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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION There are broadly two approaches of research: quantitative research andqualitative research. Quantitative research was originated in the naturalsciences such as biology, chemistry, physics, geology etc. and wasconcerned with investigating things which we could observe and measure insome way. Such observations and measurements can be made objectivelyand repeated by other researchers.Qualitative research was related to the social sciences: psychology,sociology, anthropology etc. They were interested in studying humanbehavior and the social world inhabited by human beings. The researchattempts to increase our understanding of why things are, the way they arein our social world, and why people act the ways they do. The aim of qualitative research is to gather an in-depth understandingof human behaviorand, not just what, where, when.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/qualitative_methods, accessed 22
nd
March2009) The further discussion on qualitative research characteristics, thetheoretical underpinning, the paradigm, the data collection, the advantagesand the comparison between qualitative and quantitative will be elaboratedas follows.
WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
Qualitative research uses individual in-depth interviews, focus groups orquestionnaires to collect analyze and interpret data by observing whatpeople do and say. It reports on the meanings, concepts, definitions,characteristics, metaphors, symbols and descriptions of things. It is moresubjective than quantitative research and is often exploratory and open-ended. Small numbers of people are interviewed in-depth and/or a relativelysmall number of focus groups are conducted. (Holliday: 2007)(http://www.nhs.uk, accessed 22
nd
March 2009)
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Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of a variety of empirical materials, such as case study; personal experiences;introspection; life story; interview; artifacts; cultural text and productions;observational, historical, interactional, and visual texts that describe routineand problematic moments and meanings in individuals’lives.(Denzin&Lincoln:2003)
Qualitative research is concerned with developing explanations of socialphenomena. That is to say, it aims to help us to understand the world in whichwe live and why things are the way they are. According to Beverley (1998), it isconcerned with the social aspects of our world and seeks to answer questionsabout:
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Why people behave the way they do
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How opinions and attitudes are formed
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How people are affected by the events that go on around them
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How and why cultures have developed in the way they have
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 The differences between social groups
QUALITATIVE PARADIGM
A paradigm is a loose collection of logically related assumptions, concepts,or propositions that orient thinking and research. When we refer to atheoretical orientation or theoretical perspectives, we are talking about a
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way of looking at the world, the assumptions people have about what isimportant and what makes the world work.
Phenomenological
Researchers in the phenomenological mode attempt to understand themeaning of events and interactions to ordinary people in particularsituations. What phenomenologist emphasizes, then, are the subjectiveaspects of people’s behavior. (Bogdan&Biklen: 1992)
Ethnography
 The ethnographic approach to qualitative research comes largely from thefield of anthropology. It is based on observational work in particular setting.(Silverman: 2005) The emphasis in ethnography is on studying an entireculture. The most common ethnographic approach isparticipant observationas a part of field research (Fraenkel&Wallen: 1993). Theethnographer becomes immersed in the culture as an active participant andrecords extensive field notes.
Field Research
 The essential idea of field research is that the researcher goes "into thefield" to observe the phenomenon in its natural state. As such, it is probablymost related to the method of participant observation. The field researchertypically takes extensive field notes which are subsequently coded andanalyzed in a variety of ways. (Trochim: 2006)
Grounded Theory
 The self-defined purpose of grounded theory is to develop theory aboutphenomena of interest. But this is not just abstract theorizing they're talkingabout. Instead the
theory 
needs to be grounded
 
or rooted in observation. The research using grounded theory seeks to produce theory: a set of interrelated categories that describe or explain some phenomenon.(Travers: 2001)
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