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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH. What Is Qualitative Research ?. is research that addresses business objectives through techniques that allow the researcher to provide elaborate (ayrıntılı) interpretations of business phenomena without depending on numerical measurement .
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What Is QualitativeResearch?
is research that addresses business objectives through techniques thatallow the researcher to provide elaborate(ayrıntılı)interpretations of businessphenomena without dependingon numerical measurement. Its focus is on discovering true inner meanings and new insights.Qualitative research is very widely applied in practice. There are many researchfirms that specialize in qualitativeresearch. Qualitative research is less structured than most quantitative approaches.
It does not rely on selfresponsequestionnaires containing structured response formats. Instead, it is more researcher-dependentin that the researcher must extract meaning from unstructured responses, such as text from arecordedinterview or a collage representing the meaning of some experience. Theresearcher interprets the datato extract its meaning and converts it to information.
Theresearcherhas many tools available and the research design should try to match the best tool to the researchobjective. Also, just as a mechanic is probably not an expert with every tool, eachresearcherusually has special expertise with a small number of tools. Not every researcher has expertise withtools that would comprise(içermek) qualitative research.
The less specific the research objective, the more likely that qualitative researchtools will be appropriate. Araştırmanınamacıne kadarbelirginleşirse, nitelaraştırmaaraçları o kadaruygunolur. Also, when the emphasis is on a deeperunderstanding of motivations orondeveloping novel(yeni)concepts, qualitativeresearch is very appropriate.
When it is difficult to develop specific and actionable problem statements orresearch objectives. For instance, if after several interviews with the research clientthe researcher still can’tdetermine exactly what needs to be measured, then qualitativeresearch approaches may help with problem definition.
2. When the research objective is to develop an understanding of some phenomenain great detail and in much depth. Qualitative research tools are aimed atdiscovering the primary themes indicating human motivations and the documentationof activities is usually very complete.
3. When the research objective is to learn how a phenomena occurs in its naturalsetting or to learn how to express some concept in colloquial terms. Forexample, how do consumers actually use a product? Or, exactly how doesthe accounting department process invoices?
4. When some behavior the researcher is studying is particularly contextdependent—meaning the reasons something is liked or some behavior is performeddepend very much on the particular situation surrounding the event.
5. When a fresh approach to studying some problem is needed. This is particularly the case whenquantitative research has yielded less than satisfying results. Qualitative tools can yield uniqueinsights, many of which may lead the organization in new directions.
QUALITATIVE VERSUS QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Qualitativeresearch can accomplish research objectivesthat quantitative research cannot. Similarly truthful, but no more so,quantitative research canaccomplish objectives that qualitativeresearch cannot. The key to successfully using either is tomatch the right approach to the right research context.
Many good research projects combine both qualitative and quantitative research. For instance,developing valid survey measures requires first a deep understanding of the concept to be measuredand a description of the way these ideas are expressed in everyday language. Both of theseare tasks best suited for qualitative research. However, validating the measure formally to makesure it can reliably capture the intended concept will likely require quantitative research. Also,qualitative research may be needed to separate symptoms from problems and thenquantitativeresearch can follow up to test relationships among relevant variables.
Quantitative business research can be defined as business research that addresses research objectivesthrough empirical assessments that involve numerical measurement and analysis approaches.Qualitative research is more apt to stand on its own in the sense that it requires less interpretation. For example, quantitative research is quite appropriate when a research objective involves a managerialaction standard.
There are great differences between the quantitative and qualitative approaches tostudying and understanding subjects. The arguments between qualitative andquantitative businessresearchers about their relative strengths and weaknesses areof real practical value. The nature of businessdecision-making encompasses(kapsamak)a vastarray of problems and types of decision-maker. This means that seeking asingularand uniform approach to supporting decision-makers by focusing on one approach isuseless. Businessdecisionmakersuse both approaches and will continue to need both.
The distinction between qualitative and quantitative research can be in the contextof research designs.There is a close parallel in the distinctions(fark)between ‘exploratory and conclusive research’ and ‘qualitative and quantitativeresearch’. There is a parallel, but the terms are not identical. There are circumstanceswhere qualitative research can be used to present detailed descriptions that cannot bemeasured in a quantifiable manner, for example in describing characteristics andstyles of music that may be used in anadvertising campaign or in describing theinterplay(etkileşim)of how families gothrough the process of choosing, planning and buying a holiday.
Conversely, there may be circumstances where quantitativemeasurements are usedto conclusively answer specific hypotheses or research questions using descriptive orexperimental techniques. Beyond answering specific hypotheses or research questions,there may be sufficient data to allow data mining or an exploration ofrelationships between individual measurements to take place.
Quantitative researchers direct a considerable amount of activity toward measuring conceptswith scales that either directly or indirectly provide numeric values. The numeric values can thenbe used in statistical computations and hypothesis testing. Thisprocess involves comparing numbers in some way. In contrast, qualitative researchers are moreinterested in observing, listening, and interpreting. As such, the researcher is involvedin the research process and in constructing the results.
For these reasons,qualitative research is saidto be more subjective, meaning that the results are researcher-dependent. Different researchersmay reach different conclusions based on the same interview. In that respect,qualitative researchlacks the ability of differentindividualsfollowing the same procedures to produce the same results or come tothe sameconclusion.
Qualitative research seldom involves samples with hundreds of respondents. Instead, a handfulof people are usually the source of qualitative data. This is perfectly acceptable in discovery-orientedresearch. All ideas would still have to be tested before adopted. Does a smaller sample meanthat qualitative research is cheaper than qualitative? Perhaps not. Although fewer respondents haveto be interviewed, the greater researcher involvement in both thedata collection and analysis candrive up the costs of qualitative research.
Qualitativeresearch is most often used in exploratory designs. Small samples, interpretiveprocedures that require subjective judgments, and the unstructured interview format all maketraditional hypotheses testing difficult with qualitative research.
The best way to conduct a perfect research is to pursue this path: To define the problem and shape a perfect questionnaire Qualitative Research To find the most probable results and ncomprehensive conclusion Quantitative Research To interpret the result deeply and correctly Qualitative Research
Mostexploratory research designs produce qualitative data.Exploratory designs do not usually producequantitative data, which represent phenomena by assigning numbers in an ordered andmeaningfulway. Rather than numbers, the focus of qualitativeresearch is on stories, visual portrayals(tasvir), meaningfulcharacterizations, interpretations, and other expressive descriptions. Often, exploratoryresearch maybe needed to develop the ideas that lead to research hypotheses. In some situationsthe outcome of exploratory research is a testable research hypothesis. Confirmatoryresearch then teststhese hypotheses with quantitative data.
Themajorcategoriesof qualitativeresearch Phenomenology—originating in philosophy and psychology 2. Ethnography—originating in anthropology 3. Grounded theory—originating in sociology 4. Case studies—originating in psychology and in business research
1. Phenomenology Representsa philosophical approach to studying human experiences based on theidea that human experience itself is inherently(doğal olarak)subjective and determined by the context in whichpeople live. The phenomenological researcher focuses on how a person’s behavior is shapedby the relationship he or she has with the physical environment, objects, people, and situations.Phenomenological inquiry seeks to describe, reflect upon, and interpret experiences.
Researchers with a phenomenological orientation rely largely onconversational interviewtools. When conversational interviews are face to face, they are recorded either with video oraudiotape(ses bandı)and then interpreted by the researcher. The phenomenological interviewer is careful toavoid asking direct questions when at all possible.Instead, the research respondent is asked to tella story about some experience.
2. Ethnography Participantobservation, a tool of measuringtheethnographicevents, means the researcher becomes immersed(bulaşmış)within the culture that he or she is studying anddraws data from his or her observations. A culture can be either a broad culture, like Turkishculture,or a narrow culture, like regionalculture, Fordowners, or peoplewhoareintrested in football. Organizational culture would also be relevant for ethnographic study. At times, researchershave actually become employees of an organization for an extended period of time. In doing so, theybecome part of the culture.
OBSERVATION IN ETHNOGRAPHY Researcherstodaysometimes ask householdsforpermissiontoplacevideo cameras in their home.In doing so, the ethnographercan study the consumer in a “natural habitat” and use theobservations to test new products,develop new product ideas, and develop strategies in general. Ethnographic study can beparticularly useful when a certain culture is comprised of individualswho cannot or will not verbalize their thoughts and feelings. Forinstance, ethnography hasadvantages for discovering insights among children since it does not rely largely on their answersto questions. Instead, the researcher can simply become part of theenvironment, allow the childrento do what they do naturally, and record their behavior.
3. Grounded(gömülü)Theory Representsan inductive(tümevarımsal)investigation in which the researcher poses questionsabout information provided by respondents or taken from historical records. The researcher asksthe questions to him or herself and repeatedly questions the responses to derive deeperexplanations. Grounded theory is particularly applicable in highlydynamic situations involving rapid and significantchange. Two key questions asked by the grounded theory researcher are “What ishappening here?”and “How is it different?”
A theory is inductively developedbased on text analysis of dozens of sales meetings that had beenrecorded over the previous five years. By questioning the eventsdiscussed in the sales interviews and analyzing differences in thesituations that may have led to the discussion, the researcheris able to develop a theory. The theory suggests that with anincreasing reliance on e-mail and other technological devicesfor communication, the salespeople do not communicate witheach other informally as much as they did five years previously. GroundedTheory is tryingtoextract a theoryfrom an eventor a text
Example for diduction(tümdengelim).Every human dies. Ahmet is a human, so Ahmed one day will die. Decreasing the price of any elastic product will increase the demand. If the price of jewelry, luxury cars and hotel services increase the demand of these products will increase. Example for induction(tümevarım). First and Second World War have brought disaster. So all wars bring disaster. Or If we put a piece of ice many times on a fire, the ice will be melted. Therefore the fire melts the ice.
Experiment 1 or observation 1 Experiment 2 or observation 2 Experiment 3 or observation 3 InductiveApproach Result, certainty or reality DiductiveApproach Conviction 3 Conviction1 Conviction 2 Kanaat
4. Case Studies Case studies simply refer to the documented history of a particularperson, group, organization, or event. Typically, a casestudy may describe the events of a specific company as it facesan important decision or situation, such as introducing a newproduct or dealing with some management crisis. Textbook casestypify this kind of case study. Clinical interviews of managers, employees, or customerscan represent a casestudy.
Philosophyand qualitativeresearch
EmpiricismA theory of knowledge. Abroadcategory of thephilosophyof sciencethatlocates the source of allknowledgein experience. PositivismA philosophy of language andlogiccosistentwithan empiricistphilosophyof science. ParadigmA set of assumptionsconsistingof agreeduponknowledge, criteriaof judgement, problem fields, and ways to consider them.
Action Research Aprocesswhereby one could construct a social experiment with the aim of achieving a certaingoal. For example, in the early days of the Second World War, Lewin conducted astudy, commissioned by US authorities, on the use of tripe(işkembe)as part of the regular dailydiet of American families. Theresearch question was: ‘To what extent could Americanhousewives beencouraged to use tripe rather than beef for family dinners?’ Beef wasscarce and was destined(alın yazısı)primarily for the troops.
Action research is a team research process, facilitated by one or more professionalresearchers, linking with decision-makers and other stakeholders who together wish toimprove particular situations. Together, the researcher and decision-makers orstakeholdersdefine the problems to be examined, generate relevant knowledge about theproblems, learn and execute research techniques, take actions, and interpret the resultsof actions basedon what they have learned.
Action researchers accept no a priori limits on the kinds of research techniquesthey use. Surveys, statistical analyses, interviews, focus groups, ethnographies and lifehistories are all acceptable, if the reasonfor deploying(yaygınlaştırmak)them has been agreedby the action researchcollaborators(iş arkadaşları)and if they are used in a way that does notoppresstheparticipants.