Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research Defined:
The simplest way to define qualitative research is to say that it is a type of research which involves interpreting nonnumerical data. The underlying belief of qualitative research is that "meaning is situated in a particular perspective or context, and, since different people and groups have different perspectives and contexts, there are many different meanings in the world, none of which is necessarily more valid or true than another" (Gay & Airasian, 1996). A qualitative researcher, therefore, believes that the world cannot be pinned down by objective meanings, but that all variables must be taken into account when conducting research, including the past experiences and personalities of the researcher. According to Peck and Secker (1999), this idea has three important implications from a research perspective:
First, it follows that the purpose of research is not to establish objective facts about the social world because objective knowledge is impossible; rather, the aim is to explore how research participants understand, or make sense of, the topics in which we are interested. Second, the theories we arrive at as researchers are also inevitably our own interpretations of research participants' understandings and not simply a reflection of them. Finally, for readers and reviewers to assess qualitative research, it is necessary to present a "thick description" of the data, illustrate this with substantial extracts, and make the processes of the analysis transparent.
How Qualitative Research differs from Quantitative Research:
In order to gain a clearer understanding of qualitative research, it is necessary to compare its basic purpose and focus to those ...
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...tative research is a valuable form of research to use in order to interpret the everyday life situations that cannot be measured through quantitative methods.
References
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Gay, L.R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. W. (2009) Educational research: Competencies foranalysis and applications. (9th. Ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN-10: 0135035015
Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
Richards and Schwartz (2002) listed four potential risks to research participants in qualitative studies. These are
The Department of Psychology. (2007). About the Department. Available: http://www.isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k3007&pageid=icb.page19708&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent44003&view=view.do&viewParam_name=allport.html. Last accessed 7th Jan 2014.
According to Smith (1983) quantitative research is to explain, predict and develop laws that can be universally applied and Qualitative research is the interpretation and understanding of what people give to their situation. The researchers clearly stated the purpose of their studies, aim, objectiv...
The term "parental involvement" is one of the most ambiguous terms in today's educational arena. It is often recognized as a large contributor to student achievement and overall success. Parental involvement can be defined in many ways. Some researchers have defined it as "parent participation in educational activities at school and home (Dookie, 2013, pp. 10-11)”. Another group of researchers has defined it as "activities that parents engage in at home and at school children and positive attitudes parents have toward their child's education, school, and teacher” (Dookie, 2013)
Holloway, I., & Wheeler, S. (2013). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare. John Wiley & Sons.
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Marshall, C, Rossman, Gretchen B, (2006). Designing qualitative research, 4th edition, Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Ulin,R.P., Robinson,E.T.,Tolle,E.E. (2005) Qualitative Methods in Public Health: A Field Guide for Applied Research. San Francisco: Family health international. in Humanities a
focused on the key qualitative research methods. For each article review, a brief description, guided by Myers (2013), and a critique, guided Pratt (2009), is provided. A summary of the five articles identifying the research method, data collection technique, data analysis approach and critique is provided in Table 1. The narrative review of each article coupled with figures and tables to organize and visualize thoughts (Pratt, 2009) follows the summary table.
Corner, J., 1991, ‘In search of more complete answers to research questions. Quantitative versus qualitative research methods: is there a way forward?’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 718-727.
Stejskal, S.M. (2010) Quatiative and Qualitative Research Methods are not and should not be Mutually Exclusive, Grinn Verlag.