Christianne Jhunnelle De Guzman

ABM 11 - 23

Nature of Qualitative Research

Characteristics
1. Human understanding and interpretation
Data analysis shows an individuals mental, social, and spiritual understanding
of the world. Hence, through their worldviews, you come to know what kind of
human being he or she is, including his or her values, beliefs, likes, and dislikes.
2. Active, powerful, and forceful
A lot of changes occur continuously in every stage of a qualitative research. As
you go through the research process, you find the need to amend or rephrase
interview questions and consider varied ways of getting answers, like shifting
from mere speculating to traveling to places for data gathering. You are fixated to
certain plan. Rather, you are inclined to discover you qualitative research design
as you study gradually unfolds or reveals itself in accordance with your research
objects.
3. Multiple research approaches and methods
Qualitative research allows you to approach or plan your study in varied ways.
You are free to combine this with qualitative research and use all gathered data
and analysis techniques. Being a multi-method research, a qualitative study
applies to all research types: descriptive, exploratory, explanatory, case study,
etc.
4. Specificity to generalization
Specific ideas in a qualitative research are directed to a general understanding
of something. It follows an inductive or specific method of thinking, where you
start thinking of particular or specific concept that will eventually lead you to more
complex ideas such as generalization conclusion.
5. Contextualization
A qualitative research involves all variables, factors, or conditions affecting the
study. Your goal here is to understand human behavior. Thus, it is crucial for you

to examine the context or situation of an individuals life the who, what, why, how,
and other circumstances affecting his or her way of life.
6. Diversified data in real-life situation.
A qualitative researcher prefers collecting data in a natural setting like observing
people as they live and work, analyzing photographs or videos as they genuinely
appear tom people, and looking at classrooms unchanged or adjusted to
peoples intentional observations.
7. Abounds with words and visual
Words, words, and more words come in big quantity in this kind of research.
Data gathering through interviews or library reading, as well as the presentation
of data analysis results, is done verbally. In some cases, it resorts to quoting
some respondents answer. Likewise, presenting peoples world views through
visual presentation (ie. pictures, videos, drawings, and graphs) are significantly
used in a qualitative research.
8. Internal analysis
Here, you examine the data yielded by the internal traits of the subject
individuals (i. e., emotional, mental, spiritual characteristics). You study peoples
perception or views about your topic not the effects of their physical existence on
your study. In case of objects (e. g., books and artworks) that are subjected to a
qualitative research, the investigation centers on underlying theories or principles
that govern these materials and their usefulness to people.
Types
1. Case Study
This involves long time study of a person, group, organization, or situation. It
seems to find answer to why such thing occurs to subject. Finding the reasons
behind such occurrence drives you to also delve into relationship of people
related to the case under study.
2. Ethnography
It is the study of a particular culture group to get a clear understanding of its
organizational set-up, internal operation and life style.

3. Phenomenology
Coming from the word "phenomenon", which means something known through
sensory experience, phenomenology refers to the study of how people find their
experience meaningful. Primary goal is to make people understand their
experiences about death of loved ones, care of handicapped persons,
friendliness of people, etc. In doing so, other people will likewise understand that
meaning attached to their experiences.
4. Content and Discourse Analysis
This requires analysis or examination of the substance or content of the mode of
communication used by the person, group, institution, or any organization in
communicating. A study of language stuctures used in the medium of
communication to discover the effects not sociological, cultural, institutional, and
ideological factors on the content makes it a discourse analysis.
5. Historical Analysis
Central to this qualitative research method is the examination of primary
documents to make you understand the connection of past events to the present
time. The results of your content analysis will help you specify phenomenological
changes in unchanged aspect of society through the years.
6. Grounded Theory
It takes place when you discover a new theory to underlie your study at the time
of data collection and analysis. Through your observation on your subject, you
will happen to find a theory that applies to your current study.

 Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages
1. It adopts a naturalistic approach.
2. It promotes a full understanding.
3. Good instrument for positive societal changes.
4. It is endangers respect for people's individuality as it demands the
researchers careful and attentive stand toward peoples world view.
5. It is the way of understanding and interpreting social inte.
6. It increases researchers interest.
7. It offers multiple ways of acquiring and examining knowledge about something.

Disadvantages
1. It involves researchers subjectivity in data analysis.
2. Hard to know the validity of reliability of the data.
3. It is open-ended questions yield data overload that requires long time analysis.
4. Time consuming.
5. Involves several process, which may result greatly depend on thhe
researchers view or interpretations.
Difference between Quantitative
Quantitative
Hypothesis testing
Variables
Measuring the instrument before the actual project starts

Numeric data, precise, exact measurements

Standardized procedure, repetition
Analysis: statistical methods, charts and tables
Results: chart, tables and facts
Validity: statistical test
Qualitative
Discovery and understanding of events
Theme, motives, and categories
Measuring instruments develop during the project, considering setting and
researchers
Textual data, observation, documents, descriptive.
Individualized procedures, repetition are difficult and different.
Analysis: seeking patterns, generalization from available data.
Results: stories, narrative, description
Validity: triangulation, peer review

Guidelines in choosing Research Topic

Interest in the subject matter
Your interest in a topic may be caused by you rich background knowledge about
it and by its novelty; meaning it's unfamiliarity to you. Being curious about a
subject, like a conundrum or a puzzle, makes you determined to untraveled the
mystery or intriguing thing behind it. Your real interest in a subject pushes you to
research, investigate, or inquire about it with full motivation, enthusiasm, and
energy.

Availability of Information

Collecting a lot of information as evidence to support your claim about your

subject matter from varied forms of literature like books, journal, and newspaper,
among others, is a part and parcel of any research work. Hence, in choosing a
research topic, visit your library to check the availability of reading materials on
your chosen topic. Included in your investigation of the availability of the reading
materials are questions on how updated and authoritative the materials are.
Timeliness and Relevance of the Topic
The topic is relevance if it yields results that are instrumental in societal
improvement. It is timeless if it is related to the present. For instance, unless it is
a pure or historical research a research on the ins and outs of people's
revolutionary acts will prosper more if it tackles the contemporary revolutionary
actions rather that those in the ancient time.

Limitation on the Subject

This makes you link your choosing with course requirements. For examples, to
make you complete the requirements, your teacher instructs you to submit a
paper that will apply the key principles you learned in business, psychology,
education, and so on. In this case, you have a freedom to choose your topic
based on your interest, but has to decide on one topic to finish your course.
Personal Resources
Before sticking fully to your final choice, assess your research abilities in terms
of your financial standing, health condition, mental capacity, needed facilities,
and time and effort into its initial stage, only to find out later that you are unable
to complete it because of your failure to raise the amount needed for
questionnaire printing and interview trips.
Research topic to be avoided
1. Controversial Topics
This kind of topic is most commonly about writers opinion. It may tend to be
biased or prejudicial. Facts cannot support topic like these.
2. Highly Technical Topics
For a beginner, researching on topics that requires an advanced study, technical
knowledge, and vast experience is a very difficult task.

3. Hard to Investigate Subjects

A subject is hard to investigate if there are no available reading materials about it
and if such materials are not up-to-date.
4. Too Broad Subject
Topics that are too broad will prevent you from giving a concentrated or an indepth analysis of the subject matter of the paper. The remedy to this is narrow or
limits the topic to a smaller one.
5. Too Narrow Subjects
These subject are so limited or specific that an extensive or through searching or
reading for information about these is necessary.
6. Vague subjects
It will prevent you from having a clear focus on your paper. For instances, title
beginning with indefinite adjectives such as several, many, some, etc., as in
Some Remarkable Traits of a Filipino or Several Peoples Comments on the RH
Law, are vague enough to decrease the readers interest and curiosity.

Sources of Research Topics

a) Mass media communication - press (newspaper, ads, TV, radio, films, etc.)
b) Books, internet, peer-review journals, government publication
c) Professional periodicals like college English language teaching forum, English
forum, the economist, academia, business circle, law review, etc.
d) General periodicals - Such as readers digest women's magazines, panorama,
magazines, time magazines, world mission magazine, etc.
e) Previous reading assignments in your other subjects
f) Work experience- clues to a researchable topic from full-time or part-time jobs,
OJT experience, fieldwork, etc.