‘Qualitative research begins with assumptions, a worldview, the possible use of a theoretical lens, and the study of research problems inquiring into the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. To study this problem, qualitative researchers use an emerging qualitative approach to inquiry, the collection of data in a natural setting sensitive to the people and places under study, and data analysis that is inductive and establishes patterns or themes. The final written report or presentation includes voices of participants, the reflexivity of the researcher, and a complex description and interpretation of the problem, and it extends to literature or signals a call for action’ (Creswell, 2007: 37).
The above-given definition covers all the main characteristics of qualitative research. They include as follows:
- Natural setting – data are collected in the field or at the site where participants experience the issue or problem being studied by talking to the people directly, and watching them behave and act within their context.
- Researcher as the key instrument – the researchers are the ones who actually gather the information without using or relying on questionnaires or instruments developed by other researchers. They collect data themselves through examining documents, observing participants’ behaviour, and interviewing participants.
- Multiple sources of data – multiple forms of data are gathered by means of interviews, observation and documents instead of relying on a single data source. Then the researchers review all of the data, and make sense of them by organising them into categories or themes that cut across all of the data sources.
- Inductive data analysis – qualitative researchers use the bottom-up approach to build their patterns, categories, and themes, i.e. they organise the data into increasingly more abstract units of information. This requires going back and forth between the themes and the database until a comprehensive set of themes is established. It may also involve interactive collaboration with participants, who are given a chance to shape the themes or abstractions that emerge from the process.
- Participants’ meaning – throughout the research process, the researchers keep a focus on discovering the views that the participants hold about the problem or issue, not the meaning that the researchers bring to the research or find in the literature.
- Emergent design – the qualitative research process is emergent, which means that the initial plan for research cannot be tightly prescribed, and that all the phases of the process may change or shift once the researcher enters the field, and starts collecting the data (the questions may change, the form of data collection may shift, the individuals and sites under study may be modified) with an aim to learn about the problem from participants.
- Theoretical lens – the theoretical lens, such as the concept of culture, gendered, racial or class differences, is often used to view the research.
- Interpretive inquiry – the researchers make an interpretation of what they see, hear, and understand, so these interpretations cannot be separated from the researchers’ own background, history, context, and prior understanding. Once the research report is issued, the readers, as well as the participants, interpret it, offering the new interpretation to the study, and thus multiple views of the problem emerge.
- Holistic account – a complex picture of the problem under study is developed by identifying the complex interactions of factors in any situation, i.e. by reporting multiple perspectives, identifying the many factors involved in a situation, and generally sketching the larger picture that emerges.
Qualitative research is appropriate when there is a need to study a group or population, hear the silenced voices, obtain a complex, detailed understanding of an issue, or context/setting in which the participants in a study address a problem, which cannot be done without talking directly to people, going to their homes or places of work, and allowing them to tell the stories unaffected by what we expect to find or what we have read in the literature. The qualitative research empowers the individuals to share their stories, have their voices heard, as well as to collaborate with the researcher throughout the data analysis and interpretation phases of the research. Qualitative research is often used as a follow-up of quantitative research, providing the explanation of why people reacted as they did, of the context in which they responded, and their deeper thoughts that governed their responses. Qualitative research helps to capture the interactions between people, including their individual differences, which cannot be accomplished by quantitative measures, which level all individuals to a statistical mean.
Qualitative research is time-consuming regarding both data collection and data analysis. The researcher spends many hours in the field, collecting data, trying to gain access, and establish rapport. The data analysis implies sorting through large amounts of data, and reducing them to a few themes or categories, which is followed by writing long reports, showing multiple perspectives, and incorporating quotes to support these perspectives (Creswell, 2007, p. 41).
