Qualitative

Research
Its characteristics, strengths,
and weaknesses
Learning Targets

I can identify the I can enumerate I can recognize

strengths and the different the importance of
weaknesses of characteristics of qualitative
qualitative research, research; research in daily
life.
Qualitative Research
● A research type that puts premium or high value on people’s thinking or point
of view conditioned by their personal traits.

● It usually takes place in soft sciences like social sciences, politics,

economics, humanities, education, psychology, nursing and all business-related
subjects.

● Subjectivity in a Qualitative Research is true not only for individuals or group

under study, but also for you, as a researcher.

● In a Qualitative Research, things are studied in their natural setting., enough

for you to conclude that qualitative research is an act or inquiry or investigation
of real-life events.
Characteristics of a Qualitative Research

1. Human understanding and interpretation

- based on individual’s mental, social, and understanding of the
world.
2. Active, powerful, and forceful
- in every stage of a Qualitative research, a lot of changes occur
continuously that makes you not fixated to a certain plan.
Characteristics of a Qualitative Research

3. Multiple research approaches and methods

- Qualitative research involves approaching study in varied ways. It
is a multi-method research applied to all research types:
descriptive, exploratory, explanatory, case study, etc..
4. Specificity to generalization
- Qualitative research follows inductive or scientific method of
thinking. Specific ideas in a qualitative research are directed to a
general understanding of something.
Characteristics of a Qualitative Research

5. Contextualization
- Your goal in a qualitative research is to understand human behavior.
Thus, it is crucial for you to examine the context or situation
affecting an individual’s way of life.
6. Diversified data in real-life situations
- A qualitative research involves collection of data in a natural
setting.
Characteristics of a Qualitative Research

7. Abounds with words and visuals

- There is a big quantity of words in a qualitative research. The
presentation of people’s world views may also be done visually.

8. Internal Analysis
- This pertains to the examination of the data yielded by the internal
traits of the subject individuals (emotional, mental, spiritual
characteristics). You study people’s perceptions or views about
your topic, not the effects of their physical existence.
Types of Qualitative Research
Case Study
This involves a long time study of a person,
group, organization or situation. Varieties of
data collection methods such as interviews ,
questionnaires, observations and documentary
analysis are used in a case study.
Types of Qualitative Research
Ethnography
This is a study of a particular cultural group to
get a clear understanding of its organizational
set-up, internal operation and lifestyle.
Types of Qualitative Research
Phenomenology
This is a study of how people find their
experiences meaningful. Its primary goal is to
make people understand their experiences
about death of loved ones, care for
handicapped persons, friendliness of people,
etc..
Types of Qualitative Research
Content and Discourse Analysis
This requires an analysis or examination of a
substance or content of the mode of
communication (letters, books, journals,
photos, video recordings, SMS, online
messages, emails, audio-visual materials,
etc.) used by a person, group, organization or
any institution in communicating.
Types of Qualitative Research
Historical Analysis
This is the examination of primary documents
to make you understand the connection of
past events to the present time.
Types of Qualitative Research
Grounded Theory
This takes place when you discover a new
theory to underlie your study at the time of
data collection and analysis. Interview,
observation and documentary analysis are the
data gathering techniques for this type of
qualitative research.
 Advantages or strengths of a
Qualitative Research

1. It adopts a naturalistic approach to its subject

matter which means that those involved in the
research understand things based on what they
find meaningful.
2. It promotes a full understanding of human
behavior or personality traits in their natural
setting.
 Advantages or strengths of a
Qualitative Research

3. It is instrumental for positive societal changes.

4. It engenders respect for people’s individuality as it
demands the researcher’s careful and attentive
stand toward people’s world views.
5. It is a way of understanding and interpreting social
interactions.
 Advantages or strengths of a
Qualitative Research

6. It increases the researcher’s interest in the study

as it includes the researcher’s experience or
background knowledge in interpreting verbal and
visual data.
7. It offers multiple ways of acquiring and examining
knowledge about something.
Disadvantages or Weaknesses
Of Qualitative Research

● It involves a lot of researcher’s subjectivity

in data analysis.
● It is hard to know the validity or reliability
of the data.
● Its open-ended questions yield “data
overload” that requires long time analysis.
Disadvantages or Weaknesses
Of Qualitative Research

● It is time consuming.
● It involves several processes, which
results greatly depend on the researcher’s
views or interpretations.