This chapter discusses four qualitative research methods: field observations, focus groups, intensive interviews, and case studies. Field observations involve studying phenomena in natural settings without manipulation. Focus groups include a small number of respondents who provide answers to "why", "what", and "how" questions. Intensive interviews use smaller samples to obtain detailed opinions, values, and experiences. Case studies examine events within a framework to develop in-depth analyses of single or multiple cases.
This chapter discusses four qualitative research methods: field observations, focus groups, intensive interviews, and case studies. Field observations involve studying phenomena in natural settings without manipulation. Focus groups include a small number of respondents who provide answers to "why", "what", and "how" questions. Intensive interviews use smaller samples to obtain detailed opinions, values, and experiences. Case studies examine events within a framework to develop in-depth analyses of single or multiple cases.
This chapter discusses four qualitative research methods: field observations, focus groups, intensive interviews, and case studies. Field observations involve studying phenomena in natural settings without manipulation. Focus groups include a small number of respondents who provide answers to "why", "what", and "how" questions. Intensive interviews use smaller samples to obtain detailed opinions, values, and experiences. Case studies examine events within a framework to develop in-depth analyses of single or multiple cases.
This chapter discusses four qualitative research methods: field observations, focus groups, intensive interviews, and case studies. Field observations involve studying phenomena in natural settings without manipulation. Focus groups include a small number of respondents who provide answers to "why", "what", and "how" questions. Intensive interviews use smaller samples to obtain detailed opinions, values, and experiences. Case studies examine events within a framework to develop in-depth analyses of single or multiple cases.
1.What Is Qualitative Research? 2.When To Use Qualitative Research 3.Qualitative And Quantitative Research Difference 4.Qualitative Research Methods Introduction What is Qualitative research? It is a scientific method of observation to gather non-numerical data. This type of research "refers to the meanings, concepts definitions, characteristics, and description of things" and not to their "counts or measures" This research answers why and how a certain phenomenon may occur rather than how often. Qualitative method entails looking at an event from the perspective of people. It was done by collecting documentation by observing, interviewing, discussing with people about the research problem. When to use qualitative research • Researchers make use of qualitative research techniques when they need to capture accurate, in-depth insights. It is very useful to capture “factual data”. Here are some examples of when to use qualitative research. • Developing a new product or generating an idea. • Studying your product/brand or service to strengthen your marketing strategy. • To understand your strengths and weaknesses. • Understanding purchase behavior. • To study the reactions of your audience to marketing campaigns and other communications. • Exploring market demographics, segments, and customer care groups. • Gathering perception data of a brand, company, or product. Qualitative and Quantitative Research Difference Qualitative and Quantitative Research Difference • The two methods have a different philosophy of reality. • For a quantitative researcher, reality is objective: it exits apart from the researcher and is capable of being seen by all. • For the qualitative researcher, there is no single reality. • Each observer creates reality as part of the research process; it is subjective and exists only in reference to the observer. • Qualitative research is holistic in nature while quantitative research is particularistic. • Qualitative research is exploratory. As opposed to quantitative research which is conclusive. Cont… • The reasoning used to synthesise data in qualitative research is inductive whereas in the case of quantitative research the reasoning is deductive. • Qualitative research is based on purposive sampling, where a small sample size is selected, On the other hand, quantitative research relies on random sampling; where a large representative sample is chosen. • Verbal data are collected in qualitative research. Conversely, in quantitative research measurable data is gathered. • Elements used in the analysis of qualitative research are words, pictures, and objects while that of quantitative research is numerical data. Cont… • The methods used in qualitative research are in-depth interviews, focus groups, etc. In contrast, the methods of conducting quantitative research are structured interviews and observations. • Qualitative Research is conducted with the aim of exploring and discovering ideas used in the ongoing processes. As opposed to quantitative research the purpose is to examine cause and effect relationship between variables. • Quantitative researchers aim to generate general laws of behavior and explain many things across many settings, in contrast, qualitative scholars attempt to produce a unique explanation about a given situation or event. • Qualitative researchers strive for depth whereas Quantitative researchers strive for breadth,. This chapter discusses four qualitative research methods 1.Field observations 2.Focus groups 3.Intensive interviews and 4.Case studies. Four alternatives to qualitative research methods 1) Field observation ✓Involves the study of a phenomenon in natural settings (nothing is manipulated or controlled).. ✓The researcher may be a detached observer or a participant in the process under study. ✓It is useful for collecting data as well as for generating hypotheses and theories. ✓It is more concerned with description and explanation than it is with measurement and quantification. Cont… • Advantages: The main advantage of this technique is its flexibility; it can be used to develop hypotheses, to gather preliminary data or to study groups that would otherwise be inaccessible. • Helps to define basic background information to frame a hypothesis and to isolate variables. • Field observation is usually inexpensive. • Disadvantages: Field observation is a bad choice if the researcher is concerned with external validity. • Field Observation Techniques: • There are at least six stages in a typical field observation study: choosing the research site, gaining access, sampling, collecting data, analyzing data and exiting. Cont… 1. Choosing Research Site • Depends upon the general nature of the research question it is recommended that the researcher select two or three possible research sites: to discover their main advantages and disadvantages. 2. Gaining Access • It is noted that the degree of difficulty faced by researchers in gaining access to settings is a function of two factors: I. How public the setting is II. The willingness of the subjects in the setting to be observed. 3. Sampling: Based on Population 4. Collecting Data: • pen and notebook, recent advances in electronics Cont… 5. Analyzing Data filing and content analysis. The overall goal of data analysis in field observation is to arrive at a general understanding of the phenomenon under study. 6. Exiting: A participant must also have a plan for leaving the setting or the group under study. The researcher has an ethical obligation to do everything possible to prevent psychological, emotional or physical injury to those being studied. 2)Focus group or group interviewing •A focus group is also one of the commonly used qualitative research methods, used in data collection. •A focus group usually includes a limited number of respondents (6-10) from within your target market. •The main aim of the focus group is to find answers to the “why” “what” and “how” questions. Cont… • One advantage of focus groups is, you don’t necessarily need to interact with the group in person. Nowadays focus groups can be sent an online survey on various devices and responses can be collected at the click of a button. • Focus groups are an expensive method as compared to the other online qualitative research methods. Typically they are used to explain complex processes. This method is very useful when it comes to market research on new products and testing new concepts. Methodology of Focus Groups 1. Define the problem: well-defined problem is established. 2. Select a sample: Because focus groups are small, researcher must define a narrow audience for the study. 3. Determine the number of groups necessary: To help eliminate part of the problem of selecting a representative group, most researchers conduct two or more focus groups on the same topic. Result can then be compared to determine whether any similarities or difference exist; or, one group may be used as a basis for comparison to the other group. A focus group study using only one group is rare, since there is no way to know if the results are group-specific or characteristic of a wider audience. Cont… 4. Prepare the study mechanics: A functional details or procedure of the study, reserving the facilities at which the groups will be conducted and deciding what type of recording will be used. 5. Prepare the focus group materials: Each aspect of a focus group must be planned in detail; nothing should be left to chance. 6. Conduct the session 7. Analyze the data and prepare a summary report 3) Intensive interviewing Is hybrid of the one-on-one personal interview approach • Generally use smaller samples. • Provide very detailed information. • Elaborate data concerning respondent’s opinions, values, motivations, recollections, experiences and feeling are obtained. • Allow for lengthy observation of respondent’s nonverbal responses. • It is used to gather extremely detailed information from a small sample of respondents. • Intensive interview may last several hours and may take more than one session. Cont… • Intensive interview is customized to individual respondents. • Intensive interviews allow interviewers to form questions based on each respondent’s answers. • Can be influenced by the interview climate. • The success of intensive interviews depends on the rapport/bond established between the interviewer and respondents. • Advantage: The wealth of data that can be gathered with this method is its primary advantage. • Disadvantage: Because intensive interviewing is usually done with small, no random samples, generalizability is sometimes a disadvantage. 4) The case study method • Case study: examines episodic events in a definable framework, develops in-depth analyses of single or multiple cases, generally explains “how”. • This type of research method is used within a number of areas like education, social sciences and similar. This method may look difficult to operate, however, it is one of the simplest ways of conducting research as it involves a deep dive and thorough understanding of the data collection methods and inferring the data. Cont… Advantages • most valuable when the researcher wants to obtain a wealth of information about the research topic: provide tremendous detail. • advantageous to the researcher who is trying to find clues and ideas for further research: can suggest why something has occurred. • affords ability to deal with a wide spectrum of evidence. Disadvantages • lack of scientific accuracy in many case studies • not easily open to generalization • time-consuming and may occasionally produce massive quantities of data that are hard to summarize.
