Qualitative research

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Qualitative research is a field of inquiry that crosscuts disciplines and subject matters [1]. It involves an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern human behavior. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research relies on reasons behind various aspects of behavior. Simply put, it investigates the why and how of decision making, as compared to what, where, and when of quantitative research.[citation needed] Hence, the need is for smaller but focused samples rather than large random samples, which qualitative research categorizes data into patterns as the primary basis for organizing and reporting results.[citation needed] Qualitative researchers typically rely on four methods for gathering information: (1) participation in the setting, (2) direct observation, (3) in depth interviews, and (4) analysis of documents and materials [2].

Contents

[edit] History

Qualitative research began to gain recognition in the 1970s. The phrase 'qualitative research' was until then marginalized as a discipline of anthropology or sociology, and terms like ethnography, fieldwork, participant observation and Chicago school (sociology) were used instead. During the 1970s and 1980s qualitative research began to be used in other disciplines, and became a dominant - or at least significant - type of research in the fields of women's studies, disability studies, education studies, social work studies, information studies, management studies, nursing service studies, human service studies, psychology, communication studies, and other. The greatest concentration of qualitative research occurred in the consumer products industry during this period. Researchers most interested in investigating consumer new product and product positioning opportunities worked with a handful of the earliest qualitative consumer research pioneers including Gene Reilly of The Gene Reilly Group in Darien, CT, Jerry Schoenfeld of Gerald Schoenfeld & Partners in Tarrytown, NY and Martin Calle of Calle & Company, Greenwich, CT. In the late 1980s and 1990s after a spate of criticisms from the quantitative side, paralleling a slowdown in traditional media spending for the decade, new methods of qualitative research evolved, to address the perceived problems with reliability and imprecise modes of data analysis.[3]

One way of differentiating Qualitative research from Quantitative research is that largely Qualitative research is exploratory, while Quantitative research hopes to be conclusive. However it may be argued that each reflects a particular discourse; neither being definitively more conclusive or 'true' than the other. Quantitative data is measurable, while Qualitative data cannot be put into a context that can be graphed or displayed as a mathematical term.

Especially in American academia, qualitative research is often understood as grounded theory practice. This may be very misleading, as many qualitative researchers use different approaches, such as narratology, storytelling, classical ethnography, or shadowing. Qualitative methods are also loosely present in other methodological approaches, such as action research or actor-network theory.

Contemporary qualitative studies are sometimes supported by computer programs, such as NVivo, although the benefits of software use are mainly in storing and segregating data, rather than in processing or analyzing them.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Denzin, Norman K. & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (2005), The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, Sage Publications, ISBN 0761927573
  2. ^ Marshall, Catherine & Rossman, Gretchen B. (1998), Designing Qualitative Research, Sage Publications, ISBN 0761913408
  3. ^ Taylor, 1998

[edit] References

  • Adler, P. A. & Adler, P. (1987). Membership roles in field research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
  • Becker, Howard S., The epistemology of qualitative research. University of Chicago Press, 1996. 53-71. [from Ethnography and human development : context and meaning in social inquiry / edited by Richard Jessor, Anne Colby, and Richard A. Shweder]
  • Boas, Franz (1943). Recent anthropology. Science, 98, 311-314, 334-337.
  • Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (2000). Handbook of qualitative research ( 2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • DeWalt, K. M. & DeWalt, B. R. (2002). Participant observation. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
  • Fischer, C.T. (Ed.) (2005). Qualitative research methods for psychologists: Introduction through empirical studies. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-088470-4.
  • Flyvbjerg, B. (2006). "Five Misunderstandings About Case Study Research." Qualitative Inquiry, vol. 12, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 219-245.
  • Giddens, A. (1990). The consequences of modernity. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
  • Kaminski, Marek M. 2004. Games Prisoners Play. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-11721-7.
  • Malinowski, B. (1922/1961). Argonauts of the Western Pacific. New York: E. P. Dutton.
  • Pamela Maykut, Richard Morehouse. 1994 Beginning Qualitative Research. Falmer Press.
  • Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research & evaluation methods ( 3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Charles C. Ragin, Constructing Social Research: The Unity and Diversity of Method, Pine Forge Press, 1994, ISBN 0-8039-9021-9
  • Steven J. Taylor, Robert Bogdan, Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods, Wiley, 1998, ISBN 0-471-16868-8
  • Van Maanen, J. (1988) Tales of the field: on writing ethnography, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • Wolcott, H. F. (1995). The art of fieldwork. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
  • Wolcott, H. F. (1999). Ethnography: A way of seeing. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.
  • Ziman, John (2000). Real Science: what it is, and what it means. Cambridge, Uk: Cambridge University Press.

[edit] External links

cs:Kvalitativní výzkum da:Kvalitativ analyse de:Qualitative Sozialforschung et:Kvalitatiivsed uurimismeetodid es:Investigación cualitativa fr:Méthodes qualitatives hr:Kvalitativno istraživanje he:מחקר איכותני ja:定性的研究 sl:Kvalitativna analiza sv:Kvalitativ metod fi:Laadullinen tutkimus zh:質性研究

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