A500.6.3.RB – Qualitative Research

11 November 2015

Richard Martinez       

MSLD 500

            In the world of research there are many different forms or ways to conduct your research. Today I will be talking about Qualitative Research. Strauss and Corbin stated that qualitative research, broadly defined, means “any kind of research that produces findings not arrived at by means of statistical procedures or other means of qualification.” Qualitative research is designed to gain a deeper understanding of your specific research and not just a surface description. It is often referred to as field research or ethnomethodology. It’s a way to understand things from first-hand experience and uses observation method to collect data.

            Qualitative research is different than quantitative research in that Qualitative research uses a naturalistic approach to research. Quantitative research methods are set before the observation begins and states which observation methods will be used. In qualitative research the research methods suggest the type of observation that may be used and the type of data collected. In qualitative research analysis begins as soon as the data is collected but in quantitative research analysis begins when observation ends. It breaks down to quantitative research is observations then analysis and qualitative research is observations then analysis the observations then analysis then observations then analysis. Qualitative research looks deeper into your subject and continues to do that.

            Qualitative research has eight main elements, the first being that it uses a natural setting for the source of data and the research tries to observe and describe then interpret things as they are. The second element is the researcher is the human element in the data collection. Inductive data analysis is the mainly used for qualitative research in the third element. The fourth is the incorporating expressive language and the presence of voice in the text and descriptive reports. The fifth element is that qualitative research is interpretive and designed to discover the meaning events have for the individuals and how the researcher interprets those meanings. The next element the researcher looks for the uniqueness of each case and pays attention to the distinctive as well as the persistent. The seventh element talks about how qualitative research has an evolving design and the researchers focus on this process and the outcomes or product of the research. The last element is the special criteria used to judge qualitative research.

            There are however some issues or problems that can be associated with qualitative research. It is very time consuming and has masses of data to transcribe which is difficult to code. It is not valid to widely circulated social settings and it is generally only a case study with limited applicability to other conditions. Qualitative research usually gives minimal level data, it’s difficult to measure and it is also challenging to control for researcher bias.