Advantages And Disadvantages Of Interpretivist, Qualitative Research Methodologies

Interviews were utilised for the data collection, as Addo (2013, p. 197) says that these can aid researchers in exploring the participant’s experience with the phenomenon of interest. The researchers

Selecting a qualitative research design best suits the outline of our intended study. As we are wanting to investigate the perceived harms of e-cigarettes by users and non-users this design will compliment the data we are looking to obtain. Within the qualitative design we have selected phenomenology as our specific design. The object of this study is to focus on the beliefs and experiences of the participants. This will be accomplished through the phenomenological research design. An interpretive approach will allow the researcher’s an opportunity to draw conclusions and gain a further understanding of the individuals experiences related to e-cigarettes.

‘Employing a qualitative methodology, underpinned by a constructivist world view, has provided the means to generate rich, deep and contextualised understandings of the research issue, and an appreciation of the socially constructed and experienced realities of the participants.’ (Highfield 2012)

Quantitative and qualitative research generates from two different perspectives, and it provide different types of crucial information from the research subject. Qualitative research corresponds more with comprehensive and thorough descriptions of events, whereas quantitative research creates statistical models to explain events. Several advantages and disadvantages in qualitative and quantitative research, depends upon the researcher's purpose and area of focus and information that will answer those research questions (Creswell, (2013).

Participant observation is a method of collecting information and data about a culture and is carried out by the researcher immersing themselves in the culture they observing. The researcher becomes known in the community, getting to know and understand the culture in a more intimate and detailed way than would be possible from any other approach. This is done by observing and participating in the community’s daily activities. The method is so effective because the researcher is able to directly approach the people in the community in a natural context as opposed to taking the participant out of their environment. The aim of participant observation is to gain an understanding the subject’s life from their perspective, with the purpose of

There are several types of methods that can be used for qualitative research. They include ethnographic, case study, phenomenological, ground theory, and critical study. The following will detail what the methods are and how they could be used in a classroom at Stephen Decatur Middle School. The research question being utilized for each example scenario is “will the use of audio books increase engagement for seventh grade special education students during independent reading sessions?”

Qualitative data is not numerical and is more likely to take the form of observations or interviews. Obviously, it is very difficult to perform any statistical analysis on this kind of data. A further problem is that another researcher cannot replicate this data and therefore it is difficult to check the validity of what has been written. Researchers using this kind of data must be careful to avoid subjectivity, that is, they must avoid letting their personal beliefs or preferences affect the way they record and interpret the data. The advantage of this form of data collection is that it allows the researcher to answer open-ended questions; consequently, it is more flexible. Qualitative data also provides opportunities to explain the context of an observation and can therefore present a fuller picture (OU, 2001).

A qualitative methodological approach was the obvious choice in that it allows for the collection and interpretation of stories, narratives, interviews and other forms of non-quantifiable data. A qualitative approach also does not demand or strive for detached objectivity of the researcher but instead encourages the disclosure of researcher bias and the engagement of the researcher with the research and subjects, often in the role of participant-observer (Dade, Tartakov, Hargrave, & Leigh,

The individual being studied provides information on his or her experiences and perceptions, which in turn can be used as a basis for practical theory and implementation of change in policies and actions (Lester, S. 1999).

Following a critical overview of the literature, this chapter outlines the research methodology. It will provide a justification for a qualitative methodological approach and specification of methods employed. Highlighting the appropriateness of interviews and focus groups in relation to the methodology and overall research. It will also provide recognition of their relative strengths and limitations.

Each of them has been recorded and abruptly transcribed so that it is possible to have access to all the data that could be required for a future study on the subject, since it would be impossible to replicate the study. In fact, when an interview method is used for a study, with the decrease of rigid structure, reliability decreases too. However the author's choice of using this method is understandable since the aim of the study was to show how does it feels living outside the constructed structure of society and no other method could be more accurate in the description of this. Interviews allow a deep analysis of facts are one of the most powerful ways for getting the story behind a participant’s experiences (McNamara, 1999).

Galletta (2012) discusses that semi-structured interviews give space for further discussion and an in-depth answer from the interviewee. Eight midwives were purposively recruited from eight Mother and Child Health Centres in Oslo and a smaller town in in another part of Norway. Although the study adopted this method it didn’t allow for a true representation of midwives’ views across Norway and it evidences a difference in the way the participants were recruited therefore there was a degree of allocation bias as the midwives will clearly be working with different population groups, pregnant women from a city and pregnant women from a small town.

Therefore due to the social, personal and language related research required (Cottrell, 2014), a qualitative method of research was elected, as the quantitative method would have produced irrelevant and non-opinionated views (Denscombe, 2014; Hoepfl, 1997), although potentially any form of research method can cause limitations during research (Trafimow, 2014). Consequently the qualitative sample within the interpretive paradigm produced

“Qualitative research aims to generate in-depth accounts from individuals and groups by talking with them, watching their behaviour, and analysing their artefacts”. (Kuper, 2008 P.288) The qualitative

One advantage of using interpretivist methods of research is that the responses are valid and close to the truth. With the individual mattering they give a good reflection of how people are truly feeling often providing an accurate picture and measuring what the researcher set out to measure.