are studies that investigate the quality of relationship, activities, situation or materials.

It is subjective which is highly dependent on the participant’s point of view..

does not rely on numbers but rather on ideas and meanings that will be interpreted in order to form generalizations

A qualitative researcher will have to spend time in the actual location interviewing, observing an taking down notes

A qualitative researcher uses paper and pen or audio/video taping device

The data collected are primary from the scene and are verified through interviews

A qualitative researcher have to be a keen observer taking note of every detail even the gesture and facial expression of the participants

Collection of data can be through notes, photographs, anecdotes, comments, or anything that could help you understand the participants.

As a researcher, you are concerned with the interaction of your participants with each other or to the situation they are in

These interactions convey meanings and symbols which can be interpreted into words or ideas

Hypotheses are defined and formulated as the research progresses

In qualitative research, you are constructing concepts and meanings based on your interpretation at the end of the study

A qualitative researcher aims to determine the perceptions and thoughts of the participants

The researcher gives reasons to these meanings through interview and observations

Issues can be examined in detail and in depth

Interviews are not restricted to specific questions and can be guided/redirected by the researcher in real time

The research framework can be quickly revised as new information emerges

The data based on human experience that is obtained is powerful and sometimes is more compelling than quantitative data

Subtleties and complexities about the research topic are discovered

Data are usually gathered from a few cases or individuals

Research quality is heavily dependent on the individual skills of the researcher and more easily influenced by biases and idiosyncrasies

Rigor is more difficult to maintain, assess and demonstrate

The volume of data makes the process time consuming

approaches in qualitative research

It is basically derived from anthropology where an ethnographer studies the entire culture of a particular group.

The most common ethnographic approach is ____ in which the researcher becomes immersed in the culture under study as an active participant taking extensive notes about observations and impressions.

This explores the world of participants by gaining thoughts, insights, and perceptions to a particular phenomenon or occurrence.

Using this approach, the participants will relive their experiences in order to obtain the very essence of these thoughts and perceptions.

This approach narrates the life experiences of an individual told to the researcher or from available document or material.

This could be either biography or autobiography.

This approach aims to generate a theory from the data which are generalized and interpreted inductively.

The theory that can be generated does not start from the beginning but only surfaced after all the data have been analyzed inductively.

This qualitative approach presents a detailed analysis of a specific case.