Qualitative Research Methods
As argued by Becker (1996: 55), qualitative research methods simply allude to the scientific manner of observing non-numerical data. Such research refers to definitions, concepts, meanings, metaphors, descriptions of things and symbols. Qualitative research does not measure or count data and in this sense it differs entirely from quantitative research. In the view of Zina O’leary (2004), qualitative research is deployed by scientists in a wide range of disciplines but particularly in those that have a sociological focus. What qualitative research is essentially known to concentrate on are the human elements in natural sciences and social sciences. Apart from academic contexts, qualitative research methods are also made use of in fields such as journalism, non-profit service demonstrations, in business and in qualitative market research. Also as argued by Zina O’Leary (2004), qualitative research projects tend to vary in nature depending on disciplinary backgrounds. It is used extensively by education, social science and political science researchers.
Fieldwork methods are methods that are deployed to carry out extensive field research for a wide range of academic disciplines but particularly those that have a humanities or social science focus. Field research is comprised of a number of variable but well defined methods such as focus group discussions, in depth personal interviews, participant observation, collective discussions, direct observation and self analysis and analysis of documents that are personal in nature. Field research methods are those that fall within the purview of qualitative research and the results of such research methods are those that can be fully relied on. Field research methods are conducted in open air and involve a great deal of exertion on the mind and on the body. While the results that are generated from such research methods can indeed be trusted, field research results also tend to be quite subjective in nature and varies from one discipline to another.
In the view of Marvasti (2004), the paradigm that is most commonly associated with qualitative research is the paradigm of inquiry. This is because qualitative research methods are those that tend to ask the most questions. Questionnaires form a common feature of qualitative research methods as these do the quantitative research methods. Other well-known aspects of qualitative research such as focus group discussions and in depth personal interviews are those that ask a lot of questions as well in the course of being implemented. It is mandatory for qualitative researchers to ask at least ten to fifteen questions as a part of focus group discussions and several more questions are asked when the in depth personal interviews are in progress. According to Lindloff and Taylor (2017), the whole purpose of qualitative research is to make use of the paradigm of inquiry to uncover the root causes of social science problems. Qualitative research begins with the presumption that there is a problem to be solved, usually a problem that has a political science, sociological or pedagogical focus (Graham 2015: 335). This problem is then identified using the paradigm of inquiry and possible answers or solutions to the problem are also uncovered with the help of the inquiry paradigm. Since qualitative research makes use of the inquiry paradigm to uncover answers to research questions, this is a mode of research that is regarded by scientific researchers around the world to be a hundred percent authentic. In the view of Silverman (2016), qualitative research begins by asking questions and while it concludes with possible answers to these questions, it poses yet another set of questions again, which are to be pondered on and later researched on. The paradigm of inquiry therefore forms an integral feature of qualitative research. It is not possible to carry out qualitative research without adopting a scientific method of inquiry,
Fieldwork Methods
According to the Ethical Guidelines of the Sociological Association of Ireland, three ethical considerations that are important to qualitative research are respect for human rights, diversity and equality, social responsibility and integrity. Integrity is especially important for a researcher to have when carrying out qualitative research largely because of the fact that the results of such research methods cannot be quantified or proven scientifically with the help of numbers. The Ethical Policy Research Guidelines of Maynooth University states that the results of qualitative research are entirely subjective in nature and much of the analysis of this research depends on understanding and perceiving what people have to say, what personal reflections reveal about a particular subject matter etc. As per the Ethical Guidelines of the Sociological Association of Ireland, respect for human rights, equality and diversity is also exceedingly important for qualitative research because of the fact that qualitative research is primarily sociological in focus and is carried out on human beings. The rights and the dignity of human beings must be respected by researchers at all times at the time of posing questions or when conducting detailed interviews. As stated in the Ethical Guidelines of the Sociological Association of Ireland, researchers need to take care not to ask interviewees questions that are likely to make them feel very uncomfortable. Rather, researchers need to take care to be as ethical in their approach to research as possible and take permission from those who they are about to interview before they actually go ahead with the interview process. Finally, social responsibility forms an important feature of qualitative research. While qualitative researchers need to primarily concern themselves with academic investigations and the proper and accurate dissemination of knowledge, they also need to protect and look into the safety and wellbeing of those who they interview. All the information or data that is revealed in the course of focus group discussions and in depth personal interviews must be kept fully confidential by qualitative researchers at all times.
- The major research question that will be addressed in the research is:
What social roles does religion play in the lives of the people?
- The sub- questions that might be derived from the major research question are:
What is the impact of catholic religion in the lives of people in Dublin?
How does the catholic religion influence social affairs, social communication and social work in Ireland?
The research that will be undertaken will focus on the social role that religion has to play in the lives of people. The research will specifically look at the Catholic religion, which is the dominant religion in the county of Ireland and assess the impact that this religion has on influencing social affairs, social communication and social work undertaken in Ireland. Two of the major sub-topics of this research will be the impact that Catholic religion has on the lives of men and women. This is reflected in the mind-map drawn below.
The research will concentrate on the capital city of Dublin and the sample research population will comprise of women and men belonging to the age group between twenty and fifty. The research will conclude that Catholic religion has a crucial role to play in guiding the social lives of the people of Ireland and in Dublin in particular, with the majority of the population living here being God fearing or believers.
References
Becker, Howard., 1996, “The epistemology of qualitative research”. Ethnography and human development: Context and meaning in social inquiry, 27: 53-71.
Bernard, Russell, 2017. Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Rowman & Littlefield
Glesne, Corrine., 2015. Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction. Pearson
Graham, Anne, 2015. “Ethical research involving children: Encouraging reflexive engagement in research with children and young people”. Children & Society, 29(5): 331-343.
Lewis, Sarah., 2015. “Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches”. Health promotion practice, 16(4): 473-475.
Lindlof, Thomas. and Taylor, Bryan., 2017. Qualitative communication research methods. Sage publications.
Makhoul, Jihad., Chehab, Rana., Shaito, Zahraa. and Sibai, Abla., 2018. “A scoping review of reporting ‘Ethical Research Practices’ in research conducted among refugees and war-affected populations in the Arab world”. BMC medical ethics, 19(1): 36.
Marvasti, Amir., 2004. Qualitative research in sociology. Sage.
McNabb, David., 2015. Research methods for political science: Quantitative and qualitative methods. Routledge
O’leary, Zina., 2004. The essential guide to doing research. Sage
Silverman, David. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.
Smith, Jonathan. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.
Taylor, Steven., Bogdan, Robert. and DeVault, Marjorie, 2015. Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons
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