The essential purpose of qualitative research is to generate new knowledge by investigating phenomena in depth. This systematic approach to inquiry seeks to understand human experiences and subjective perceptions.

Core Goals

• Understand Subjective Reality: Qualitative research is allied with the constructivist paradigm, which assumes that reality is multiple and subjective (i.e., what someone says it is). The goal is to explore and understand subjective perception rather than objective reality.

• Generate Insight and Theory: Qualitative designs are used when the researcher aims to gain insight and understanding or generate a theory about a phenomenon. It typically investigates phenomena or a process in a holistic fashion.

• Answer "How" and "Why" Questions: These studies seek to describe the lived experience of the participant and articulate behaviors, beliefs, meanings, rituals, practices, interacting processes, and patterns of interactions.

• Explore Unknown Topics: Qualitative studies are often employed when little is known about a topic. They can generate research questions, hypotheses, or theories for future quantitative study.

• Contribute to Evidence-Based Practice: They can clarify and elaborate on quantitative research findings and help inform evidence-based practice.

Qualitative research uses specific designs to match the purpose of the inquiry:

• Phenomenology Research: Focuses on the meaning of people’s lived experiences concerning a specific phenomenon.

• Grounded Theory Research: Aims to account for a social or psychological process or patterns of behavior by theorizing about what is in the data (where the theory is derived, or "grounded," from real-world examples).

• Ethnography Research: Seeks to understand the world view of a cultural group, typically requiring lengthy observational fieldwork within the cultural setting.

• Narrative Research: Examines an oral or written story that describes a series of events that took place over time.

• Case Study Research: An in-depth study of a situation or event (the case), which may focus on a single person, group, institution, or community.

• Participatory Action Research (PAR): Involves full collaboration between researchers and participants to investigate a social problem with the intent to empower people and solve problems.

Qualitative studies use small, informative, rich samples.

• Purposive Sampling: Participants are chosen specifically for their ability to provide the best information related to the study topic.

• Snowball Sampling: Involves asking the first person selected to suggest other potential participants.

• Data Saturation: The final sample size is determined when no new information is being obtained and key themes are reiterated (informational redundancy).

The qualitative researcher collects narrative data:

• Methods: Common data collection methods include individual interviews (unstructured or semi-structured), focus groups, and observation, often resulting in field notes.

• Researcher as Instrument: Qualitative designs often utilize the researcher as the primary data collection tool and principal analyzer for the data.

Qualitative data analysis occurs concurrently with data collection and involves working inductively.

• Coding and Themes: Data (the participants' words and metaphors) are coded, and these codes are grouped into broader categories or themes.

• Constant Comparative Analysis: This process is used to refine the analysis and reach thematic conclusions.

In qualitative studies, the concept of quality is referred to as trustworthiness or rigor. Researchers must document verification strategies to ensure the procedures meet high standards.

Key strategies that support rigor include:

• Credibility: Ensuring the findings reflect the experiences and perceptions of others, often enhanced through triangulation (using multiple sources, methods, or theories) or member checks (checking results with participants).

• Confirmability: Ensuring neutrality and reduction of bias, often done by investigators reviewing their own attitudes and preconceptions.

• Bracketing: A technique used in phenomenology to identify and suspend (set aside) any preconceived notions held by the researcher about the study topic to reduce bias.

• Transparency and Diligence: High-quality reports describe how information was documented to justify decisions (transparency) and describe efforts to check interpretations and find multiple sources to corroborate evidence (diligence).