1. Qualitative Research
Nina Bitskinashvili
2014, PhD

2. Outline
1.
What is qualitative research?
2. What can we learn from qualitative research?
3.
What are some qualitative research methods?
4. What forms do qualitative data take?
5. What type of qualitative research do we know?
Nina Bitskinashvili
2014, PhD

3. 1. What is qualitative research?
• Qualitative research is a type of scientific research.
• In general terms, scientific research consists of an
investigation that:
- Seeks answers to a question
- Systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to
answer the question
- Collects evidence
- Produces findings that were not determined in advance
- Produces findings that are applicable beyond the
immediate boundaries of the study
Nina Bitskinashvili
2014, PhD

4. 1. What is qualitative research?
• These are also the characteristics of Qualitative Research:
1. Seeks answers to a question
2. Systematically uses a predefined set of procedures to answer the
question
3. Collects evidence
4. Produces findings that were not determined in advance
5. Produces findings that are applicable beyond the immediate
boundaries of the study
Nina Bitskinashvili
2014, PhD

5. 1. What is qualitative research?
• It is used to describe behaviors, actions, feelings,
perceptions, and interaction among people.
• Assume that respondents or people observed have
unique views of their personal experiences or the
surrounding environment.
• It helps us understand lifestyles and cultural values,
actions, and symbols.
Nina Bitskinashvili
2014, PhD

6. 1. What is qualitative research?
• It seeks to understand a given research problem or
topic from the perspectives of the local population it
involves.
• Qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining
culturally specific information about the values, opinions,
behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations.
Nina Bitskinashvili
2014, PhD

7. 2. What can we learn from qualitative
research?
• The strength of qualitative research is its ability to
provide complex textual descriptions of how people
experience a given research issue.
• It provides information about the “human” side of an
issue – that is, the often contradictory behaviors, beliefs,
opinions, emotions, and relationships of individuals.
Qualitative methods are also effective in identifying
intangible factors, such as social norms, socioeconomic
status, gender roles, ethnicity, and religion, whose role in
the research issue may not be readily apparent

8. 2. What can we learn from qualitative
research?
• When used along with quantitative methods, qualitative
research can help us to interpret and better understand
the complex reality of a given situation and the
implications of quantitative data

9. 2. What can we learn from qualitative
research?
• Although findings from qualitative data can often be
extended to people with characteristics similar to
those in the study population, gaining a rich and
complex understanding of a specific social context or
phenomenon typically takes precedence over eliciting
data that can be generalized to other geographical
areas or populations. In this sense, qualitative
research differs slightly from scientific research in
general.
Nina Bitskinashvili
2014, PhD

10. 3. What are some qualitative research
methods?
• There are three most common qualitative methods
and each method is particularly suited for obtaining
a specific type of data.
1. Participant observation
2.In-depth interviews
3. Focus groups

11. 3. What are some qualitative research
methods?
• Participant observation is appropriate for
collecting data on naturally occurring behaviors
in their usual contexts.

12. 3. What are some qualitative research
methods?
• In-depth interviews are optimal for collecting data on
individuals’ personal histories, perspectives, and
experiences, particularly when sensitive topics are being
explored

13. 3. What are some qualitative research methods?
• Focus groups are effective in eliciting data on the
cultural norms of a group and in generating broad
overviews of issues of concern to the cultural groups or
subgroups represented

14. 4. What forms do qualitative data take?
• The types of data these three methods generate are
1. Field notes
2.Audio (and sometimes video) recordings
3. Transcripts

15. 1. The qualitative research proposal...






defines area of study
identifies setting or context of study
specifies the kinds of data to be
collected
describes methods to be used
provides the researcher’s rationale
for undertaking the study
identifies the study’s potential
contribution(s)

16. Qualitative methods...
historical research  grounded theory
 ethnology
 phenomenology
 action research
 case study


17. 
historical research
…studies available data to study,
understand, and interpret past events

18. 
case study
…examines the characteristics of a
particular entity, phenomenon, or
person

19. 
ethology
…compares the origins, characteristics,
and culture of different societies

20. 
grounded theory
…investigates how inductively-derived
theory about phenomenon is grounded
in the data of a particular setting

21. 
phenomenology
…considers how the experience of
particular participants exhibits a
unique perspective

22. 
action research
…teacher-initiated, school-based
research used to improve the
practitioner’s practice by doing or
changing something

23. E N D
Thanks!