The Value Of Qualitative Research – Its Kinds,

Characteristics, Uses, Strengths, And Weaknesses LESSON 1, 2,

And The Importance Of Qualitative Research
Across Fields Of Inquiry
3, & 4
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MAJOR CHARACTERISTICS
OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
1. Naturalistic inquiry
2. Inductive analysis
3. Holistic perspective
4. Qualitative data
5. Personal contact and insight
6. Dynamic systems
7. Unique case orientation
8. Context sensitivity
9. Emphatic neutrality
10.Design flexibility
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1. 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.

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2. 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.

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3. 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.

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4. QUALITATIVE DATA
Detailed, thick description; inquiry in depth; direct quotations
capturing people‘s personal perspectives and experiences.

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5. 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.

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6. DYNAMIC SYSTEMS
Attention to process; assumes change is constant and ongoing
whether the focus is on an individual or an entire culture.

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7. 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; cross-case analysis follows from
and depends on the quality of individual case studies.

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8. CONTEXT SENSITIVITY
Places findings in a social, historical, and temporal context;
dubious of the possibility or meaningfulness of generalization
across time and space.

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9. 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.

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10. 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.

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TYPES OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
1.Phenomenology
2.Ethnography
3.Grounded theory
4.Case study
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1. 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.
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2. 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. 15
3. GROUNDED THEORY

•It is a development of theory directly

based and grounded in the data
collected by the researcher. It is a
research methodology for discovering
theory in a substantive area.
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4. 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.

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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.
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STRENGTHS OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
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 (naturalistic) 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.
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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.
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LIMITATIONS OF
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
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.
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