words. Aims to generate Raw data are numbers. Involves statistics to
  themes (thematic analysis) come to conclusions
CHARACTERISTICS
OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
1. Natural environment (natural setting)

Qualitative researchers collect field data at the locations where

participants experience the problem or issue to be studied. Qualitative
researchers do not change the environmental settings and activities of the
participants. Information is gathered by talking directly to people and
seeing them act directly in a natural context.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
2. Researcher as a key instrument

Qualitative researchers generally collect their own research data through

participant observation, documentation, or direct interviews with
participants. These researchers generally do not use instruments or
questionnaires made by other researchers, because they are the only key
to the study.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
3. Multiple sources of data

Qualitative researchers generally choose to collect the required data

from various sources such as interviews, documentation, and
observations, rather than relying only on one source data.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
4. Interpretive

Qualitative researchers make an interpretation of what they see, hear

and what they understand. Usually there are differences in interpretation
between researchers and readers and participants, so it appears that
qualitative research offers different views on a content or problem.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
5. A holistic account

Qualitative researchers usually try to make a complex picture of a

research issue or problem. Researchers describe the perspectives and
factors associated with the problem as a whole.
STRENGTHS AND
WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Flexibility
Qualitative approach offers a considerable amount of flexibility in
undertaking research. It allows the researcher to observe and identify other
issues that were not initially thought of or included in the inception stage of
the study.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
In-depth and detailed information
Qualitative approach allows researchers to collect more data and information
hence being in a better position to understand the details of the research problem.
Qualitative methods such as interviews, observation and open-ended
questionnaires give a researcher an opportunity to probe and seek more detailed
information. As a result, a researcher may end up with detailed information for his
or her study. This may help result studies to achieve data adequacy and, therefore,
effectively answer research questions.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
The use of multiple data collection tools
Involving multiple methods makes qualitative research data more credible since
the strengths of one research tool supplement the weaknesses of the other.
Qualitative research can easily involve numerous data collection methods and
therefore allowing triangulation of research tools and data. A researcher may opt
to use one or a combination of tools such as interviews, observations, focus
group discussions, and documentary reviews. The use of multiple tools may
allow respondents to choose a particular tool that they are comfortable with
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Integration of human touch
In qualitative research, researchers interact with the respondents. This gives
a researcher an opportunity to understand the actual feelings and experiences
of the respondents. The magnitude of the research problem can be easily
understood through narrations from respondents. Anger, happiness,
readiness, attitudes and perceptions of the respondents can easily be studied
and understood through qualitative means of data collection.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Minimizing chances of missing data
In quantitative research, respondents tend to ignore some questions that
seem to be unclear, especially when a close-ended questionnaire is used.
With qualitative research, a researcher collects data until what is considered
to be sufficient is attained. In case a respondent does not understand a
particular question, a researcher has an opportunity to make clarifications of
unclear questions or asks the question in a different way
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Cost-effectiveness
Small samples are preferred and used in qualitative research allows research
to be conducted with a reduced number of financial resources as compared
to quantitative research that requires larger sample sizes.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Overcoming the limitation of quantitative research
Qualitative research helps to answer research questions that cannot be
answered quantitatively. Understanding exactly how people feel and
experience particular phenomena can only be done through the narration of
their own stories, which cannot be quantified. This makes qualitative research
an important approach to revealing the feelings, perceptions, attitudes, values
and beliefs of people.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Subjectivity
Qualitative approach is generally interpretive. Researchers have the task of
interpreting what they hear, see, taste, touch or smell. This brings an
important question on whether individuals have the same interpretation of
what they hear, see, taste, touch and smell. What one interprets as good or
bad is not necessarily interpreted the same way by another person. This
makes qualitative research subjective.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Limited Generalizability
Qualitative research has a limited chance of using them findings to
generalize to the rest of the population not included in the study.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Difficulty in enhancing anonymity
In qualitative research, attaining anonymity may be difficult since, in
collecting data, a researcher gets into direct contact with respondents. One
may argue that respondents’ information and identities are always protected,
yet respondents may not be comfortable offering certain information to the
researcher.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Complex data collection and analysis procedures
Qualitative research may make the data collection process difficult and less
manageable. This could be due to the fact that qualitative data collection
methods such as focus group discussion, in-depth interviews, open-ended
questionnaires and documentary reviews tend to leave researchers with bulk
data. Analysis of data may be difficult and complex since the researcher has
to examine collected data and retain only the relevant information.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Difficulty in replicating findings
One of the important aspects of research is the ability of the research
findings to produce similar results under the same methods and under
similar circumstances. Replication in a qualitative study is indeed
challenging since people have varied feelings, experiences and backgrounds,
and therefore producing similar results may not be practical in some cases.
 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Data may be influenced by the researcher’s bias
Direct involvement of a researcher with the respondents may consciously or
subconsciously affect collected data. Since researchers are human beings,
they may be tempted to report what did not actually happen and exaggerate
or understate the actual situation found in the field. A researcher may also be
sympathetic after hearing a response from the respondents, something which
may also influence how he or she reports the findings.
 KINDS OF
QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
NAR R AT I VE
P H E N O ME N O N
CAS E S T UDY
S T OR Y
T HE OR Y
T H E ME S
R E S T OR Y I NG
ME MO I N G
 Narrative Research
• Narrative research records the experiences of an individual or small
group, revealing the lived experience or particular perspective of that
individual, usually primarily through interview which is then recorded and
ordered into a chronological narrative. 
• Narrative stories tell of individual experiences, and they may shed light on
the identities of individuals and how they see themselves.
 Narrative Research
• Narrative stories often are heard and shaped by the researchers into a
chronology, although they may not be told that way by the participant(s).
There is a temporal change that is conveyed when individuals talk about
their experiences and their lives. They may talk about their past, their
present, or their future.
• In Narrative Research, participants’ stories are analyzed using the process
of reorganizing the stories into some general type of framework called
restorying.
 Narrative Research
• Example: Karlsson et al. undertook a narrative inquiry to “explore how
people with Alzheimer's disease present their life story.” Data were
collected from nine participants. They were asked to describe about their
life experiences from childhood to adulthood, then to current life and their
views about the future life.
 Phenomenological Research
• phenomenological study describes the common meaning for several
individuals of their lived experiences of a concept or a phenomenon.
• Phenomenologists focus on describing what all participants have in
common as they experience a phenomenon
• The basic purpose of phenomenology is to reduce individual experiences
with a phenomenon to a description of the universal essence. To this end,
qualitative researchers identify a phenomenon, an “object” of human
experience.
 Phenomenological Research
• An emphasis on a phenomenon to be explored, phrased in terms of a single
concept or idea, such as the educational idea of “professional growth,” the
psychological concept of “grief,” or the health idea of a “caring relationship.”
• Data collection procedure typically involves interviewing individuals who have
experienced the phenomenon.
• An ending for phenomenology involves a descriptive passage that discusses the
essence of the experience for individuals incorporating “what” they have
experienced and “how” they experienced it. The “essence” is the culminating
aspect of a phenomenological study.
 Phenomenological Research
• Example: A phenomenological study conducted by Cornelio et al. aimed at describing
the lived experiences of mothers in parenting children with leukemia. Data from ten
mothers were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and were analyzed
using Husserl's method of phenomenology. Themes such as “pivotal moment in life”,
“the experience of being with a seriously ill child”, “having to keep distance with the
relatives”, “overcoming the financial and social commitments”, “responding to
challenges”, “experience of faith as being key to survival”, “health concerns of the
present and future”, and “optimism” were derived. The researchers reported the
essence of the study as “chronic illness such as leukemia in children results in a
negative impact on the child and on the mother.”
 Case Study Research
• Case study research is defined as a qualitative approach in which the
investigator explores a real-life, contemporary bounded system (a case) or
multiple bounded systems (cases) over time, through detailed, in-depth
data collection involving multiple sources of information (e.g.,
observations, interviews, audiovisual material, and documents and
reports), and reports a case description and case themes. The unit of
analysis in the case study might be multiple cases (a multisite study) or a
single case (a within-site study).
 Case Study Research
• A hallmark of a good qualitative case study is that it presents an in-depth
understanding of the case. In order to accomplish this, the researcher
collects and integrates many forms of qualitative data, ranging from
interviews, to observations, to documents, to audiovisual materials.
Relying on one source of data is typically not enough to develop this in-
depth understanding.
 Case Study Research
Example: Perceptions of poststroke sexuality in a woman of childbearing
age was explored using a qualitative case study approach by Beal and
Millenbrunch. Semi structured interview was conducted with a 36- year
mother of two children with a history of Acute ischemic stroke. The data
were analyzed using an inductive approach. The authors concluded that
“stroke during childbearing years may affect a woman's perception of herself
as a sexual being and her ability to carry out gender roles”.
 Ethnographic Research
• Thus, ethnography is a qualitative design in which the researcher
describes and interprets the shared and learned patterns of values,
behaviors, beliefs, and language of a culture-sharing group
 Ethnographic Research
• Ethnography involves extended observations of the group, most often
through participant observation, in which the researcher is immersed in
the day-to-day lives of the people and observes and interviews the group
participants. Ethnographers study the meaning of the behavior, the
language, and the interaction among members of the culture-sharing
group.
 Ethnographic Research
• Ethnographies focus on developing a complex, complete description of
the culture of a group—the entire culture-sharing group or a subset of a
group. The culture-sharing group must have been intact and interacting for
long enough to develop social behaviors of an identifiable group that can
be studied.
 Ethnographic Research
• In an ethnography, the researcher looks for patterns (also described as
rituals, customary social behaviors, or regularities) of the group’s mental
activities, such as their ideas and beliefs expressed through language, or
material activities, such as how they behave within the group as expressed
through their actions observed by the researcher
 Ethnographic Research
• In the end, these two questions must be answered in ethnography: “What
do people in this setting have to know and do to make this system work?”
and “If culture, sometimes defined simply as shared knowledge, is mostly
caught rather than taught, how do those being inducted into the group find
their ‘way in’ so that an adequate level of sharing is achieved?”
 Ethnographic Research
• Example: The aim of the ethnographic study by LeBaron et al. was to
explore the barriers to opioid availability and cancer pain management in
India. The researchers collected data from fifty-nine participants using in-
depth semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document
review. The researchers identified significant barriers by open coding and
thematic analysis of the formal interview.
 Grounded Theory Research
• Grounded theory is a qualitative research design in which the inquirer
generates a general explanation (a theory) of a process, an action, or an
interaction shaped by the views of a large number of participants.
• The intent of a grounded theory study is to move beyond description and
to generate or discover a theory, a “unified theoretical explanation”.
• A key idea is that this theory development does not come “off the shelf”
but rather is generated or “grounded” in data from participants who have
experienced the process.
 Grounded Theory Research
• The process of memoing becomes part of developing the theory as the
researcher writes down ideas as data are collected and analyzed. In these
memos, the ideas attempt to formulate the process that is being seen by
the researcher and to sketch out the flow of this process.
 Grounded Theory Research
• Example: Williams et al. conducted a grounded theory research to explore
the nature of relationship between the sense of self and the eating
disorders. Data were collected form 11 women with a lifetime history of
Anorexia Nervosa and were analyzed using the grounded theory
methodology. Analysis led to the development of a theoretical framework
on the nature of the relationship between the self and Anorexia Nervosa.
 Explore the life of an
Narrative Research
individual

Which Understand the essence of Phenomenological

Qualitativ the experience Research
e
approach Develop a theory
grounded in the data from
Grounded Theory
best fits the field
Research

your
Describe and interpret a
research culture-sharing group
Ethnographic Research
needs?
Develop an in-depth
description and analysis of Case Study Research
a case or multiple cases.
IMPORTANCE OF
QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
ACROSS FIELDS
 Importance of Qualitative Research in
Education
• Through the use of qualitative methodologies and methods, educational
researchers have been able to explore critical questions about the
inequities in education that continue into the 21st century. 
 Importance of Qualitative Research in
Social Sciences
• Qualitative research enables us to make sense of reality, to describe and
explain the social world and to develop explanatory models and theories.
It is the primary means by which the theoretical foundations of social
sciences may be constructed or re-examined.
 Importance of Qualitative Research in
Healthcare
• In healthcare, qualitative research is widely used to understand patterns of
health behaviors, describe lived experiences, develop behavioral theories,
explore healthcare needs, and design interventions. Because of its ample
applications in healthcare, there has been a tremendous increase in the
number of health research studies undertaken using qualitative
methodology.
 Importance of Qualitative Research in
Healthcare
Example: Perceptions of poststroke sexuality in a woman of childbearing
age was explored using a qualitative case study approach by Beal and
Millenbrunch. Semi structured interview was conducted with a 36- year
mother of two children with a history of Acute ischemic stroke. The data
were analyzed using an inductive approach. The authors concluded that
“stroke during childbearing years may affect a woman's perception of herself
as a sexual being and her ability to carry out gender roles”.
 Importance of Qualitative Research in
Business Management
Undertaking research in business management is important since it aids a
business plan for the future, based on what may have occurred in earlier
times. If performed effectively it can help an organization to make plans on
how to become more viable in its field.
 Importance of Qualitative Research in
Engineering
Finding a solution to any engineering problem and to create workable
solutions requires breaking down concepts into main ideas.
Qualitative research also allows engineers to gather in-depth information on
how new technologies impact the lives of the people.
Example Qualitative Research Across Fields

• The phenomenology of self -injurious behavior

• A Phenomenological Study of Social Science Instructors' Assessment Practices
for Online Learning
• School Finance and Accountability: The Phenomenology of Secondary School
Leaders
• A phenomenological study of Baby Boomer retirement— Expectations, results,
and mplications
• The phenomenology of self -injurious behavior
Example Qualitative Research Across Fields

• Co-CEOs: An Exploratory Case Study of Shared Leadership in a Family

Owned and Operated Business
• A case study of student leadership and service in a Catholic female single-
sex high school
• Inquiring into Filipino Teachers’ conception of good teaching: A
qualitative research study
Example Qualitative Research Across Fields

• An ethnography of traditional rural folk funeral practice in the Mountain

Province
• Mentoring Black Males: Discovering Leadership Strategies That Improve
Their Future
• Constructing new theory for identifying students with emotional
disturbance: A grounded theory approach
References:

Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design 4th Edition. Los
Angeles: Sage.
Qualitative Study Design. (2022, July 4). Retrieved from Deakin University:
https://deakin.libguides.com/qualitative-study-designs/narrative-inquiry
Renjith, V., Yesodharan, R., Noronha, J. A., Ladd, E., & George, A. (2021, February 4). Qualitative
Methods in Health Care Research. Retrieved from National Library of Medicine:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8106287/#:~:text=Qualitative%20research%20helps
%20to%20understand,depth%20of%20exploration%20it%20makes.