19. Qualitative research is mostly associated with
(A) Objectivity
(B) Subjectivity
(C) Interdisciplinarity
(D) All of the above
Answers
Answer:
Qualitative research is a process of naturalistic inquiry that seeks in-depth understanding of social phenomena within their natural setting. It focuses on the "why" rather than the "what" of social phenomena and relies on the direct experiences of human beings as meaning-making agents in their every day lives. Rather than by logical and statistical procedures, qualitative researchers use multiple systems of inquiry for the study of human phenomena including biography, case study, historical analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography, grounded theory and phenomenology.
The three major focus areas are individuals, societies and cultures, and language and communication. Although there are many methods of inquiry in qualitative research, the common assumptions are that knowledge is subjective rather than objective and that the researcher learns from the participants in order to understand the meaning of their lives. To ensure rigor and trustworthiness, the researcher attempts to maintain a position of neutrality while engaged in the research process.
Where does qualitative research come from?
Human beings have always attempted to understand the world in which we live. Before the 19th century, questions about human existence were answered from the Bible, the church, and from Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle who believed that the process of "knowing" was absolute, systematic and logical.
It was during the late 18th century when "the pursuit of knowledge" experienced a scientific crisis. Other philosophers such as Immanual Kant, William Dilthey, Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty believed that life consists of what we experience in our activities and reflections as we live out our personal histories and that we live in a matrix of complex relationships with others. Therefore, humans cannot be studied as isolated units but must be understood in the context of their "lived world" or cultural and social connections. The seminal work of these philosophers paved the way for the birth of naturalistic or qualitative inquiry.
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research?
Most simply put, quantitative research is concerned with measurement and numbers, while qualitative research is concerned with understanding and words. Qualitative methods allow the researcher to study selected issues in depth and detail without being constrained by pre-determined categories of analysis. Quantitative methods require the use of standardized measures in order to fit the different perspectives and experiences of people into a limited number of predetermined response categories to which numbers are assigned.
While quantitative research values control, qualitative research values openness and flexibility. The quantitative researcher maintains an objective, detached stance, but the qualitative researcher is considered to be the key instrument involved closely with the data collection and analysis. The statistical data of quantitative methods obtained from a great many people results in a broad, generalizable set of findings that are succinct and said to be parsimonious. In contrast qualitative methods produce a large amount of detailed information about a smaller number of people that results in rich understanding but reduces generalizability.
Qualitative and quantitative methods involve differing strengths and weaknesses and, therefore, should be seen as alternative but not mutually exclusive strategies for research.
Is qualitative research considered science?
While many qualitative researchers do not believe that the standards used to judge quantitative methods are appropriate for evaluating qualitative research methods, they do believe that the systemic protocol of "good science" should be retained. In qualitative research the conventional standards of reliability and internal and external validity do not apply. However, there are distinct but related aspects of inquiry on which credibility depends and any credible qualitative study needs to address all of the following in order to ensure credibility and rigor of findings: