Running head: BEGINNING KNOWLEDGE

Beginning Knowledge of Qualitative Research

Karin Fonseca
Valdosta State University

BEGINNING KNOWLEDGE

Beginning Knowledge of Qualitative Research

From what I recall regarding qualitative research in general is an approach that starts very
broad, where the research itself and findings will lead to the development of a research question
and not the other way around. One start with a broad focus and narrows it down and the method
to be use normally arrives as the data are being gathered. The qualitative approach is directly
related to the participants and context of the research and is narrative constructed rather than
statistically based. As opposed to the quantitative approach, qualitative sample size for the
study is not large by nature, in fact can be done with only one participant, or small groups
depending on the method to be used. In addition, because of the nature of qualitative research it
is not normally focused in generalizing to a large group of population. Regarding the research
questions for the qualitative approach we focus on the WHY and HOW type of questions
rather then what. The questions can start with one or two big broad question and the data will
guide you to the focus of the study.
As for the designs I remember that we studies the phenomenological, narrative, grounded
theory, ethnographic and case study. The phenomenological was related to a descriptive of a
lived experience. The narrative is based on a collection of stories that tells an experience, it
enables people to tell their story for example in a unique experience. Grounded Theory attempts
to form a theory that explains an action or process. Ethnographic, my favorite, is relating to the
interpretation of culture, learned behaviors, beliefs, values etc. Case study is regarding studying
a system and how it works. There were other terminology we were presented such as holistic,
naturalistic, emic, etic, cultural relativism, pluralism, and others.
The qualitative research demands for a lot of planning and foreseeing, restructuring,
adapting and looking at a lot of options, how to collect the information and protocols for

BEGINNING KNOWLEDGE

analyses. Qualitative studies are very rich and provide unique perspectives. Researches may use
many tools to gather the data such as literature review, interviews, focus groups, field
observations, documents, photographs, videos, journals, and reports, among others. A lot of
time is spent in the field during the research process and interviews will have many rounds in
order to really get the data necessary, as it has to be analyzed, polished and reviewed.
Understanding your own personal view and bias is fundamental in qualitative research as well, as
the researcher becomes really involved in the study. For qualitative studies are not simple to find
the correct participants, since the process can be long and participants can drop out. I personally
define qualitative as a more passionate way of research rather then a more objective quantitative
approach. The quantitative on the other hand is a more traditional approach and uses the findings
for the general population, is based on objective statistical analyses and is performed on control
situation. The questions are defined in the beginning of the study rather then as the study
happens as the qualitative does. Some approaches for quantitative are experimental, survey, and
correlation among others. The quantitative research manipulates variables and the qualitative
does not.