Qualitative research in contrast to quantitative research is not concerned with measurement of phenomena, it aims to understand a phenomenon about which very little is known, qualitative research is applicable in studying and understanding issues related to human behavior including sensitive issues like violence, suicide etc. Qualitative research needs to be undertaken in their actual place of happening and real life situation as opposed to lab based research which can be conducted under controlled settings. Qualitative research is widely used in the fields of health, education, medicine and administration and is helpful in policy making and introducing changes. Some established qualitative research techniques include word association test, story completion test, attitude or opinion research etc., but these need to be administered on a case to case basis. The findings of qualitative research relate to very specific issues, situation and circumstances and caution should be exercised while drawing analogies and comparisons or generalizing any concept.
Data collection during qualitative research has to be done tactfully; the researcher should be able to develop a comfort level and a feeling of trust with respondents. The respondents should feel at ease and secure with the researcher. Proper communication of research objectives can help in creating the desired environment. Questions should be framed after due consideration and should not upset the respondents, any awkward situation should be eased out by the researcher. In order to enhance qualitative data gathering skills researcher can learn from qualitative research techniques like statistical content analysis and ethnography, the latter is based on semi structured approach of learning about human behavior, in this the researcher tries to understand the situation in the light of some specific questions. Another challenge of qualitative research is to quantify certain phenomenon or observations, quantification can be attempted on observations such as how many respondents support a particular view, or how many respondents hold a similar attitude etc.
Data collection during qualitative research has to be done tactfully; the researcher should be able to develop a comfort level and a feeling of trust with respondents. The respondents should feel at ease and secure with the researcher. Proper communication of research objectives can help in creating the desired environment. Questions should be framed after due consideration and should not upset the respondents, any awkward situation should be eased out by the researcher. In order to enhance qualitative data gathering skills researcher can learn from qualitative research techniques like statistical content analysis and ethnography, the latter is based on semi structured approach of learning about human behavior, in this the researcher tries to understand the situation in the light of some specific questions. Another challenge of qualitative research is to quantify certain phenomenon or observations, quantification can be attempted on observations such as how many respondents support a particular view, or how many respondents hold a similar attitude etc.
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