Qualitative Research

What is qualitative research?

Qualitative research is a research method that values the reasons why and where. It is a way of observing non-numerical data to create meaning-making. 

Not only being an observer of the World, if you are qualitative researcher, you are a situated observer. The researcher's environment, background and situation will effect the way he/she will carry out their investigation. The researcher will inflict its own research, shaping the process. Researcher must be aware of its impact upon their own investigation. This can be done by reflecting on the meaning of their part of the whole process. How you yourself might contribute to skewed outcomes perhaps... unconscious bias?

Carrying out research in a qualitative manner leads one to be attentive towards the socially constructed nature of reality, acknowledging their personal relationship between themselves and their research, and become aware of any aspects of the inquiry that are affected due to situational constraints. Markula and Silk (2011) describe this research practice as being "designed for an 'interpretive naturalistic approach to the World' (Denzil and Lincoln, 2005, p.3.)"

Cathleen Limerick, who is currently in the third and final module of this course shared this link with me, and I found this video an eye opener. Please give it a watch when you have time, as it really made me think about the way the World carries out research and solutions to society's problems such as mis-representation, social assumptions and the vast amount of money that is spent on research that is completely un-beneficial.

References: 

Markula, P. and Silk, M. (2011) Qualitative Research for Physical Culture. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, p5.

O'Reilly (2015) 10 Problems with Qualitative Data. 1 October. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVesX4uS5gQ&t=73s (Accessed: 6 February 2020).