Question

Explain and differentiate between the four different types of qualitative research. What are some advantages and disadvantages of each type?

Answer 1

Qualitative research is a broad methodological approach that covers many research methods. The aim of qualitative research may vary with the area of studies, such as a psychologist seeking to gather an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and the reasons that govern such behaviour. Qualitative methods examine the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when, or "who". Qualitative research is popular among political science, social work, and special education and education researchers

There are 5 types of qualitative research methods

• ethnography
• narrative
• phenomenological
• grounded
• case study

ETHNOGRAPHY

It is most familiar and applicable type of qualitative method to research professionals.Researcher lives with the target participant's environment to understand the goals, cultures, challenges, motivations, and themes that emerge.Rather than relying on interviews or surveys, researcher experience the environment first hand, and sometimes as a “participant observer.”

advantages

• people can be observed in natural circumstances in their environment
• regarding the research process and, thus, affecting the final result, the complexity and accuracy of the information from the ethnography
• privacy
  

disadvantages

• time-consuming

• requires sustained effort and engagement

• personal safety of the researcher in peril

• the unsystematic way of conducting the fieldwork and collecting data

• findings are 'inadequate in representativeness and generalisability

NARRATIVE

The narrative approach looks towards a sequence of events, usually from just one or two individuals to form a cohesive story.researcher conduct in-depth interviews, read documents and look for themes. Often interviews are conducted over weeks, months, or even years, but the final narrative doesn’t need to be in chronological order.

advantages

• Flexibility: Narrative theory provides a highly flexible theoretical framework compared to some essentialist approaches which tie identity down to one unchangeable attribute such as gender, race, ethnicity or religion.
• Dynamism: Narrative theory allows us to look at translation and interpreting behaviour in dynamic rather than static terms due to its acceptance of the embeddedness of the actor within relationships which shift over time and space
• Real life: One important aspect of the narrative theory is its focus on translators and interpreters as ‘real-life individuals rather than theoretical abstractions
• Resistance: Another key advantage of a narrative theory is the equal attention it gives to questions of dominance and resistance.

disadvantages

• ratings may be as much a reflection of the rater's willingness to spend time on the evaluation process and/or level of verbal skills as they are related to the performance level of the rate
• no numeric outcome is inherent with this qualitative method
• there is no standardization across raters
  

PHENOMENOLOGICAL

When someone wants to describe an event, activity, or phenomenon, the aptly named phenomenological study is an appropriate qualitative method. In a phenomenological study, one can use a combination of methods, such as conducting interviews, reading documents, watching videos, or visiting places and events, to understand the meaning participants place on whatever’s being examined.

advantages

• Seeks to find the universal nature of an experience and can provide a deeper understanding.
• The themes and meanings of an experience emerge from the data. The qualitative nature of phenomenology allows the researcher to notice trends and look at the big picture. The data is not fit into a statistical test that confines or restricts the interpretation.
• Helps to understand a lived experience and brings meaning to it. This may contribute to the development of new theories, changes in policies or changes in responses.
• Results may help expose misconceptions about an experience. It may be a means to have the voices of the participants heard which may prompt action or at least challenge pre-conceived notions and complacency.

Disadvantages

• The research participants must be able to articulate their thoughts and feelings about the experience being studied. It may be difficult for them to express themselves due to language barriers, age, cognition, embarrassment and other factors.
• Phenomenology requires researcher interpretation, making phenomenological reduction an important component to reduce biases, assumptions, and pre-conceived ideas about an experience or phenomenon. Researcher bias is difficult to determine or detect.
• Results are not statistically reliable, even with a larger sample size. It does not produce generalizable data.
• It may be difficult to gain access to participants.
• Presentation of findings may be difficult. The subjectivity of the data may lead to difficulty in establishing reliability and validity.
• Policy makers may give less credibility to the phenomenological study.
• Gathering data and data analysis may be time-consuming and difficult.

GROUNDED THEORY
Grounded theory looks to provide an explanation or theory behind the events. researcher uses interviews primarily and existing documents to build a theory based on the data.Grounded theory can help inform design decisions by better understanding how a community of users currently use a product or perform tasks.

advantages

• Grounded theory can identify the situated nature of knowledge, as well as the contingent nature of practice.
• Grounded theory produces a 'thick description that acknowledges areas of conflict and contradiction.
• better at determining what actually happens.
• grounded theory adapts readily to studies of a diverse phenomenon
• can respond and change as conditions that affect behaviour change.

disadvantages

• Grounded theory methods tend to produce large amounts of data, often difficult to manage.
• Researchers need to be skilful in using grounded theory methods.
• There are no standard rules to follow for the identification of categories
• fails to recognize the embeddedness of the researcher and thus obscures the researcher's considerable agency in data construction and interpretation

CASE STUDY

A case study involves a deep understanding of multiple types of data sources. Case studies can be explanatory, exploratory, or describing an event.  

advantages

• Intensive Study.

Case study method is responsible for the intensive study of a unit. It is the investigation and exploration of an event thoroughly and deeply.

• No Sampling.

It studies a social unit in its entire perspectives. It means there is no sampling in case study method.

• Continuous Analysis.

It is valuable in analyzing continuously the life of a social unit to dig out the facts.

• Hypothesis Formulation.

This method is useful for formulation of hypothesis for further study.

• Comparisons.

It compares different type of facts about the study of a unity.

• Increase in Knowledge.

It gives the analytical power of a person to increase knowledge about social phenomena.

• Generalization of Data.

Case study method provides grounds for generalization of data for illustrating statistical findings.

• Comprehensive.

It is a comprehensive method of data collection in social research.

• Locate Deviant Cases.

The deviant cases are these units which behave against the proposed hypothesis. So, it locates these deviant cases. The tendency is to ignore them but is important for scientific study.

• Formulate Questionnaire or Schedule.

Through case study method we can formulate and develop a questionnaire and schedule

disadvantages

• Limited Representatives.

??a case study has limited representatives and generalization is impossible.

• No Classification.

Any classification is not possible due to studying a small unit.

• A possibility of Errors.

Case study method may have the errors of memory and judgment.

• Subjective Method.

It is a subjective method rather than objective.

• No Easy and Simple.

This method is very difficult and no layman can conduct this method

• Bias Can Occur.

Due to narrow study, the discrimination & bias can occur in the investigation of a social unit.

• No Fixed Limits.

This method depends on the situation and has no fixed limits of investigation of the researcher.

• Costly and Time-Consuming.

This method is more costly and time-consuming as compared to other methods of data collection.