Overview of Research and Qualitative Research

Generally, the truth of a certain thing is determined by using four main methods, namely method of tenacity, method of authority, a priori method, and method of science.

Method of tenacity is a method used to find truth based on the individual or group in which it is simply true. Method of authority is a method of determining the truth under trusted sources, for instance: God, public sanction, tradition, etc. Besides, the a priori method is a method believing that truth comes from intuition beginning with unconscious knowledge or insight. Method of science is a method of defining truth through a systematic, empirical, and critical investigation. Furthermore, the method of science is considered a reliable method used to do research currently due to the truth of the data gathered scientifically from the combination of experience and reason.

Research is defined as a scientific process or method utilized to obtain, collect, and analyzed information accurately and reliably purposed to enlarge the notion or concept of a certain issue. Research is important to do due to satisfy the curiosity about an issue, discover fresh concepts, contribute to existing knowledge, enhance critical thinking and problem-solving skills as well as broaden the perspective. Nowadays, there are two main types of research regularly used by the researcher, namely qualitative research and quantitative research. Qualitative research is a kind of research used to present a complete and detailed description of certain issues or phenomena while quantitative research is a kind of research used to test a theory or phenomenon and generalize the result to the population. Qualitative research, which types of data is verbal information, has the nature of exploring certain issues resulting in a deep description or understanding of related issues. Meanwhile, quantitative research, in which types of data are numbers, has a nature of testing or confirming concepts and theory as well as conclusive results to mean to be generalized.

Qualitative research is normally used by the researcher who wants to investigate or study the social world and human behavior problems. There are several main characteristics of qualitative research, such as having a natural setting as a source of direct data and the researcher is the main instrument, descriptive-based interpretation, emphasizing the process rather than the results, data analysis is done inductively, emphasizing the meaning (the data behind what is observed), etc. The research questions of qualitative research will be shaped by the dissimilarities between social groups, how and why the issue or phenomena have developed, how opinions and attitudes are formed, why the society behaves the way they do, etc. Compared to quantitative which is more objective, qualitative research is more subjective where the data involves feelings, opinions, and experiences. The research will start with rough ideas turning into the research question and the supporting literature review is developed from the knowledge related to the ideas. Qualitative research has four main types of research design, namely phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory, and case study. Phenomenology is a phenomena-based study where it describes something existing in the world while ethnography is a cultural-based study where it focuses on describing cultures and peoples and need extensive fieldwork. Grounded theory is fresh knowledge or theory development through phenomenon analysis while a case study is a deep analysis of cases in a small number of units.

The data collection of qualitative research is time-consuming to provide the richness of data and deeper knowledge into the problem or issue under the study. The main processes of data collection are determining the sample (sampling), gaining permission to the participant, collecting data through several methods or techniques, recording the data or information, and administering the procedures of data collection with sensitivity to the challenges and ethical issues of gathering information face-to-face or in people’s place. There are two main kinds of qualitative data sampling, namely random sampling where the researcher selects representative individuals randomly to create ‘claims’ and to test ‘theories’ explaining the population, and purposeful sampling where the researcher selects ‘the best’ people or sites that can help and develop a detailed insight. There are several methods of data collection in qualitative research, namely direct interaction where the researcher does one-to-one interaction or interaction with a group, doing interviews, doing observation, focus group discussion, document analysis, and surveys. The research is considered completed after the data is saturated. After the data has been gathered, the data can be analyzed and interpreted qualitatively by doing content analysis or computerized data analysis. The content analysis concerns coding and classifying data where the analysis was done at two levels (what was said and what was meant by response), meanwhile computerized data analysis concerns with analysis assisted by software, such as ATLAS/ti, NVivo, etc. In confirming the validity, there are several primary strategies, namely triangulation; member checking; rich, thick description; avoidance of researcher bias, negative case analysis, prolonged engagement, peer debriefing, and external auditing. In triangulation, the data is ensured or justified, or sustained from different individuals, types of data, methods of data collection in the description, and themes in the qualitative approach. Multiple theories, multiple data, multiple researchers, and multiple methods are the four primary types of triangulation.