Qualitative research

Qualitative research is a scientific method of observation to gather non-numerical data. This type of research 'refers to the meanings, concepts definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and description of things' and not to their 'counts or measures'. This research answers why and how a certain phenomenon may occur rather than how often. Qualitative research approaches are employed across many academic disciplines, focusing particularly on the human elements of the social and natural sciences; in less academic contexts, areas of application include qualitative market research, business, service demonstrations by non-profits, and journalism.We can distinguish between those which follow the logic of quantitative methods in their rules and criteria and make generalizations in a numerical sense (i. e. from numerous cases to more numerous cases), and those clearly qualitative methods where interpretations and generalizations are not based on the frequency of occurrence of certain social phenomena but on a logic of generalizing from an individual case, whether this case is a personal biography, an organization or a particular milieu or social setting; this includes making microscopic and thick descriptions (see Geertz 1973) of the phenomena in which we are interested, likewise with the aim of generalizing from an individual case.'The problem with laying down prescriptive rules about what qualitative research is and how it ought to proceed lies in the narrowing of the possibilities of an abundant and constantly devolving body of philosophical thought. When we accept paradigms uncritically as the ‘givens’, qualitative knowledge becomes habituated, and paradigms grow into hegemonic systems of organization (Pernecky, 2016, p. 194)'. Qualitative research is a scientific method of observation to gather non-numerical data. This type of research 'refers to the meanings, concepts definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and description of things' and not to their 'counts or measures'. This research answers why and how a certain phenomenon may occur rather than how often. Qualitative research approaches are employed across many academic disciplines, focusing particularly on the human elements of the social and natural sciences; in less academic contexts, areas of application include qualitative market research, business, service demonstrations by non-profits, and journalism. As a field of study, qualitative approaches include research concepts and methods from multiple established academic fields. The aim of a qualitative research project may vary with the disciplinary background, such as a psychologist seeking in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons that govern such behavior for example. Qualitative methods are best for researching many of the why and how questions of human experience, in making a decision for example (not just what, where, when, or 'who'); and have a strong basis in the field of sociology to understand government and social programs. Qualitative research is widely used by political science, social work, and education researchers. In the conventional view of statisticians, qualitative methods produce explanations only of the particular cases studied (e.g., as part of an ethnography of a newly implemented government program), any general conclusions beyond the study context are considered tentative propositions (informed assertions), since the general propositions are not usually arrived at on the basis of statistical theory. Quantitative methods are therefore needed, to seek mathematical evidence and justification for such hypotheses for further research. In contrast, a qualitative researcher might argue that understanding of a phenomenon or situation or event, comes from exploring the totality of the situation (e.g., phenomenology, symbolic interactionism), often with access to large amounts of 'hard data' of a nonnumerical form. It may begin as a grounded theory approach with the researcher having no previous understanding of the phenomenon; or the study may commence with propositions and proceed in a 'scientific and empirical way' throughout the research process (e.g., Bogdan & Taylor, 1990). A popular method of qualitative research is the case study (Stake 1995, Yin 1989), which examines in depth 'purposive samples' to better understand a phenomenon (e.g., support to families; Racino, 1999); the case study method exemplifies the qualitative researchers' preference for depth, detail, and context, often working with smaller and more focused samples, compared with the large samples of primary interest to statistical researchers seeking general laws. Qualitative methods are an integral component of the five angles of analysis fostered by the data percolation methodology. These methods may be used alongside quantitative methods, scholarly or lay reviews of the literature, interviews with experts, and computer simulation, as part of multimethod attitude to data collection and analysis (called Triangulation). To help navigate the heterogeneous landscape of qualitative research, one can further think of qualitative inquiry in terms of 'means' and 'orientation'. In particular, one could argue that qualitative researchers often reject natural science models of truth, prefer inductive, hypothesis-generating research processes and procedures (over hypothesis-testing models), are oriented towards investigations of meaning(s) rather than behaviour, and prefer data in the form of words and images, that are ideally naturally derived (e.g. in-depth observation as opposed to experimentation). Sociologist Earl Babbie notes that qualitative research is 'at once very old and very new.' He documents that qualitative methods have been used for several centuries, but anthropologists brought qualitative field research methods to the forefront through their 19th century observations of preliterate societies. Robert Bogdan in his advanced courses on qualitative research traces the history of the development of the fields, and their particular relevance to disability and including the work of his colleague Robert Edgerton and a founder of participant observation, Howard S. Becker. As Robert Bogdan and Sari Biklen describe in their education text, 'historians of qualitative research have never, for instance, included Freud or Piaget as developers of the qualitative approach, yet both relied on case studies, observations and indepth interviewing'.