Qualitative Research Is Good At Simplifying And Managing Data Without Destroying Complexity And Context

Qualitative research key characteristics are the researcher immerse her/himself in the setting, contexts of inquiry are not contrived they are natural, want the subjects to speak for themselves, attend to the experience as a what not as separate variables, these is no one general method, the process entail appraisal about what was studied and it implies a direct concern with expertise as it is lived or felt or undergone (Hughes, 2006)

Thus, this method gives a researcher an in-depth understanding of the participants’ experiences using qualitative inquiry to determine the why, when, where, what, and how of the study.

According to Schneider, Elliot, LoBiondo-Wood & Haber (2004), qualitative research methods, search for the meaning and understanding of human experiences in a naturalistic setting. A researcher obtains subjective facts in order to explore the experiences of each participant (Schneider, Elliot, LoBiondo-Wood & Haber 2004). As a result, qualitative research is a means in which a researcher gains an insight into the participant's point of view concerning their personal experiences; in order gain an understanding of the information given. Therefore this allows a researcher to collect subjective information to create a description of the phenomenon (Vishnevsky & Beanlands 2004).

Maxwell (2005) also notes that qualitative research can be used to address various issues and is not restricted to one ontological stance. The method also involves developing a relationship with the people one is studying, an aspect that is important in defining the authenticity of the data and determining the course of action.

Qualitative research is a broad field of inquiry that uses unstructured data collection methods, such as observations, interviews, surveys and documents, to find themes and meanings to inform our understanding of the

The data collection that was chosen in qualitative research is interviews. Interviewing involves asking questions and getting answers from participants in a study. Interviewing has a variety of forms (Rowley, 2012). These forms are: individual, face-to-face interviews and face-to-face group interviewing. Asking and answers of question can be done by the telephone, face-to-face, and also many include other electronic devises. Interviews can either be structured, semi-structure, and unstructured (Rowley, 2012).

Researchers who uses qualitative study for addressing a problem they are interested in are most often confronted with enormous background knowledge they could use to make their research more successful. (Flick, 2007)

In-depth interviewing is the most common form of qualitative research and a valuable technique with which sociologists study the subjective reality of groups within society.

Qualitative research is conducted in a natural setting and attempts to understand a human problem by developing a holistic narrative and reporting detailed views of informants about the culture of a problem. It forms a report with pictures and words. One of the most important distinctions that sets qualitative research apart from more traditional types of research is that qualitative research is holistic in that researchers study phenomena in their entirety rather than narrowing the focus to specific defined variables” (p. 93). Similarly, Cresswell (1984) indicated that qualitative research “is defined as an inquiry process of understanding a social or human problem, based on building a holistic picture, formed with words, reporting detailed views of informants, and conducted in a natural setting” (p. 2). Cresswell’s definition clearly delineates the major characteristics of qualitative research. Pg. 50 (Smith & Davis, 2010).

Qualitative research involves the studied use and collection of variety of empirical materials-case study; personal experience; introspection; life story; interview; artifacts; cultural texts and productions; observational, historical, interactional, and visual text - that describe routine and problematic moments and meaning in individuals’ life.

The article titled learning to interview in the social sciences makes a valid point that as interviewers we can never ensure what will happen during an interview. To some degree interviewing for the social sciences and the purpose of research resembles clinical intake interviews. Both processes are in fact “reality constructing, meaning-making occasions”. In my opinion the qualitative interview while it may develop a different ebb and flow than research specific qualitative interview, as they tend to have more targeted overall research questions, they both have the same aim in mind; to collect, interpret, and analysis “data” on some level. The findings obtained by the researchers in this study while valid they are not necessarily inclusive

The second technique to be carried out is in depth open interviews. The reason why this method was chosen could be explained by taking an excerpt from Robson (2002, p. 271). The statement was that circumstances in which qualitative research interviews are most appropriate are when 1)”The study pays attention on particular events that mean something to the participants 2) When the perceptions of the subjects are emphasized”.

Qualitative research employs a variety of techniques to explore and interpret the way in which a social actor experience or perceive the world and make meaning of the experience. According to (Sander et al 2007), in an exploratory study (like this), semi-structured interview is helpful in finding out what is happening in order to seek out new insight, hence its adoption.

Qualitative interviewing today has become an important method in social science as well as other scientific backgrounds such as education and the health sciences, with some arguing that interviewing has become the dominant source through which the social sciences and society engage with the matters which are of concern to us (Rapley, 2001 in Brinkmann, 2013: 1).

Qualitative research is a technique of promoting research that stresses the quality according to the user’s point of view and approaches. In depth interviews and focus groups are best examples of qualitative research. [Laura Lake, 2009]