SOC609 Official Handouts

Lesson 01 · INTRODUCTION TO QUALTITATIVE RESEARCH-I TOPIC 001-003 · Topic 001: Agenda

In this course you will learn about the qualitative research and its purpose with practical examples. Major focus will be on the cultural context of qualitative research. Further, it will be analyzed that in Pakistani society what kind of qualitative research is required and highly needed. Moreover, you will study the methodology of qualitative research. In addition, you will know the difference between methods and methodology. As methodology in research is a procedure of conducting research while method of qualitative research is a part of methodology. Furthermore, you will know about the tools and techniques for data collections in qualitative research as both are separate things. Tools and techniques for data analysis in qualitative research will also be discussed.

It is very important thing to learn that after data collection, how to manage and analyze data otherwise whole effort will be ruined. Most of the people collect the data but they don’t know the how to manage the data. In this modern era, so many modern techniques and tools for qualitative data analysis are used. All the major tools and techniques will be discussed in detail in this course. Fieldwork challenges and experiences are also very important features of qualitative research. It is necessary to learn from the field experiences. During field research, due to unexpected happenings i.e. no response by respondents or non-availability of respondents or any else, at that time researcher can change his strategy or plan. He can change the place, population or universe accordingly.

But in Pakistan there is no documentation of such things. Documentation is much necessary for other researches and researchers so that they can plan accordingly. Regarding validity and reliability, people assume that this is unimportant, but this is not true. In this course we will unveil the truth. Regarding ethics in research, all over the world ethics are asked during research... No respondents‟ secrecy should be out. You will also learn about data interpretation. Afterwards Essence of research data interpretation and conclusion will be discussed.

Topic 002: What is Qualitative Research?

Research fundamentally addresses the two questions: what is going on? and how widespread is this? Qualitative research addresses the first question, while quantitative research addresses the second question. Basically, quantitative research tests the existing theory and it is deductive in nature. It quantifies people's experiences in numbers percentage and graphs. For example, if you ask the question in a particular area that do you like mango? 20 percent will say No‟‟, 70 percent will say „yes, and 10 percent say‟ To some extent‟. This is quantification of data through Likert scale. On the other hand, qualitative researcher generates a new theory for example Using abusive language is a bad habit, but in some cultural context, it can be considered as normal. For example, while sitting among the friends it shows just frankness. Basically, qualitative research is inductive in nature and focuses on subjective experiences. In this words, symbols and gestures has much importance and proper meanings.

Topic 003 Qualitative VS Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is quantification of human behavior and qualitative research is culturally specific in nature. It is used to know the people’s opinions, suggestions habits etc. In qualitative research use of words, symbols are very high and important. Every word has different meanings in different cultural context. For example, word “Respect” “Izzat” has very sensitive meaning in Pakistani cultural context as people die for their respect and honor. But in western countries, people are not much sensitive about this. A comparison between qualitative and quantitative research is given below:

Research Aspect

Quantitative

Common purpose Test hypotheses or specific research

questions Discover ideas, used in exploratory research with general research objects

Approach Measure and Test Observe and interpret

Data collection approach Structured Response Categories

Provided Unstructured, free-form

Research Independence Researcher Uninvolved Observer:

Results are Objective Researcher Is Intimately involved. Results

are Subjective.

Samples Large Samples to Produce Generalizable Results Small SamplesOften in Natural Settings

Most often used Descriptive and Causal Exploratory Research

Lesson 02 · INTRODUCTION TO QUALTITATIVE RESEARCH: -II · TOPIC 004-006 · Topic 004: Aims of Research

Basically, purpose of research is to know about particular sociological phenomena that what is the issue, why things are in this form and how that phenomenon prevails and what is logic behind its spread. Majorly it focuses on new, unique and empirically valid phenomena. Researcher wants to know the new sociological phenomena. If phenomena already explored then researcher wants to know its description if already description also exists then researcher will conduct research to know the explanation of that phenomena.

In addition to it, researcher conducts the research to test already existing theory or to generate a new theory. In simple words research Identify the sociological phenomena, when researcher don’t have much knowledge about particular social phenomena and how that occurs, what’s the reason behind occurrence. Researcher will conduct exploratory research if he/she wants to know totally new phenomena, i.e. Corona virus was a totally new phenomenon for us. To know about this exploratory study have been conducted. More composed explanation is given below:

Topic 005: Aims of Qualitative Research · Category · Purpose · Identification

When little is known about any social phenomenon

Exploration

New phenomenon/ topic under

Investigation

Description

Description of new dimensions, variations, meanings and importance

of the phenomenon

Explanation

Look for how/ why phenomenon exists. The main aim of quantitative research is

to explain the

Major aims of qualitative research are to get in-depth knowledge of particular sociological phenomenon. After identification, exploration researcher describes the nature of social