- What is the qualitative method?
- Qualitative method characteristics
- Qualitative method examples
- Quantitative method
We explain what the qualitative method is, what aspects it focuses on, its characteristics and examples. In addition, the quantitative method.
What is the qualitative method?
When we talk about qualitative methods, qualitative research or qualitative methodology, we refer to the type of procedures for the collection of information more employees in social Sciences.
These are linguistic-semiotic-based methods. Employ techniques other than the survey and experiment, such as open interviews, focus groups, or observation competitor.
Every qualitative method aspires to collect the speeches complete on a specific topic, and then proceed to its interpretation, thus focusing on the cultural and ideological aspects of the result, instead of the numerical or proportional.
This implies understanding the natural and everyday context of the phenomenon studied. It also considers the meanings attributed to it and the valuations that persons make. In other words, and paraphrasing Taylor and Bogdan, the qualitative method proposes understanding what people think and say.
Qualitative method characteristics
Qualitative research tends to be multimethodic in its approach to the object of study, that is, it tends to apply different methods of obtaining information the same weather. Returns descriptive data: the cultural content of the people, the data observable of what they say, etc.
On the other hand, this type of research does not usually raise a hypothesis a priori, but rather aims to use the logic of induction to answer the questions that motivate the study.
Qualitative method examples
The qualitative method investigates what people close to the phenomenon studied think.Possible examples of the application of the qualitative method are the following forms of research:
- Ethnographic studies. In which it uses participant observation. That is, a scientific description of the researcher's experience in a society Y culture different There are many examples of this in the studies of certain African tribes during the 19th century by European scholars.
- Participatory research.Those in which the researcher interrelates his research with the participation of the investigated subjects, to understand the functioning of a community for your benefit. Examples of this are social work that seeks to propose development models for depressed communities, such as urban neighborhoods or populations marginal.
- Cultural studies Turning to the relevant documentation, the context and other textual sources, many investigations aspire to understand the cultural logic behind specific manifestations, applying a transdisciplinary method. For example, a study of the forms of artistic representation of a conflict social in a country, which throws light about how people feel about it, but don't say.
Quantitative method
Unlike the qualitative method, focused on interpretation and descriptive results, the quantitative method assigns numerical values to the elements of the phenomenon studied, in order to apply statistical or formal techniques to the result. In this way, you get conclusions quantifiable, that is, expressed in mathematical terms.
The opposite type of research from qualitative is considered: quantitative focuses on quantities, while qualitative focuses on qualities, so to speak.