Qualitative Research Objective:

and Its Importance in

Daily Life

Describes
characteristics,
strengths,
weaknesses, and
kinds of qualitative
research
CS_RS11-IIIb-1
Review

Directions: Identify what type of

research is stated.
• Phenomenological Research
• Basic Research
• Exploratory Research
• Descriptive Research
• Applied Research
__1. Designed to add to an organized
body of scientific knowledge and does not
necessarily produce results of practical
value.

__2. These study is a means of discussing

new meanings, describing what exists,
determining the frequency with which
something occurs and categorizing
information.
__3. Designed to solve practical problems
of the modern world, rather than to
acquire knowledge for knowledge’s sake;
its goal is to improve human condition.

__4. It helps determine the best research

design, data collection method and
selection of subjects. It can be informal,
relying on secondary research such as
review, available literature and/or data.
__3. Designed to solve practical problems
of the modern world, rather than to
acquire knowledge for knowledge’s sake;
its goal is to improve human condition.

__4. It helps determine the best research

design, data collection method and
selection of subjects. It can be informal,
relying on secondary research such as
review, available literature and/or data.
__5. Its aim is to describe an experience
as it is actually lived by the person. This
type of research is powerful for
understanding subjective experience,
gaining insights into people’s motivation
and actions.
Each day of our lives, we face problems.

• My business continues to be in the losing end.

• My child seems to have lost motivation to go to
school or engage in his /her favorite sport.
• I wonder why the students are apathetic toward
Student Council elections.
• I feel depressed.
Directions: What is your quick
response to the given scenarios
earlier?
Without being conscious of
it, you are informally doing
“qualitative research.”
 Qualitative Research
It is a formalized manner of getting at the
bottom of human situations, social
phenomena or inquiries about human
behavior in daily life.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Naturalistic inquiry
Studying real-world situations as they
unfold naturally; non-manipulative,
unobtrusive, and non-controlling;
openness to whatever emerges – lack of
predetermined constraints on outcomes
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Inductive analysis
Immersion in the details and specifics of
the data to discover important categories,
dimensions, and interrelationships; begin
by exploring genuinely open questions
rather than testing theoretically derived
(deductive) hypotheses.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Holistic perspective
The whole phenomenon under study is
understood as a complex system that is
more than the sum of its parts; focus is on
complex interdependencies not
meaningfully reduced to a few discrete
variables and linear, cause-effect
relationships.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Qualitative data
Detailed, thick description; inquiry in
depth; direct quotations capturing people‘s
personal perspectives and experiences.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Personal contact and insight
The researcher has direct contact with and
gets close to the people, situation, and
phenomenon under study; researcher‘s
personal experiences and insights are
important part of the inquiry and critical to
understanding the phenomenon.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Dynamic systems
Attention to process; assumes change is
constant and ongoing whether the focus is
on an individual or an entire culture.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Unique case orientation
Assumes each case is special and unique;
the first level of inquiry is being true to,
respecting, and capturing the details of the
individual cases being studied; crosscase
analysis follows from and depends on the
quality of individual case studies.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Context sensitivity
Places findings in a social, historical, and
temporal context; dubious of the possibility
or meaningfulness of generalization across
time and space.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Emphatic neutrality
Complete objectivity is impossible; pure
subjectivity undermines credibility; the
researcher‘s passion is understanding the world in
all its complexity – not proving something, not
advocating, not advancing personal agenda, but
understanding; the researcher includes personal
experience and empathic insight as part of the
relevant data, while taking a neutral
nonjudgmental stance toward whatever content
may emerge.
 Major Characteristics of
Qualitative Research
Design flexibility
Open to adapting inquiry as understanding
deepens and/or situations change;
avoids getting locked into rigid designs that
eliminate responsiveness; pursues
new paths of discovery as they emerge.
 Types of Qualitative Research

Phenomenology
It is an approach to philosophy and not
specifically a method of inquiry; this has
often been misunderstood. It is first and
foremost philosophy, the approach
employed to pursue a particular study
should emerge from the philosophical
implications inherent in the question.
 Types of Qualitative Research

Ethnography
It is the direct description of a group,
culture, or community. Nevertheless, the
meaning of the word ethnography can be
ambiguous; it is an overall term for a
number of approaches. Sometimes
researchers use it as synonymous with
qualitative research in general, while at
other times it’s meaning is more specific.
 Types of Qualitative Research

Grounded Theory
It is a development of theory directly based
and grounded in the data collected by the
researcher. It is research methodology for
discovering theory in a substantive area.
 Types of Qualitative Research

Case Study
It is used for a research approach with
specific boundaries and can be both
qualitative and quantitative. In addition, it
is an entity studied as a single unit, and it
has clear confines and a specific focus and
is bound to context.
Group Work:
1. Brainstorm on the issues that surround your field
of specialization.
2. Consider the following questions: What topic
should I consider in doing my research? What are
my research questions? What problem would my
research solve? Who will benefit from my
research? Why do I need to conduct this
research?
3. Present your output:
a. Research Title
b. Reasons for Conducting Research
c. Research Questions
 Strengths of Qualitative Research
1. Issues can be examined in detail and in depth.
2. Interviews are not restricted to specific questions and can be
guided/redirected by the researcher in real time.
3. The research framework and direction can be quickly revised as
new information emerges.
4. The obtained data based on human experience is powerful and
sometimes more compelling than quantitative data.
5. Subtleties and complexities about the research subjects and/or
topic are discovered that are often missed by more positivistic
inquiries.
6. Data usually are collected from a few cases or individuals so
findings cannot be generalized to a larger population. Findings can
however be transferable to another setting.
 Limitations of Qualitative Research
1. Research quality is heavily dependent on the individual skills of the
researcher and more easily influenced by the researcher's personal
biases and idiosyncrasies.
2. Rigor is more difficult to maintain, assess, and demonstrate.
3. The volume of data makes analysis and interpretation time
consuming.
4. It is sometimes not as well understood and accepted as quantitative
research within the scientific community
5. The researcher's presence during data gathering, which is often
unavoidable in qualitative research, can affect the subjects' responses.
6. Issues of anonymity and confidentiality can bring/result to problems
when presenting findings
7. Findings can be more difficult and time consuming to characterize in a
visual way.
Evaluation: Write true or false.
__1. It uses a single way to collect data.
__2. It is fundamentally interpretative.
This includes a description of an
individual or setting, analyzing data for
themes or categories, and finally, making
interpretation or drawing conclusions
about its meaning, personally, and
theoretically, stating the lessons learned
and offering further questions to be asked.
__3. The volume of data makes analysis and
interpretation time consuming.
__4. Interviews are not restricted to specific
questions and can be guided/redirected by
the researcher in real time.
__5. Studying real-world situations as they
unfold naturally; non-manipulative,
unobtrusive, and non-controlling; openness
to whatever emerges – lack of predetermined
constraints on outcomes.