CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE

RESEACH:
• ACCORDING TO KANIA(2008)
• 1. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IS CONDUCTED IN A SYSTEMATIC AND RIGOROUS WAY. HOWEVER, IT IS MORE
FLEXIBLE THAN QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH.
• 2. IT IS USUALLY FOLLOWS AN ITERATIVE PROCESS, WHICH MEANS THAT DATA COLLECTION AND
ANALYSIS OCCUR SIMULTANEOUSLY. DATA ALREADY COLLECTED ARE UPDATED BY THE ONGOING
DATA COLLECTION
 CHARACTERISTICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEACH:
• 3. IT FOCUSES ON GATHERING INFORMATION FROM PEOPLE WHO CAN PROVIDE RICHEST
INSIGHTS INTO THE PHENOMENON OR INTEREST.
• AS A RESULT, SMALL SAMPLES ARE COMMONLY USED IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH.
• STUDY PARTICIPANT ARE USUALLY SELECTED IN A PURPOSIVE MANNER, USING ONLY THOSE
FOR WHOM THE TOPIC UNDER STUDY IS RELEVANT
• 4. COLLECTION OF DATA IS A CONTINUOUS UNTIL SATURATION, OR WHEN IT REACHES THE POINT
WHERE NO NEW INFORMATION IS REVEALED WITH RESPECT TO THE KEYS THEMES
EMERGING FROM DATA.
• 5. QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION EXAMINES EVERYDAY LIFE IN ITS NATURAL CONTEXT OR IN AN
UNCONTROLLED NATURALISTIC SETTING.
 VALUE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• QUALITATIVE PROVIDES CONTEXT AND MEANING.
• IF AN ORGANIZATION WANT TO ASSES THE BEHAVIOR OF THE CLIENTS, THEY CAN EASILY COLLECT AND ANALYZE
INFORMATION ABOUT TOP – SELLING ITEMS, BUYING TRENDS IN VARIOUS GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONS, AND OVERALL
SALES FIGURES BY MONTH.
• THIS WILL GIVE SENSE OF THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN, AND WHERE OF THE STUDY.
• QUALITATIVE RESEARCH CAN COMPLETE THE PICTURE BY DELVING INTO THE WHY AND THE HOW.
• IF THE QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH REPRESENTS THE SKELETON, THE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH REPRESENTS THE
FLESH.
• IT CAN EXPLORE NARROWLY – DEFINED ISSUES IN GREATER DEPTH, EXPLAINING THE SETTING IN WHICH BEHAVIOR
CAN TAKE PLACE.
• IT GIVES THE COMPLETE PICTURE OF THE ISSUE BEING STUDIED.
COMMON TYPES QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
(MERRIAM, S.B., ET AL, 2002)