Qualitative Research

Qualitative Research versus Qualitative Data and Techniques

What is collectively referred to as qualitative research should be distinguished from other research and other works that merely contain qualitative data, such as descriptive survey studies and journalistic accounts, and from data collection and analysis techniques commonly viewed as qualitative research techniques, such as focus groups and content analysis. Both focus groups and content analysis have their origins in, and are still widely used in, quantitative research. That is, there is no qualitative attitude or strategy necessarily inherent in these techniques. Moreover, all quantitative behavioral and social science research with human subjects depends on qualitative data in the questionnaires employed. The mere fact that words are used or produced in a project, or that words prevail over numbers, does not make a work qualitative research, just as the mere fact that numbers are used or produced in a project does not make a work quantitative research.

Defining Features of Qualitative Research

What makes a work deserving of the label qualitative research is the demonstrable effort to produce richly and relevantly detailed descriptions and particularized interpretations of people and the social, linguistic, material, and other practices and events that shape and are shaped by them. Qualitative research typically includes, but is not limited to, discerning the perspectives of these people, or what is often referred to as the actor’s point of view. Although both philosophically and methodologically a highly diverse entity, qualitative research is marked by certain defining imperatives that include its case (as opposed to its variable) orientation, sensitivity to cultural and historical context, and reflexivity. In its many guises, qualitative research is a form of empirical inquiry that typically entails some form of purposive sampling for information-rich cases; in-depth interviews and open-ended interviews, lengthy participant/field observations, and/or document or artifact study; and techniques for analysis and interpretation of data that move beyond the data generated and their surface appearances. Qualitative research is typically directed toward producing idiographic (as opposed to nomothetic) knowledge because its emphasis is on the penetrating understanding of particular phenomena, events, or cases.

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