Qualitative Research Methods and Concepts: A Comprehensive Summary

Qualitative Research

Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data by observing what people do and say. It refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and description of things. Qualitative research is subjective and uses various methods of collecting information, including individual in-depth interviews and focus groups. The nature of this research is exploratory and open-ended.

Nacirema

A term used in anthropology and sociology in relation to aspects of the behavior and society of citizens of the USA. It encourages a deliberate sense of self-distancing so that American anthropologists might look at their own culture more objectively. Think of yourself as an alien; if you came to Earth today, would you think that certain things and behaviors are weird?

Serendipity

When you are looking for something and unexpectedly find something else.

Historical Phases of Qualitative Research

The Traditional (1900-1950)

Associated with the positivist paradigm where qualitative research aims to reflect the principles of (natural) scientific enquiry.

The Modernist or Golden Age (1950-1970)

Where we see the appearance of post-positivist arguments.

The Blurred Genres (1970-1986)

Where a variety of new interpretive, qualitative perspectives come into the foreground, including hermeneutics, structuralism, semiotics, phenomenology, cultural studies, and feminism. The humanities also became a central resource for critical and interpretive theory.

The Crisis of Representation (1986-1990)

Where researchers struggle with how to locate themselves and their subjects in reflexive texts.

The Postmodern or Present (1990-today)

A new sense that doubts all previous paradigms.

Research Approaches

Deductive Approach

A type of logic in which one goes from a general statement to a specific instance.

Inductive Approach

Going from a series of specific cases to a general statement. The conclusion in an inductive argument is never guaranteed.

Culture (Geertz)

• The way of life of a people.
• The social legacy the individual acquires from their group (leads the person to behave in a certain way; the background can explain certain behaviors).
• A way of thinking, feeling, and believing (even if we are not aware of it, everything we do is culture-wise).
• An abstraction from behavior (behavior needs to be examined; the individual as a source of information for meaning).
• A theory on the part of the anthropologist about the way in which a group of people in fact behave (the common behavior of a group).
• A storehouse of pooled learning (we store many behaviors and things we learn in our brains, and it's cumulative).
• A set of standardized orientations of recurrent problems (how behaviors are standardized).
• Learned behavior (behavior is the explanation of all our culture, and through it, we can get meaning of the symbols. Through behavior, we can understand meaning).
• A mechanism for the normative regulation of behavior (culture tells us what behavior is okay and what isn't; regulation of society).
• A set of techniques for adjusting both to the external environment and to other people.
• A precipitate of history (historical events that led to all kinds of behaviors, like the Holocaust).
• A behavioral map, sieve, or matrix (helps to navigate through different cultures).