Qualitative Method

Question 1

What is qualitative data?

Answer 1

Is a technique that focuses on descriptive, in depth understanding of social life.

Question 2

Who favours qualitative data?

Answer 2

Interpretivists.

Question 3

What does qualitative data focuses on?

Answer 3

Meanings and experiences instead of measuring behaviour they explore ‘how’ and ‘why’ people act in certain ways.

Question 4

What is qualitative data based on?

Answer 4

Small scales and in depth studies.

Question 5

What are some types of qualitative data?

Answer 5

Unstructured interviews as they allow participants to express themselves freely
Participant observation as the researcher observes social behaviour in its natural setting

Question 6

What are some advantages of using qualitative data?

Answer 6

-rich, detailed data which provides insights into behaviour
-high validity since the data being collected most of the time is in natural setting which reflects real life experiences

Question 7

What are some limitations of using qualitative data?

Answer 7

-time consuming and expensive to collect and analyse
-usually based on small sample size meaning it is difficult to generalise findings to the whole population