UNIT 2, LESSON 3:

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
 DEFINITION OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Qualitative Research
This is a type of research that puts premium or high value on people’s thinking or point of view
conditioned by their personal traits. It usually takes place in soft sciences like sciences, politics, economics,
humanities, education, psychology, nursing, and all business-related subjects.
IN A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH, THE REALITY IS CONDITIONED BY:
• Society and people’s intention involving cause-effect relationship
• Things are studied in their natural setting which conclude that qualitative research is an act of
inquiry or investigation of real-life events
 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
1. HUMAN UNDERSTANDING AND INTERPRETATION - data analysis results show an individual’s mental, social, spiritual understanding of
the world. Hence, through their own 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 - as every stage of qualitative research continuously changes, researcher finds the need to amend
or rephrase interview questions and consider varied ways of getting answers. He is not fixated to a certain plan but rather he is inclined
to discover his research paper design as his study gradually unfolds or reveals itself in accordance with his research objective.
3. MULTI RESEARCH APPROACHES AND METHODS - allows a researcher to approach or plan his study in varied ways. He is free to combine
this with quantitative research and use all gathered data and analysis and techniques. It applies all research types: descriptive,
exploratory, explanatory, case study, etc.
4. SPECIFICITY TO GENERALIZATION - it follows an inductive or scientific method of thinking, where it starts with a particular or specific
concept that will eventually lead to more complex ideas such as generalizations or conclusions.
5. CONTEXTUALIZATION - examining the context or situation of an individual’s life— the who, what, why, how, and other circumstances
affecting his or her way of life
6. DIVERSIFIED DATA IN REAL-LIFE SITUATIONS - collecting data in a natural setting like observing people as they live and work, analyzing
photographs or videos as they genuinely appear to people, looking at classrooms unchanged or adjusted to people’s intentional
observation.
7. ABOUNDS WITH WORDS AND VISUALS - data gathering through interviews, library reading, presenting of data analysis results,
presenting people’s worldviews through visual presentation
8. INTERNAL ANALYSIS - examining the data yielded by the internal traits of the subject individual Studying people’s perception or views
about the topic In case of objects, the investigation centers on underlying theories or principles that govern these materials and their
usefulness to people.
 TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
1. CASE STUDY - Usually takes place in the field or social care, nursing, psychology, rehabilitation centers, education, etc.
Involves a long-time study of a person, group, organization, or situation. Seeks answers to why such thing occurs to the
subject Data collection methods involve interviews, questionnaires, observations, and documentary analysis.
2. ETHNOGRAPHY - The study of a particular cultural group to get a clear understanding of its organizational set-up,
internal operation, and lifestyle. It reveals the nature or characteristics of their own culture through the world
perceptions of the cultural group members.
3. PHENOMENOLOGY - Something known through sensory experience, it refers to the study of how people understand
their experiences meaningful Its primary goal is to make people understand their experiences about death of loved
ones, care for handicapped persons, friendliness of people, etc.
4. CONTENT AND DISCOURSE ANALYSIS - Content Analysis is a method of quantitative research that requires an analysis or
examination of the substance or content of the mode of communication (letters, books, journals ,photos , videos
recordings, SMS, online messages, emails, audio-visual materials ,etc.) used by a person, group, organization, or any
institution in communicating
5. Discourse a study of language structures used in the medium of communication to discover the effects of sociological,
cultural, institutional, and ideological factors on the content makes it a discourse analysis
6. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS - The examination of primary documents to understand the connection of past events to the
present time.
7. GROUNDED THEORY - Takes place in the discovery of a new theory to underlie a study at the time of data collection and
analysis Through observation on the subjects, one can find a theory that applies to the current study.
ADVANTAGES OR STRENGTHS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
1. It adopts a naturalistic approach to its subject matter, which means that those involve in the research
understand things based on what they find meaningful.
2. It promotes a full understanding of human behavior or personality traits in their natural setting.
3. It is instrumental for positive societal changes.
4. In engenders respect for people’s individuality as it demands the researcher’s careful and attentive
stand toward people’s world views
5. It is a way of understanding and interpreting social interactions
6. . It increases the researcher’s interest in the study as it includes the researcher’s experience or
background knowledge in interpreting verbal and visual data
7. It offers multiple ways of acquiring and examining knowledge about something
DISADVANTAGES OR WEAKNESSES OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH

1. It involves a lot of researcher’s subjectivity in data analysis.

2. It is hard to know the validity or reliability of the data.
3. It is time-consuming.
4. . It involves several processes, which results greatly depend on the researcher’s views or
interpretations