After reading an
article on qualitative research, I’ve been able to come up with a basic idea on
what it is and what it might be trying to accomplish. The alternative would be quantitative
research and that has a different approach to research. But for starters,
qualitative research is defined as a method that “uses a naturalistic approach
that seeks to understand phenomena in context-specific settings.” (Hoepfl, 1997) So to go over what
this blog is going to cover, it’ll start out with what qualitative research is
not going to be (and what quantitative is), followed by some the
characteristics of qualitative research, and finally some of the data collection
strategies associated with qualitative research.
First
off we’ll need to help define what qualitative research is not by defining what
quantitative research is. For example, Hoepfl in her article defines quantitative
research as something that “uses experimental methods and quantitative measures
to test hypothetical generalizations.” (Hoepfl, 1997) To more or less take
another approach to this definition, it would be saying that quantitative
research takes a stab at a prediction of how something works and then testing
that theory through some sort of experimentation. Similar to your early level
physics class in sixth form or Uni, students would create a hypothesis and then
test that hypothesis against some number of tests. Qualitative research is
different with its approach to a particular area.
Qualitative
research has multiple characteristics that can help put its definition more in
context. The first characteristic is that it’s a method that is used to “observe,
describe, and interpret settings as they are.” (Hoepfl, 1997) This shows that
researchers need to take on a neutral approach and reduce the amount of
artificial elements within an arena so that these observations aren’t plagued
with foreign content. A completely unbiased view and shade of glasses must be
worn when observing a setting. Another characteristic is that qualitative
research is “judged using special criteria for trustworthiness.” (Hoepfl, 1997) In other words, are
the findings of the research going to be worth grabbing the attention of those
interested in the research? How naturalistic is the information of the study
going to be? It can be said that qualitative research is simply a means to
which to identify the variables required for data collection.
Data
collection is possible with qualitative research and it has a number of
strategies involved with the process. One of the many strategies is to determine
the focus of the inquiry. This includes establishing a set of boundaries that
involve certain types of white list / black list type criteria. Dan Ariely for
example could have established a set of boundaries in his studies to not
include drunk people, which would have saved him a lot of time, frustration,
and moral dilemma in regards to one of his own studies. (Ariely, 2011) A second strategy is
to determine the type of instrumentation to be used. This can range from using
survey taking websites to questionnaires handed out in a room. This figure out
a means to actually collect the data within the research. While there are a
good number of other strategies also involved in data collection, these two are
the ones that I find that stick out the most.
To
review I just went over some of the characteristics of quantitative research,
some of the characteristics of qualitative research, and finally some of the
characteristics of sound strategies involved with data collection within the
realm of qualitative research. The idea of qualitative research certainly takes
on a different approach to other traditional ideas, however it certainly is a
valid one. While personally I do like the idea of collecting data first and
then interpreting that data, this approach of observing how things really are
before going about methods to confirm the validity of these observations brings
on different take on how I can approach future research.
References
Ariely, D. (2011). Dan Ariely:
Beware conflicts of interest. Retrieved from TED:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/dan_ariely_beware_conflicts_of_interest.html
Hoepfl, M. (1997). Choosing
Qualitative Research: A Primer for Technology Education Researchers.
Retrieved from Journal of Technology Education:
http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/JTE/v9n1/hoepfl.html
No comments:
Post a Comment