Qualitative Method Of Research: Understanding Its Approaches And Tools

What is qualitative research?

The qualitative method of the research is a kind of marketing method of research. The data is obtained through conversational communication. The method of the research is used in case of the marketing oriented research works to determinate the cause and the effect of the expectation of the customers. The qualitative method of the research is obtained from the paradigm which is constructive. The research method is used to determine the impacts of the social phenomena in the variables. The interviews, surveys and the texts are used in this method of research. The Qualitative method of the research is dependent on the inductive approach (Willig, 2017).

The process of open coding is significantly important in the case of the qualitative analysis of the data. The open coding of the grounded theory is an measure for the analytical approach of observing the data attached to the qualitative research work. The concepts or codes help in this process. The naming, description and classification of the social phenomena is the principal aim of the open coding process. The open coding acts by dividing the information and the data collected by the qualitative approach and describing them with small names and the sequences. The data is divided into the short expressions then concepts and the annotations are attached to the expressions. The main aim of the open coding is to break the pieces of information into small pieces of expressions and categorise them. The codes or concepts used in the open coding may be linked with the paragraphs or lines or protocols and texts. Different research workers use different types of codes. The researchers use the questions very often to determine the process of the open coding. The questions are 1. What(The definition and the description of the social phenomena) 2. Who(Identification of the individuals of the social phenomena) 3. How(Having the knowledge of the different aspects of the social phenomena) 4. When(The time, place of the social phenomena)  5. What for(identification of the intentions of the individuals attached to the social phenomena) 6. Which (Strategies and the action plan to perform the job) 7. Why(The4 actual reason behind the social phenomena). Open coding is used in the grounded theory (Willig, 2017). [Refer to Appendix 1]

The grounded theory demonstrates the process of the generation of the data which remains grounded in social phenomena. The aim of the grounded theory is to generate and analyse the data. The social phenomena are analysed and uncovered by the process of the grounded theory. The grounded theory generally uncovers the social phenomena like feelings, the behaviour of the population. The grounded theory is used in case of the qualitative method of the research. Glaser and Strauss developed the Grounded Theory in the United States. The grounded theory is the general methodology of uncovering of the data grounded in the social phenomena and the systemical analysis of the data. The features of the grounded theory are:

1. Collection of the data and the process of the analysis of the data (Bavik, 2016).
2. The generation of the codes and the categorisation of the small fragments of the expressions.
3. The sampling and the “abstract categorisation” of the data.
4. The discovery of the social processes in the information.
5. Using the analytical memos in case of the coding
6. Development of a theoretical framework.

Open Coding: Concept and Process

The steps involved in the grounded theory are 1. A sampling of the data 2. Determine the theoretical sensitivity 3. The analysis of the informations by the grounded theory 4. The categorisation of the expression and development of the codes (Bavik, 2016).

The term qualitative implies the analysis and the emphasis of the information and the data that can not be measured experimentally. The terms like quantities, amount and the intensity cannot define the phenomena analysed by the qualitative method of the research. Qualitative researchers expand the nature of the social phenomena which is based on reality. The situation constraints and the relationship of the researcher and the topic of the research determines the process of the enquiry. The researchers use the “value-laden” services for the enquiry. They arrange the surveys of the social phenomena on the basis of the social experiences. In the case of social science, the behaviours of the individuals or the population are studied. The social phenomena analysis does not depend on the pre-existing hypothesis. The qualitative study also approaches without the pre-existing hypothesis and the theories. So in the case of the social science, the qualitative approaches play an important role as the social phenomena and the experiences cannot be calculated, measured experimentally and they have no quantities, amount and the intensity (Bourne et al 2017). [Refer to Appendix 2]

The determination of human behaviour in case of social psychology is dependent on the qualitative method of the research. The qualitative methods allow the research workers to know the different aspects of the human behaviour. There are different kinds of the scientific methods to determine the different aspects of the human behaviour. The social psychologist and the research workers rely on these methods in a great manner. The research methods help to find the answers of the human behaviours to not only there searchers but also to the teacher, business professionals, policy makers and the administrative powers too. There are different methods to determine the social behaviours of the human (Bourne et al 2017). The methods are written below:

1. Descriptive research

Descriptive research is needed for the determination of the behaviours already present in a group or population. If the variables are related to each other then the descriptive studies will be failed. The descriptive studies can be performed only in case of the determination of the theories which already is present in the population or the group. The descriptive searches are of three types. They are

1. The surveys:The surveys are quite cheap and effective. The surveys are the most frequently used method of the descriptive research. In case of the surveys the people usually fill up the questionnaires and it works as a opinion poll. In the case of the surveys, a lot of data can be gathered in a relatively short amount of time (Bristowe et al 2017).
2. The observation method: The observation method allows the researchers to observe the behaviours of the people minutely and then construct a result. The research workers artificially an environment in the lab or any other and observe the behaviours of the people in respect of the environment. The aim of the observation method is to collect the natural reaction of the people against a artificial environment. For the gaining of the greater ecological validity, the researchers use the artificial environments in the lab. The different kinds of the observation method have different kinds of the outcomes. The natural observation and the artificial  observational method

Grounded Theory: Method and Techniques

Has differences between them. The natural method of observation is cheap and on the other hand, the artificial method of observation is more costly (Bristowe et al 2017).

1. The case studies: The case studies generally does not considered as a                 frequently used method of the qualitative research of the human behaviours. The case studies are generally used in the observation of the individuals from a group or population. The case studies provide a piece of first-hand information about the behaviour of the individual (Cardona-Morrellet al 2016).

1. Correlational research

The correlational method of the research used in the case where there is a relationship between the variables. The relationship between the variables and the consequences of the phenomena is studied in the case of the correlation method of research. The human behaviours against the media content on the television can be studied by the correlational method of the research. The correlational method uses the data from the other research work, observation of the behaviours and the pieces of information collected from the surveys. If there is not a relation between the variables then the correlational research work will be failed (jjay.smartcatalogiq.com). [Refer to Appendix 3]

1. The experimental method of research

The experimental method of the research is used to uncover the relationship between the variables. In case of the experimental research work, the researcher usually divides the participants into two different groups. They are

1. The control group:

The people of the control group are not provided any kind of the treatment. The people of the control group work as a baseline (Thomas, 2016).

1. The experimental group:

The people of the experimental group provides the treatment to determine the effects of the social phenomena on the variables. The researchers can manipulate the level of the independent variables and the causal relationship between the variables could be known by method of the research (jjay.smartcatalogiq.com).

In this way, the qualitative method of the research helps to determine the consequences of the human behaviour (Iaquinto, 2016).

The qualitative method of the research gives the research workers to gather information about the different aspects of the research work.

1. Why the topic has been selected for the research work. The qualitative method of the research helps to determine the relevance of the research topic in the modern day world.
2. Who are the examples of social phenomena? The qualitative method of the research helps to determine the individuals from a population responsible for the social phenomena. The random selection of the samples helps in this process.
3. When and where the phenomena took place? The qualitative method of the research helps to gather knowledge about the occurring place of the phenomena and the time of the occurrence also comes to know.
4. What are intentions of the persons involved in the social phenomena? The qualitative method of the research helps to know the intentions of the persons responsible or victim of the phenomena (journals.sagepub.com).

•   Interviews

The interviews are the one of the greater source of the information in case of the qualitative method of the research. The interviews are done in the field of the business, management of the customer relationship, in the field of the political choices and in case of the social phenomenons. The interviews are conducted by the research team itself or the other third parties. The information of the interviews are collected from the newspapers and the other research works or the websites also. When the pieces of information of the interview are collected from the other sources then it will be recognised as a source of the secondary data (Myneni, 2015).

•   journals

The journals are the written documents which act as a source of the secondary data. TGHe data is used in the long term qualitative research work. The pieces of information collected from the journals are much more reliable than the interviews and the surveys. The interviews and the kind of oral communication. Oral communication is not reliable in some cases. The use of the interviews and the surveys in case of the qualitative research work is against the ethics of the research work. Sometimes the international journals provide photographs of the particular phenomena. The photographs are the reliable source of the information in the research works (Pound, 2016).

• photographs

Approaches to Qualitative Research

The photographs are the reliable sources of the information. The photographs are the example of the visual communication. The visual communication and the presentations are much more reliable than written communication. The visual communication cannot be altered any more. The visual communications can be achieved from the journals sometimes. The photographs are a reliable document of the source in case of the qualitative method of the research (Sauvegrain et al 2017).

The open coding is the analytical approach of the qualitative research work. The open coding gives the full set of the activities and for the ideas, concepts and the theories of the qualitative research work. The pieces of information of the open coding can be gathered by the newspapers, websites and the surveys. The open coding is the part of the Grounded Theory. In the year of 1967, the Glaser and Strauss invented the open coding theory in the field of social science. The application of the Grounded Theory is useful for uncovering the grounded data from the hypothesis. Grounded theory is the methodological approach to uncover the grounded data to generate a hypothesis which is not pre-existing. The importance of the naming of the small expressions lies in finding the relationship between the concepts and the theories. The discussion and the sharing of the data can give beneficial results from the user of the open coding process. This process is also known as the conceptualisation. The eradication of the labelling from the expressions for their abstract presentation. The behaviours of the different animals can be observed by the open coding system. The system also allows to consider them as the abstract notion of living things. Open coding is used in case of the qualitative method of the research. The open coding is used in case of the qualitative method of the research because it helps to group the words and the phrases in the abstract concepts (Sauvegrain et al 2017).

• Process of the coding of the concepts:

“Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis Systems (CAQDAS)” is used in the coding of the expressions. The system is helpful for the coding of the codes in case of the qualitative method of the research. Coding can be done individually or as a team.

• Categorizing of the codes: After the conceptualisation and the coding process the categorisation is done. The categorisation is done by the use of the different colours. The colours depicts different properties (Scholte, 2015).

The main problem of the phenomenon is that the interview is not will to say the truth. If the interviewee does not state the truth. The main aspect of conceptualization is that if the concepts are not right then the information that is being gathered with the help of their interview will be entirely wrong. Therefore it is necessary to see that the information that is being gathered by the interviewer is not wrong and the person is stating the truth (Scholte, 2015).

Tools for Qualitative Research

After understanding the concepts of the information that is being provided by the people who were being interviewed then the concepts are to be arranged and then made into collaboration with the report. Therefore it is the work of the interviewer to check and see that the information that is being provided by the person is set up and arranged in the proper manner it is only then that the information will   e the legality and validity. Although the interview is an expensive process all the information that is getting has to be set up and arranged properly (Harper, 2017).    

The category that is being spoken about is the reason why the person came to Canada and not pakistan. When asked it can be understood that the person said that the person will not be able to mix up with the culture in pakistan as there are several rules and regulation. Hence the person wants to go to canada this i because there are lesser rules and the person will be able to live and stay freely there.

The person, those who have been interviewed did not have any case of drug abuse. All the people who had been interviewed had been sober and did not have any case of drug abuse or any type of additional cases of traumas (Stenberg, 2016).

The reasons for the analysis is that it helps in understanding the patterns of the data., This means that the data that has been found out from the interview has to be first properly analysed and then the information is to be taken out of the data. This will help in proper analysis and evaluation and hence will help making the work better (Stenberg et al 2016).

The patterns indicate the happening of the next behaviour in the human beings. This means that if the behaviours of the people change then the patter of the information that will be extracted from the people will also have similar types of changes. This means the more the changes in the behaviour of the people similar will be the changes in the pattern (Stenberg, 2016).

Research primarily tries to find patterns in data

Patterns of the human behaviour helps in understanding the behavioural changes in the human beings. This means if there is something happening in life of the people those who are being interviewed similarly the patterns of their way of answering will also change (Thomas, 2016).

•   Likeness: The ability of the people to like the question that they are answering also helps in understanding their pattern changes.
•   Predictable variation: The changes in the patterns are quiet predictable and can be understood that the reason for the happening is the changes in the behavior of the human.
•   Frequency: The frequency of being able to answer the questions also changes with the change in frequency.
•   Order:The order of the answer might also change along with the behavioural change (Thomas, 2016).
•   Relations

 Dependency: The dependency of the people being interviewed is that they are under the image that they are taken care by their parents and some of them are working for a living (Seymour?Smith et al 2016).

The overall goal is to make the information as original as possible. This is because it depends on the person who is being interviewed , as to how the person wants to react on the cause. Therefore it is the work of the interviewer to collect the solid data from the person, that is the overall goal and objective.

• One of the main benefits that this has is that the theories that are collected from the interviews are directly used for the research
• The validity of the research remains.
• The information that is gathered through interview is completely original and true.
• There are all types of information that can be collected directly from the people and it is completely legal for the research (Thomas, 2016).

• One of the main problem is that the entire process of interview is time consuming and labour costing.
• The entire process of interview is highly costly this is because the it requires additional force to completely process the method (utm.utoronto.ca).
• The information that is gather might be more than the required information and hence this might create overuse of the data.
• If the person that is being interviewed is telling a lie than the the validity of the entire research gets hampered (Tompson et al2017).

One of the interview which is held with Sofia. On this interview Sofia tell about her life after his completing the education. She aalso tell about her work experience and the reson for which she shifted Canada from Porrtugal. Many of the protugals mmegrate to the Canada due to the job prupose. Therefore it is said that the Protugals are shifted Canada due to the unaviability of the job in Portugal.

Other interview was done with the real astate busness man who told about the process of his marketing. He said that he have to go door to door for the marketing. Peoples demand the high quality qualification of the businesman and after that they listen about the offers they demand. There fore it is said there was a value of good education. All interviews which are taken by author represent the problem of immegration and the eir profession.