Lesson 9: Importance of Qualitative Research across Different Fields

Qualitative research is known for providing meaning to understand an existing phenomenon. With this, the perspectives, expressions, and activities of the participants play a vital role to unveiling the local context across different fields. 

The development in any fields such as in education, business, medical and health allied services, etc. is made possible by means of qualitative research. 

Qualitative Research in Education

To better understand research in education, Green and Bloome (1997) gave a distinction between Ethnography of education and Ethnography in education.

Ethnography of education seeks to understand what counts as education for members of a particular group while ethnography in education studies about social and cultural dynamics of a school or classroom. An example is how teaching styles match the learning styles of students.

They concluded that ethnographic practice-like any set of social and cultural practices- are ways that people in a certain place react to each other to pursue an agenda: including research agenda, educational agenda, and social, cultural, and instructional change agenda. An example of this study is how students react to the evaluation of their academic performance.

Qualitative research is important as it navigates towards the improvement of performance in education.

Qualitative Research in Technical Communication

Qualitative research can also be used in studying the effective use of technology in the workplace to ensure a smooth flow of communication. This can be conducted using focus groups.

Technical communications under study can be in the forms of e-mail, fax messaging, video and voice conferencing, intranet and extranet, jargon, and graphics.

The advancement in technical communication is a product of exploration using qualitative research.

Qualitative Research in Psychology

According to Braun and Clarke (2013), the qualitative research paradigm in psychology has been emerging since the second half of the nineteenth century.

Psychology has been strongly shaped by the behavioral and cognitive traditions within which psychology should seek to understand and determine an observable, objective psychological reality. An example of this is, psychologists seek to understand why some students lack the motivation to go to school and why some students resort to bullying and the like.

Understanding the psychological processes and how they affect society is the contribution of qualitative research.

Qualitative Research in Advertising

Morrison et al. say that great advertising comes along from an understanding of consumer's wants and needs. Further, they say that qualitative research approaches, or methods useful in advertising have been used by advertising researchers.

The stated connection of understanding the connection between advertising and consumers' preferences can be explained through qualitative research.

Qualitative Research in Social Work

Conducting research under social work means studying people's experiences especially what they found traumatic and painful. This can be done by analyzing interview data and narratives which has four broad categories:

1.     Knowledge-direct remembering and reliving, with complete details of the events

2.     Awareness of mental process: awareness of emotions and of cognitive processes

3.     Awareness of identity-awareness of values and the construction of personal characteristics of each partner and of the couple as a unit

4.     Alienation-refusal to observe, reflect or remember

Qualitative Research in Marketing

Historically, qualitative research in marketing is influenced by social research and has embedded projective devices within the approach of in-depth interview.

The more modern qualitative marketing studies use the grounded theory approach. For example, Flint, Woodruff, and Guardial (2002, as cited in Belk, 2016) studied customers at different levels in US automobile manufacturing.

Thus, by thorough investigation through research, marketing strategies are improved for better return of investment.

Qualitative Research in International Business

Business establishments use methods like participant observation, content analysis focus groups, narrative interviews, and "hidden" methods such as archival research (Marschan, Pekkari & Welch, 2004).

In this manner, business establishments can collect reliable information and come to a decision of improving their ways and processes.