Qualitative research is a type of social science research that collects and works with non-numerical data and that seeks to interpret meaning from these data that help understand social life through the study of targeted populations or places. Show People often frame it in opposition to quantitative research, which uses numerical data to identify large-scale trends and employs statistical operations to determine causal and correlative relationships between variables. Within sociology, qualitative research is typically focused on the micro-level of social interaction that composes everyday life, whereas quantitative research typically focuses on macro-level trends and phenomena. Key TakeawaysMethods of qualitative research include:
PurposeQualitative research has a long history in sociology and has been used within it for as long as the field has existed. This type of research has long appealed to social scientists because it allows the researchers to investigate the meanings people attribute to their behavior, actions, and interactions with others. While quantitative research is useful for identifying relationships between variables, like, for example, the connection between poverty and racial hate, it is qualitative research that can illuminate why this connection exists by going directly to the source—the people themselves. Qualitative research is designed to reveal the meaning that informs the action or outcomes that are typically measured by quantitative research. So qualitative researchers investigate meanings, interpretations, symbols, and the processes and relations of social life. What this type of research produces is descriptive data that the researcher must then interpret using rigorous and systematic methods of transcribing, coding, and analysis of trends and themes. Because its focus is everyday life and people's experiences, qualitative research lends itself well to creating new theories using the inductive method, which can then be tested with further research. MethodsQualitative researchers use their own eyes, ears, and intelligence to collect in-depth perceptions and descriptions of targeted populations, places, and events. Their findings are collected through a variety of methods, and often a researcher will use at least two or several of the following while conducting a qualitative study:
While much of the data generated by qualitative research is coded and analyzed using just the researcher's eyes and brain, the use of computer software to do these processes is increasingly popular within the social sciences. Such software analysis works well when the data is too large for humans to handle, though the lack of a human interpreter is a common criticism of the use of computer software. Pros and ConsQualitative research has both benefits and drawbacks. On the plus side, it creates an in-depth understanding of the attitudes, behaviors, interactions, events, and social processes that comprise everyday life. In doing so, it helps social scientists understand how everyday life is influenced by society-wide things like social structure, social order, and all kinds of social forces. This set of methods also has the benefit of being flexible and easily adaptable to changes in the research environment and can be conducted with minimal cost in many cases. Among the downsides of qualitative research is that its scope is fairly limited so its findings are not always widely able to be generalized. Researchers also have to use caution with these methods to ensure that they do not influence the data in ways that significantly change it and that they do not bring undue personal bias to their interpretation of the findings. Fortunately, qualitative researchers receive rigorous training designed to eliminate or reduce these types of research bias. Which type of qualitative research focuses on the study of culture?Ethnographic studies are qualitative procedures utilized to describe, analyze and interpret a culture's characteristics.
What is social phenomena in qualitative research?Qualitative research is the systematic inquiry into social phenomena in natural settings. These phenomena can include, but are not limited to, how people experience aspects of their lives, how individuals and/or groups behave, how organizations function, and how interactions shape relationships.
Which methods are considered qualitative research methods in the social sciences?Qualitative research comprises of the following methods: logic, ethnography, discourse analysis, case study, open-ended interview, participant observation, counseling, therapy, grounded theory, biography, comparative method, introspection, casuistry, focus group, literary criticism, meditation practice, historical ...
What type of qualitative research is social media?Content analysis comprised the most commonly used analytic approach across this group of qualitative and mixed methods research studies. In content analysis studies, researchers used social media content such as Facebook posts, tweets (Twitter posts), and YouTube videos as a data source.
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