QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Introduction

What is a research?

The word research has been variously defined by different scholars. The Longman

dictionary of contemporary English (2007), defines research as “serious study of a subject, in

order to discover new facts or test new ideas” (p.515). Similarly, the new Oxford American

dictionary (2005), defines research as “the systematic investigation into and study of materials

and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions” (p.712). What is of significant

and crucial to these definitions is the constant occurrences of words such as ‘serious’

‘systematic’, ‘investigate’, ‘inquire’, ‘examination’, all aimed at discovering and establishing

facts. Research is thus the serious systematic investigation of a given subject and a serious study

and examination of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions.

This definition is very crucial to our understanding of the field and demands of the research

endeavour.

In order to achieve the establishment of new facts and add to or contribute to existing

knowledge and reach new conclusions, researchers employ different methods, procedures and

style or a combination of all to suit their research purpose or need at a particular time. This could

be the use of the qualitative method, quantitative or the mix method.

Broadly speaking, a researcher may wish to adopt the qualitative, quantitative or the mix

methods research methods. Smith, (2014), points out that “one of the key philosophies of science

and of quantitative research is the paradigm of positivism, a belief that knowledge is objective,

generalisable and quantifiable. This suggests that knowledge derived from logical and

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mathematical treatment of data is the only true source of authoritative knowledge” (p. 117). This

position is succinctly captured by McCusker and Gunayin (2014) in stating the distinction

between the qualitative and the quantitative research. They observe that while quantitative

research answer ‘how much and how many’, qualitative research seek to answer the question

about the ‘what, how and why’ of a phenomenon and believe that the item of investigation

normally determines the approach to be used by the researcher.

For the purpose of this paper, the qualitative research and its tenets will be investigated

with the aim of establishing and reinforcing its significance and importance to the research

endeavour.

The Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is designed to reveal a target audience’s range of behavior and the

perceptions that drive it with reference to specific topics or issues. Qualitative research as a

method emerged from the behavioural sciences: sociology, psychology, education and

anthropology. Daymon and Halloway (2002), (as cited in Deacon et al), pointed out that the

qualitative research methods are generally viewed as indicative of the interpretive world view

which is more concerned with exploring the way people are able to make sense of their social

worlds and how these understandings are expressed through language, sound, imagery, personal

style and social rituals (p. 4). Such researchers are therefore more concern with the social reality

that the items of their investigation are experiencing at a given time. They try to share and have

the experiences of their targets. Daymon, and Holloway believe that “by exploring the evidence

before coming to an interpretation of it, they embrace the idea that concepts and theories emerge

out of the data, that is directly related to a particular, naturally occurring situation” (p. 8). This

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means that involved discovery can change preconceived notions that were held before the

research started. The involvement of the researcher in gathering and analysis of data in this way

is very important to the progress, authenticity and validation of research findings.

Features of the qualitative research

What makes a research qualitative or quantitative research is the presence of certain

undeniable elements. The qualitative research tends to always reflect certain features that mark it

out from the quantitative research. Scholars like Daymon and Holloway (2002), Groenewald

(2004), Hogan, Dolan and Donelly (2009), Sousa (2013) and Bailey (2014), have all been

consistent on what makes the qualitative research stand out as a distinct research method. Among

many of these features are:

a. Descriptive words. Qualitative research rely more on descriptive words rather than

numbers. When numbers are used, they are employed to show the frequency of the

occurrence of a phenomenon.

b. Flexibility. Most times researchers set out with a particular goal in mind but field

experience and reality often reshape the focus of the research as new truths unfold. This

is because most qualitative researches are designed to be adaptable to their settings or

social contexts.

c. Natural settings. Qualitative research is normally carried out in natural human settings.

To get the best of results the researcher is expected to have a holistic knowledge of that

setting.

d. Participants view point. Qualitative research is known to present the subjective view

point of the participants as well as the informed position taken by the researcher.

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e. Researcher involvement. The main research instrument in a qualitative research is the

researcher who is expected to engage closely with the people or phenomena being

studied.

f. Small scale studies. The detailed description and explanation that are consistent with

qualitative research makes this feature an inevitable requirement

g. Inductive followed by deductive reasoning. Data are first collected with a given idea in

mind, this ideas are the tested out by relating them to the literature and the further data

analysis. This forms the basis for new ideas and theories.

Approaches to qualitative research method

The qualitative research method has some peculiar approaches and procedures which

help in defining it and giving it its basic features. These approaches and procedures of qualitative

research are:

1. Phenomenology

2. Ethnography

3. Case study

Phenomenology

This qualitative research approach is seen as both a philosophy as well as a methodology. The

philosophy behind the phenomenology approach to research insists that a researcher can best

undertake a research from the standpoint of the research participants. Groenewald (2004) traced

the development of phenomenology research to Husserl (1859-1938). Husserl first mentioned

phenomenology to mean ‘the science of pure phenomena’. The aim of phenomenology is to

return to the concrete. Phenomenology is drive by the slogan: “back to the things themselves”

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(p.123). He further observed that, phenomenology is concerned with the lived experiences of the

people and that the operative word in phenomenology is ‘describe’ (p. 126). The idea here is that

the researcher must get involved and engage with the research participants. In a similar vein,

Daymon and Holloway posit that:

Phenomenology helps you get into the shoes of other people and understand why they

experience life as they do. It does more than enable you to see from the perspective of

participants; it offers a way of understanding the sense-making framework that each

individual has developed over time, which shapes their responses to events and

experiences (p. 8).

The possible steps in doing a phenomenology research

Dayton and Holloway believe that although it is difficult for us to pin down a particular method

used in a phenomenology research, there are some basic features and common features which

stand it out. A summary of Dayton and Holloway’s expectation of the phenomenology is adopted

here. These are:

1. Articulating the philosophical basis of the study

The researcher must show uncommon understanding of the philosophical underpinning of a

particular research. The research should be pinned down to one of the philosophical strands

of phenomenological research: social phenomenology (focuses on social acts and group

experiences), transcendental phenomenology (emphasizes individual experiences) and

hermeneutic phenomenology (texts interpretation is according to the cultural, situational and

historical context in which phenomena occur).

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2. Bracketing assumptions

This is a very important aspect of the phenomenology study. The researcher is expected

to write out his own assumptions regarding topic app initio and put it aside. This takes

care of preconceived notions interfering with the findings of the researcher regarding the

experiences of his participants. This enables the researcher see things through the eyes of

the participants or respondents.

3. Focusing on a main phenomenon

The researcher should try and identify first and foremost the phenomenon that he wishes

to investigate and develop his research questions which should explore its meaning for

the participants. Focus you research questions on the research phenomenon.

4. Working with small samples

It is important to work with small samples, this is because it would allow the researcher

to pay attention to certain paralinguistic elements emanating from the responses of his

respondents: gestures, facial expressions and body language, all of these will have a

bearing on the outcome of in depth interviews, data interpretation.

5. Applying thematic data analysis

The goal of a phenomenology data analysis is to present an exhaustive, analytic

description of the phenomenon under study. The analysis must reflect the rich lived

experiences of the participants.

Ethnography

Crowley-Henry, M. highlighted that ethnography is concerned with the study of a particular

culture and she believes that ethnography relies partially or mainly on participants observation.

The researcher is expected to immerse his/her self in the customs, traditions and lives of the

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sample population that is being investigated. She also pointed out that, ethnography research can

“use different methods depending on the aim of the research and the methodological positioning

of the researcher with regards to how relevant research questions can be answered” (p. 18). She

further observed that the ethnography study have methods that are typical to it. These are:

interviews (structured or exploratory), observation (keeping diaries and writing field notes),

collecting narratives, undertaking documents and / or historical research, participation in the

context of and accumulating first hand, contextual information about the culture or population

sample under investigation. She concludes that the point to note about ethnographical research is

the fact that they are specific to particular culture/subculture or population. Ethnography is

firmly rooted in anthropology since anthropology is interested in exotic and unfamiliar cultures.

Two types of ethnography research are identified by Dyaton and Holloway (2002). They are the

conventional (descriptive) ethnography and the critical ethnography. These two are identified by

the process of doing the actual ethnography research. The conventional ethnography refers to the

type of research were emphasis is on the description of groups or communities, with the aim of

uncovering patterns, categories and typologies. On the other hand critical ethnography refers to

the type were the focus is on “macro social factors such as power and examines common sense

assumptions and hidden agendas” (p. 12).

The possible steps in doing an ethnographic research

Doing the ethnography research can take very interesting formats. However there are certain

steps that are seen to have been consistent over the many years of the doing this kind of research.

These are:

1. Sampling

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It is important that you find the adequate and appropriate data for a given research. This

means that the researcher through a systematic criteria and base on the purpose of his/her

should identify a specific group and setting for the research. Attention should be paid to

choosing key informants rather than passive respondents as they are groups’

representatives and active collaborators in the research.

2. Participants observation

Here the researcher should be aware that he is the major tool of research and must

immerse himself in the peoples’ culture and transform himself and become like a native

and fit into the community for better results. Pay attention to regular mundane activities:

crises, special events and their relationships. By so doing, you will be in a good position

to conduct an in depth interview.

3. Collecting data from online groups

Computer mediated groups are becoming very common and they too can constitute a

group with an identity and a language form that may be distinct from our daily

expressions and language habits. Crystal (2004) concede that the virtual community is

distinct and has its features that a remarkably distinct and worthy of investigation.

Participants in a chat room have shared meanings that given careful observation,

participation and indeed interviews we could gather very useful and meaningful data for

constructive analysis (p. 39).

4. Making field notes

Field notes are very useful and important in researching and are good for research

findings. With field notes we can easily reduce observed events, persons and places of

significance to written accounts. Field notes can be written as condensed accounts, that is,

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short notes and descriptions about real events and people that you make in the field

during data collection. Field notes can also be collected as expanded account. Expanded

accounts should be written as soon as possible especially if recording of data was not

done electronically. Another way is to write the field notes as a field work journal. This is

where to note your biases, reactions and encountered problems during the research.

Finally it is the analysis and interpretation of notes and recorded data. The researcher is

here expected to reduce the whole data collected into understandable materials and

subject the materials to critical analysis devoid of your biases and prejudices.

Case studies

The case study is an interesting method to adopt for a research that examines a location, an

organization or a campaign. Thus, among other features, case study research assumes that

examining the context and other complex conditions related to the case(s) being studied are

integral to understanding the case(s). Dayton and Holloway (2002) hold that:

A case study is an intensive examination, using multiple sources of evidence

(which may be qualitative or quantitative or both), of a single entity which is

bounded by time and place. Usually it is associated with a location. The case may

be an organization, a set of people such as a social or work group, a community,

an event, a process, an issue or a campaign. (p. 105)

The primary purpose of a case study is to increase awareness and knowledge about real,

contemporary phenomenon in their contexts of occurrence. The ‘why’ and ‘what’ questions that

we ask about the occurrence of an event is what leads us to do a case study in order to provide

useful answers. A good case study is expected to capture all the complexities of a given case. It

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must therefore have a case. The case is equally expected to fulfill certain conditions: a complex

functioning unit must be investigated in its natural occurring environment using multiple

methods and finally, it must be contemporary. The case study is also aimed at testing theories or

generating new theories.

The case study can take two forms of designs: the single case study and the collective or multiple

case studies. Dayton and Holloway (2002) posit that, the single case design enables the

researcher to deeply explore a single phenomenon that occurred (p. 108). The case study is

determined by interest in a particular issue that can be isolated from a plethora of other issues in

other to particularize it. However, they also point out that the collective or multiple case studies

affords the researchers the opportunity to widen the scope of the researcher as well as the scope

of generalization because of the number of cases that are investigated (p. 109).

Another important stage in the case study is the sampling stage. Here the researcher is basically

expected to perform two tasks: sample the informants or participants and most importantly,

sample the case itself. Here the worth that we place on a particular research easily comes to bare

since there is always a rationale for the sampling that the researcher does. The researchers’

choice is guided by certain features of the setting which could be, accessibility, convenience,

personal interest, etc.

We can reduce the data collecting process and points of collection in a case study to about six

very important points:

1. Direct observations (e.g., human actions or a physical environment)

2. Interviews (e.g., open-ended conversations with key participants)

3. Archival records (e.g., student records)

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4. Documents (e.g., newspaper articles, letters and e-mails, reports)

5. Participant-observation (e.g., being identified as a researcher but also filling a real-life role

in the scene being studied)

6. Physical artifacts (e.g., computer downloads of employees’ work)

Limitations and problems in qualitative research

Despite the intensive and vigourous nature of qualitative research and its many and useful

approaches, scholars have come to a common ground regarding the limitations and problems

associated with doing a qualitative research. Among these scholars are Dayton and Holloway

(2004), Sousa (2014), Thamhain (2014) and Smith, A.T. (2014) point to these limitation and

problems to include:

1. Some of the qualitative research approaches are very cumbersome and require a lot of

field knowledge from the researcher

2. Finding willing people who have experienced a certain phenomenon that you are

interested in investigating could be difficult and can pose as a problem.

3. Subjectivity might surface despite your efforts to bracket and shelve them

4. In an ethnographic research, fitting in might difficult to achieve as the is never a perfect

fit

5. If the researcher is investigating his own culture, ‘acting the stranger’ is always difficult

to achieve. Subjectivity can easily surface.

6. In case studies, the boundaries of cases are difficult to establish especially with regards to

when it begins and ends. Where are researcher cannot draw this boundary firmly the case

study cannot be well defined.

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Summary and conclusion

The qualitative research paradigm is a very resourceful and insightful way of digging up facts

about real world occurring phenomenon. It is steep in interactive research as well as

researcher involvement in the direct act of researching. The quality of such a research to a

large extent depends on the competence of the researcher as well as his willingness to deeply

engage in the researcher. The ability of the researcher to fit his research approach to the

research question is also crucial to doing a critical qualitative research.

Despite some of the short coming of this research paradigm, it remains a very reliable source

of research that is cardinal to the fields of linguistics, anthropology, sociology and education.

A close look at these disciplines points to the fact that they are humanistic in nature and thus

the need to adopt a research paradigm that can answer deep questions related to the

humanity.

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References

Bailey, F. L. (2014). The origin and success of qualitative research. The international journal of

market research, 56 (2), 167-184.

Daymon, C. & Holloway, I. (2002) Qualitative research methods in public relations and

marketing communications. London & New York, Routledge

Groenewald, T. (2004). A phenomenological research design illustrated. International journal of

qualitative methods, 3(1), 1-24.

Hogan, J., Dolan, P. & Donnelly, P. (2009). Approaches to qualitative research: theory and its

practical application. Dublin, OAK Tree Press.

McCusker, K.& Gunayin, S. (2015). Research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods

and choice based on the research. Original paper, 30 (7), 536-545.

Smith, A. T. (2014). Testing theory and related factors for influencing proficiency in the

quantitative research. Academy of educational leadership journal, 18(6) 117-129.

Sousa, D. (2014). Validation in qualitative research: general aspects and specificities of the

descriptive phenomenology method. Qualitative research in psychology. 1 (11), 211-227 .

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