Qualitative Research

The full and original article was published on Simply Psychology

Qualitative research gathers information that is not in numerical form. Since psychologists study people, the traditional approach to science is not seen as an appropriate way of carrying out research, since it fails to capture the totality of human experience and the essence of what it is to be human.

For Example:

• diary account
• open-ended questionnaires
• unstructured interviews
• unstructured observations

Qualitative data is typically descriptive data and as such is harder to analyse than quantitative data. Qualitative research is useful for studies at the individual level, and to find out, in depth, the ways in which people think or feel. Analysis of qualitative data is difficult and requires an accurate description of participant responses.

As people studying people, researchers necessarily have attitudes and values which they bring to their research.  It is therefore more honest that researchers’ attitudes and values should be acknowledged, and form part of the context of research.

A good example of a qualitative research method would be unstructured and group interviews which generate qualitative data through the use of open questions.  This allows the respondent to talk in some depth, choosing their own words.  This helps the researcher develop a real sense of a person’s understanding of a situation.  However, it can be time consuming to conduct the unstructured interview and analyse the qualitative data.