Introduction
In the first part we unpacked several definitions of qualitative research. We saw a number of ideas that set this style of research apart from quantitative research. In this post we will have a closer look at four key features:
Social/relational
Context
Words
Narrower and Deeper
Social/relational
Human relationships and social interactions are of primary interest for qualitative researchers. We want to understand and describe how humans interact with each other, why we behave the way we do in different situations, why and how we make the decisions we do, our interests and reasons.
For example, qualitative researchers might be interested in finding ways to improve classrooms, to, say, enhance the teaching process. Or develop understandings of how we communicate with each other, in the media, through images, how we ‘present’ ourselves in social media. This may mean observing class interactions, talking to students, parents, and teachers, and possibly trialing a few strategies. This data will go toward understanding the classroom dynamics in a school.
Context
The context in which social interactions take place can reveal much about a phenomenon. Both the general and the immediate context are important. The general context of a phenomenon includes the cultural, language, historical, socioeconomic and any number of other relevant ‘contexts.’ The immediate context includes recent events, an individual’s personal circumstances and social situation.
Why do qualitative researchers think this is relevant? No event occurs without many elements contributing to it and influencing it and people ascribe meaning to the world around them influenced by the all the variety of contexts in the present and in their past. We will return to this when we talk about theory.
Words
Qualitative researchers are interested in the qualities of human interaction, and this is best achieved through language, words. We use words to describe, analyse and discuss the people, communities, and situations we are investigating. We use our own words and those of the individuals we are studying to better understand the circumstance under investigation.
This is not to say that numbers are irrelevant. Various demographic details might be important to gain a deeper understanding of a situation, how common are certain experiences?
Narrower and Deeper
This term describes a key interest of qualitative researchers and a key distinction from quantitative approaches. The qualitative approach wants to know the rich details of a situation. Returning to our earlier education, classroom dynamics might be impacted by more than the interaction between the student and the teacher. No social interaction happens in a vacuum and a qualitative researcher will want to understand all the things that might be influencing what happens in the class both within the class and the environments that contribute.
The depth that qualitative researchers wish to explore will generally mean that the populations of study are comparatively small. The extent to which these findings can then be generalised to other similar situations is not always the primary consideration. However, generalisation of findings is a key interest of quantitative researchers. A quantitative researcher’s task might be described as “broader and shallower.” Shallow here does not mean superficial, but rather reflecting an interest in understanding a more limited number of factors in a larger population. The distinction highlights that these are really just different ways to approach research.
Next: Why We Need Theory
Previous: Exploring Definitions
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