What is Qualitative Research/Inquiry?

An inquiry approach useful for exploring and understanding a central

phenomenon.
To learn about this phenomenon, the inquirier (i) asks
participants broad, general questions, (ii) collects the detailed
views of participans in the form of words or images, and (iii)
analyzes the information for decription and themes.
From this data, the reseacher (iv) interprets the meaning of the
information, drawing on personal reflections and past research.
The final structure of (v) the final report is flexible, and it displays
the researcher's biases and thoughts [Creswell, John W (2002) Educational
research : Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Ohio,
NewJersey: Merill Prentice Hall]

The goals of qualitative research are:

to understand processes, experiences and meanings people
assign to things. But for the most part qualitative research focuses
on how people make sense of their settings and experiences
through symbols, social roles, identities, and other elements of
culture and why people think and act as they do. The emphasis
in qualitative research is on individuals own interpretations of
their experiences and studying what they say and do in detail.

Fuad Fachruddin, Qualitative Research , bahan Worskhop Lemlit UIN Jakarta September 2013,
adapasi bahan PPSarjana PBI FITK UIN Syahid Jakarta, Semester Tiga 2011, bahan pelatihan
dosen PTAIS sejabodetabek Kordinatorat PTAIS Jabodetabek

Entities
and
Relationships

Real-world
situation

Reconceived
real-world
situation

Figure 1: Illustration of General Knowledge [Source: Stake, Robert E (2010). Qualitative

Research Studying How Things Work London, New York: The Guilford Press]

Fuad Fachruddin, Qualitative Research , bahan Worskhop Lemlit UIN Jakarta September 2013,
adapasi bahan PPSarjana PBI FITK UIN Syahid Jakarta, Semester Tiga 2011, bahan pelatihan
dosen PTAIS sejabodetabek Kordinatorat PTAIS Jabodetabek

Figure 2: A whirligig of strong and weaker epistemological ties of qualitative

Inquiry [Source: Stake, Robert E (2010). Qualitative Research Studying How Things
Work London, New York: The Guilford Press]
.

Learni
ng
about
particu
lars

Profes
sional
knowle
dge

Learni
ng
about
the
genera
l

Qualit
ative
inquiry

Quanti
tative
inquiry

Micro
analysi
s
Macro
analysi
s

Scienti
fic
knowle
dge

Individ
ual
experi
ence

Collect
ive
knowle
dge

Fuad Fachruddin, Qualitative Research , bahan Worskhop Lemlit UIN Jakarta September 2013,
adapasi bahan PPSarjana PBI FITK UIN Syahid Jakarta, Semester Tiga 2011, bahan pelatihan
dosen PTAIS sejabodetabek Kordinatorat PTAIS Jabodetabek