ALHL 3301: Research Methods for Health Sciences

Qualitative research is research that seeks to provide understanding of human experience, perceptions, motivations, intentions, and behaviors based on description and observation, utilizing a naturalistic interpretative approach to a subject and its contextual setting. Observations in qualitative research are described in words.

Qualitative research starts with a situation the researcher can observe. One of the goals of qualitative research design is that participants are comfortable with the researcher and can be honest and forthcoming, allowing the researcher to make robust observations. Some examples of qualitative research methods include open-ended interviews, focus groups, and participant observation.

Adapted from Finding Quantitative or Qualitative Nursing Research Articles (Simmons University)

The following are the most common types of qualitative research methods:

Case Study - Describes in-depth the experience of one person, family, group, community, or institution. Data is collected through direct observation and interaction with the subject.

Ethnography - Describes a culture's characteristics. The researcher identifies the culture, variables, and review literature, then collects data through immersion into the culture, informants, direct observation, and interaction with subjects.

Grounded Theory - The purpose of this research is theory development. Grounded theory is used in discovering what problems exist in a social scene and how persons handle them. It involves formulation, testing, and redevelopment of propositions until a theory is developed. Data is collected through interview, observation, record review, or a combination.

Historical Research - Used to describe and examine events of the past to understand the present and anticipate potential future effects. An idea is formulated after reading related literature, followed by the development of a research question and an inventory of sources. The researcher clarifies the validity and reliability of data from primary sources, then develops a research outline and collects data.

Phenomenology - Describes experiences as they are lived. The researcher examines the uniqueness of individuals' lived situations and develops research questions from these observations. There is no clearly defined method of data collection to avoid limiting the creativity of the researcher.

Adapted from Qualitative Research Designs

An Introduction to Qualitative Research (1 hour, 20 mins)
From Academic Videos Online, this video presented by Jaime Dyce covers six areas: an introduction to qualitative research, qualitative data collection, qualitative data analysis, qualitative research in action, writing a qualitative research report, and ethics.

Fundamentals of Qualitative Research Methods: What is Qualitative Research? (YouTube)
Qualitative research is a strategy for systematic collection, organization, and interpretation of phenomena that are difficulty to measure quantitatively. Dr. Leslie Curry from Yale University leads us through six modules covering essential topics in qualitative research, including what is qualitative research and how to use the most common methods, in-depth interviews and focus groups.