Qualitative Ressearch

ESSAY ON HOW TO DESIGN
A QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROYECT

Embarking on a research project can be not only an exciting and busy journey, but also a state of acquiring new experiences. We as researchers take questions we have been curious about, and then set them out on an adventure to find answers. The purpose of this essay is to help us seeing the purpose of collecting data, ant that the morewe know about a given situation or problem, the better equipped we are to apply this knowledge in our work and lives. In this essay, it will be discussed the definition of qualitative research, what is it for, and the procedures or steps we have to follow when carrying out a qualitative research study. For a better comprehension, the topic about “The pertinence of the curricula of the ModernLanguage major for the graduates of this specialty to successfully incorporate to the demands of the work market” is going to be used as an example.
QUALITATIVE VRS QUANTITATIVE PROCEDURES: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
The first step in any research study is defining your research question. That is, ask yourself, "Specifically, what is it that I want to discover?" Once you have clearly determined yourquestion(s), you can decide what type of procedure will best serve you. Qualitative approaches are used when you want to add richness or thick description to your findings.
Let's say your goal for discovery is "I want to understand more about the parents of my students in order that I may collaborate more effectively with them." You then must ask yourself, "What specifically do I want/need to know?"Perhaps your questions are ones that can be clearly defined and quantified, such as "How old are most parents in my community? What is the education level of parents in my community? Which topics would parents be interested in heating about on Parents Night?" A quantitative approach such as conducting a survey in which participants are asked to respond to a list of brief questions will certainly bemost time-efficient. You also will be able to include more people in your study.
Sometimes, however, you will find that your question is one that requires a deeper level of exploration that would necessitate dialogue with parents. For example, suppose you notice that you have difficulty relating to parents from different cultural groups. You would like to understand more about what theexperience of that cultural group is like in order that you may understand, relate to, and work with parents more effectively. Your questions are likely to be open-ended. You wonder things such as "What is the everyday experience of people in this minority culture? How do members of this culture experience the school environment?" You may not even be quite sure what it is you want to know. You just knowthat you need to know something. A qualitative approach might be in order one in which you spend time with, observe, and ask questions of people in order to understand their cultural patterns.
WHAT DEFINES QUALITATIVE RESEARCH?
Qualitative research is a method of inquiry employed in many different academic disciplines. Qualitative researchers aim to gather an in-depth. The qualitative methodinvestigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. According to Stainback & Stainback (1988), the distinguishing characteristic of qualitative research is that it "calls for the investigator to enter into the lives of the persons being studied as fully and naturally as possible". The goal of this kind of research is to gain an in-depth understanding of human behavior and thereasons that govern such behavior, holistic perspective of groups of people, environments, programs, events, or any phenomenon we want to study by interacting closely with the people we are studying.
STEPS TO TAKE IN QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Here, I briefly outline the fundamental steps that researchers use to conduct a qualitative investigation.
Define Questions of Interest and Concern to You...