Definition of Qualitative Research

Analysis approach that aims to investigate the way people perceive and experience the phenomenon under study.

It is common that when talking about research and scientific data, one immediately thinks of numbers, mathematical formulas, and statistics. capable of being generalized, but these elements refer only to a quantitative approach, which is only part of the investigation; In a complementary way, there is the qualitative approach in which the interpretation of the meanings associated with the study phenomenon is addressed. In this approach, the way in which the data is collected and later analyzed is intended to refine the research questions or reveal new questions through said interpretation.

In the qualitative approach, data is collected through flexible techniques, such as interviews. structured and semi-structured, focus groups, observation, and some that are somewhat more rigid, such as networks semantic. Once the information is obtained, it is analyzed in order to identify ideas, elements and meanings, and thus interpret reality through the experiences of the participants.

Thus, it is common to use the qualitative approach when very little is known about a phenomenon, that is, In other words, it is used mostly in the exploratory stage of the investigation when it presents a design mixed.

In this sense, the use of qualitative techniques in psychometrics stands out, since through this approach it is possible to develop measurement instruments. The scales, inventories and other types of evaluation instruments have the objective of adequately measuring the phenomenon of interest, therefore, it is required that they effectively capture the shared elements of the attribute to measure. To know these elements, you can resort only to theory and previous evidence, but when performing this runs the risk of ignoring pertinent and relevant elements for that group (i.e., elements of the culture); Thus, resorting to qualitative techniques makes it possible to recognize these elements by extracting them directly from the information provided by members of the cultural group. By using qualitative techniques and theory as a basis for the construction of measurement instruments, the cultural and universal elements of a construct or phenomenon are effectively captured.

In short, qualitative research should not be conceived as an approach opposed to quantitative research, rather as a complement to it.

Characteristics of qualitative research

• Although there is a research problem or theme, the process and approach to it is not as rigorous as in quantitative research.

• Unlike quantitative research that starts from a theory to establish relationships between variables and data are used later to corroborate said theories, in the qualitative one, the data allow the development of new theories.

• It is rare to develop hypotheses, since this arises once information is available about the phenomenon under study.

• Data collection does not follow rigorously standardized processes, it is possible to be flexible. Thus, the interaction that arises from the sampling process also provides valuable information about the phenomenon under study.

• The data present a natural picture of reality.

• Quantitative research is based on interpreting the meanings of the experiences of the participants.

• The qualitative results are not generalizable from the statistical point of view.

qualitative techniques

natural semantic networks. In this technique, people are asked to use a series of words to define the attributes of a given stimulus (e.g., a phenomenon, a concept or a behavior), later they are asked to rank these elements in order to give them a weight semantic. Based on these data, a network is created in which the attributes of the stimulus are linked, so that the center of the network is the element that describes the stimulus to a greater degree, and at the end those that least describe it. describe.

Focus groups and interviews. Both are techniques in which relevant issues associated with the study phenomenon are addressed through a script. The difference between both techniques lies in the number of participants involved; Focus groups can have more than two participants, while interviews only require one person. Once the information is obtained, it proceeds to be transcribed and analyzed to obtain the necessary elements. Various methods can be used to perform the analysis, such as:

Interpretive phenomenological analysis. In this technique, the daily experiences of people are evaluated to search for meanings and shared elements.

Content analysis. The discourse is investigated to find general ideas and concepts that are made up of more specific elements.

References

Hernández Sampieri, R., Fernández Collado, C., & Baptista Lucio, M. Q. (2014). Research Methodology (6th ed.). McGrawHill.