Introduction of Qualitative
Research Methods
Jayachelvi Babu
Qualitative Research
• “A form of social inquiry that focuses on the
way people interpret and make sense of their
experiences and the world in which they live.”
• Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory
research. It is used to gain an understanding of
underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations.
• It provides insights into the problem or helps to
develop ideas or hypotheses for potential
quantitative research.
Qualitative research
• Qualitative research can provide insight which
is not possible to elucidate with purely
quantitative data – A means for exploring and
understanding the meaning individuals or
groups ascribe to social or human problems –
Study human behavior and social world
• Help us to understand the world in which we
live and why things are the way they are…
Quantitative Research
• Scientist more comfortable with quantitative research
• Quantitative methods deal with the collection and
processing numerical data
• Answer questions –
– How often?
– To what extent?
– How much?
– How many …
– but cannot answer questions on – Why? how? In what
way?
Difference between Qualitative &
Quantitative Research
Qualitative Research Quantitative Research
• The aim is a detailed description • The aim is to classify features, count them,
• Researcher may only know roughly in and construct statistical models in an
advance what he/she is looking for. attempt to explain what is observed.
• Researcher knows clearly in advance what
• The design emerges as the study unfolds.
he/she is looking for.
• Researcher is the data gathering • All aspects of the study are carefully
instrument designed before data is collected.
• Data is in the form of words, pictures or • Researcher questionnaires or equipment to
objects collect numerical data.
• Subjective - individuals’ interpretation of • Data is numerical in nature.
events is important • Objective – seeks measurement & analysis
• Qualitative data is more rich time of target concepts.
consuming, and not generalizable. • Quantitative data is more efficient, able to
• Researcher tends to become subjectively test hypotheses.
immersed in the subject matter • Researcher tends to remain separated from
the subject matter.
Steps in Quantitative and Qualitative Studies
Core Activities in Qualitative Research
Qualitative approaches on:
A. Literature review
B. Explicating researcher’s beliefs
C. Role of participants: subject or informant?
D. Selection of participants
E. Setting for data collection
F. Approach to data analysis
G. Saturation
A. Literature Review
• Conducted after the data have been collected
and analyzed
• Rationale for delaying the literature review:
– To avoid leading the participants in the direction
of what has already been discovered
• Purpose of literature review:
– To show how current findings fit into what is
already known
B. Explicating Researcher’s Beliefs
• Bracketing – setting aside one’s biases and
personal views on a topic
– Investigator keeps a diary of personal thoughts
and feelings about the topic
• Purpose: the researcher is made aware when
interpretations of the data reflect personal
beliefs rather than those of the participants
C. Subject or Informant?
• People being studied are viewed as
participant or informant, not “subject”
– Viewed as active participants in the research
– They “inform” the researcher about their culture
• Researcher seeks to understand the
participants’ cultural knowledge
– Hence, requires learning about the participants’
culture through on-going discussion and
involvement with them
D. Selection of Participants
• Method is called “purposive sampling”
– Participants must have first-hand experience with the
research topic (e.g., homelessness, gang involvement,
attending medical school) and be able to talk about it
• Researcher establishes clear criteria and
rationale for sample selection
• Goal is not generalization of findings but rich
descriptions of phenomenon by those who have
experienced it
E. Setting for Data Collection
• “Informant-driven” rather than “theory-driven”
– Investigator assumes ignorance of the culture or
experience being studied
– Informant teaches the investigator
• Data is collected in the “field” – the natural
world where people live and experience life
– Investigator should:
• be nonintrusive
• spend a prolonged time in the field
• Some researchers used multiple methods
F. Data Analysis
• Researcher immerses self in data to bring
order and meaning to vast narrative
– Come to truly understand what the data are saying
• Cyclical process – data collection occurs
simultaneously with data analysis
– Analysis begins when data collection begins
– Reading, rereading, intuiting, analyzing, synthesizing, and
reporting on data
– Sometimes called theoretical sampling (collect data until
saturation is reached)
F. Data Analysis (cont’d)
• Generalizations drawn from earlier
interviews are returned to participants for
clarification and elaboration
• Look for meaning in the data as it is
gathered
• Data similar in meaning are clustered
together into preliminary categories
• Requires an extensive amount of time
G. Saturation
• Refers to a situation in data analysis where
participants’ descriptions become repetitive
and confirm previously collected data
– An indication that data analysis is complete
– When data analysis is complete, data collection is
terminated
Three Qualitative Methods
TABLE 6.1 COMPARISON OF QUALITATIVE METHODS
METHOD STUDY FOCUS ANALYTIC DISCIPLINES
FOCUS
Ethnography culture/cultural describe a Cultural
group culture/cultural Anthropology
group
Grounded cultural groups generate theory Sociology/
Theory about a basic Symbolic
social process Interaction/
Criminology
Phenomenology individual discern the Philosophy/
experience essence of the Psychology/
lived experience Sociology
Three Qualitative Methods:
Ethnography
• Focus: study human behavior in the cultural context
in which it is embedded
• Ethnography is the work of describing a culture – the
way of life of a cultural group
• Associated with Cultural Anthropology
E.g
– Two famous ethnographic studies were completed only after one author lived as
a member of a gang in Chicago for nine months. This allowed him to write about
the organizational structure and the forms of power that existed in street gangs.
– Another study was written with the purpose of understanding a very isolated
tribe in the Amazon basin. The author lived with a tribe for over a year while
performing data collection, the stage of research where authors take notes and
pictures, perform interviews, and collect anything that can better inform their
studies.
Three Qualitative Methods:
Grounded Theory
• Focus: develop a theory to explain
underlying social processes of a cultural
group
• Useful in areas where little is known or
when a new perspective is needed
– Used for exploratory, descriptive studies
• Because the theory emerges from the data,
it is said to be grounded in the data
– Foundation in Symbolic Interactionism
Three Qualitative Methods:
Phenomenology
• Focus: reveal the meaning of the lived
experience from the perspective of
participants
• Describe the essences of lived experience
– Essences: elements related to the true meaning of
something that gives common understanding to the
phenomenon under study
– Conveyed with descriptive language
– Drawn from Philosophy; used across disciplines
Biographical Study
• The study of an individual and her or his
experiences as told to the researcher or
found in documents and archival material.
• Life history--The study of an individual’s life
and how it reflects cultural themes of the
society.
Biographical Study cont.
• Oral history-The researcher gathers personal
recollections of events, their causes, and their
effects from and individual or several
individuals.
• The researcher needs to collect extensive
information about the subject of the biography
• The writer, using an interpretive approach,
needs to be able to bring himself or herself into
the narrative and acknowledge his or her
standpoint.
Case Study
• A case study is an exploration of a “bounded
system” or a case (or multiple cases) over time
through detailed, in-depth data collection
involving multiple sources of information rich
in context.
• The context of the case involves situating the
case within its setting. which may be physical,
social, historical and/or economic.
Case Study cont.
• Data collection strategies include direct
observation, interviews, documents, archival
records, participant observation, physical
artifacts and audiovisual materials.
• Analysis of themes, or issues and an
interpretation of the case by the researcher.
Thank You
