qualitative research

1. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
pp.17-32, Esther L. Baraceros
Practical Research 1
Rex Bookstore

2. Brainstorming Session:
As a group, partner with another group and
explain your knowledge on some ways or
techniques you may know in obtaining
knowledge about a lot of things in this world.
How to know more about people, places,
events, and other things in this world. Give
example for each way or technique. A reporter
from your group will read what your partner
group has shared with your group. Reporting
will start after 30 mins. Write the result of your
sharing in a half sheet of paper, crosswise.

3. Intended Learning Outcomes:
 Analyze the use of an unfamiliar term in a sentence
to know its meaning;
 Obtain a thorough or in-depth knowledge of
qualitative research;
 Clarify your understanding of qualitative research;
 Explain the elements or characteristics of
qualitative research;
 Justify the usefulness of qualitative research;
 Compare and contrast the types of qualitative
research; and
 Match a given research topic with the right
research type.

4. What is Qualitative Research?
A systematic subjective approach used to
describe life experience and give them
meaning. This type of research puts
premium or high value on people’s
thinking or point of view conditioned by
their personal traits. As such, it usually
takes place in soft sciences like social
sciences, politics, economics, humanities,
education, psychology, and all business-
related subjects.

5. Goals of Qualitative Research
 To gain insight; explore the depth, richness, and
complexity inherent in the phenomenon
involving people and society. To understand
human behavior.
 In a qualitative research, the reality is
conditioned by society and people’s intentions
are involved in explaining cause-effect
relationships.
 Things are studied in their natural setting,
enough for one to conclude that qualitative
research is an act of inquiry or investigation of
real-life events.

6. Characteristics of a Qualitative Research
1. Human understanding and interpretation
- Data analysis results show an individual’s
mental, social, and spiritual understanding of the
world.
2. Active, powerful and forceful
- changes occur continuously in every stage
- there is a need to amend, rephrase and
consider varied ways of getting answers as you
gather data to reach your set objectives.

7. 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 quantitative research and use all
gathered data and analysis techniques.
4. Specificity to generalizations (Specific to general)
- Specific ideas in a qualitative research are
directed to a general understanding of something.
It follows an inductive or scientific method of
thinking, where you start of a particular or specific
concept that leads to a more complex idea such
as generalization or conclusion.

8. 5. Contextualization
- It is very crucial for one to examine 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
- 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 to people,
and looking at classrooms unchanged or
adjusted to people’s intentional observations.

9. 7. Abounds with words and visuals
- Words, words, and more words come in
big quantity in this kind of research.
Data gathering through interviews or
library reading, as well as presentation
of data analysis results, is done verbally.
Likewise, presenting people’s
worldviews through visual presentation
(i.e., pictures, videos, drawing/sketches
and graphs) are significantly used in
qualitative research.

10. 8. Internal Analysis
- Here, one can examine the data yielded by the
internal traits of the subject individuals (i.e.,
emotional, mental, spiritual characteristics.
You study people’s perception or views about your
chosen topic, not the effects of their physical
existence on your study. In case of objects or
artworks – in qualitative research, underlying
theories or principles that govern these materials
and their usefulness to people is of more
importance.

11. From Others:
Research problems become research
questions based on prior research or
experience.
Sample sizes can be as small as one.
Data collection involves interview,
observation, and/or archival (content)
data.
Interpretation is based on a combination of
research perspective and data collected.

12. It is used in the soft sciences, like social
studies, humanities, education, etc.
Its focus is complex and broad since it is
about people.
The approach is holistic since it factors in
the many facets of the human nature and
society.
It is more subjective because the
interpretation is based on the researcher’s
expertise and understanding in the field.

13. It develops theory on men and society more
than tests a theory;
Interpretation is more shared with a
community of researchers than controlled
by one researcher and factors.
Data gathered is through communication
and observation than the use of calibrated
tools.
The basic element of analysis is on words
than numbers.
Each study has its own qualities.

14. TYPES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Case Study
Ethnography
Phenomenology
Content and Discourse Analysis
Historical Analysis/Study
Grounded Theory

15. 1. CASE STUDY
-takes place in medical sciences and education
-involves a long-time study of a person, group,
organization, or situation;
-seeks to find answers to why such thing occurs to
the subject and finding reasons behind such
occurrences;

16. 2. ETHNOGRAPHY
- it is the study of a particular cultural group
to get a clear understanding of its
organizational set-up, internal operation,
and lifestyle.
- A particular group reveals the nature or
characteristics of their own culture
through the world perceptions of the
cultural group’s members.

17. 3. PHENOMENOLOGY
- comes from the word “phenomenon”
meaning something known through
sensory experience.
- refers to the study of how people find
their experiences meaningful.

18. 4. CONTENT and DISCOURSE ANALYSIS
-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, video recordings, SMS, online
messages, emails, audio-visual materials,
etc.).

19. 5. HISTORICAL ANALYSIS/STUDY
-the core of this research method is the
examination of primary documents to
make you understand the connection of
the past events to the present time and
anticipate or be expectant of the future.

20. 6. GROUNDED THEORY
-takes place when one discovers a new
theory to underlie one’s study at the time
of data collection and analysis. Through
one’s observation on the subject, one will
happen to find a theory that applies to
one’s current study.