INTRODUCTION

Qualitative research makes use of various investigative methods and techniques and can be used in most social science disciplines and in many different types of research. Its applications are constantly being expanded and diversified. The use of information originating from qualitative research has led to the development of software programmes which in turn have made it possible to manage larger and larger data sets. Being able to manage images and sounds has opened many new avenues which are still being explored. Hopefully this will lead to a complexity and depth of analysis not possible before.

Given that many books, manuals and software programmes are available, this guide groups and presents the key elements of these documents and gives the reader an overview of many methods and techniques. For example, the introductory section on MaxQDA will give novice users a chance to try out this qualitative data analysis software.

Comparing two types of research

There are many differences between qualitative and qualitative research. One of the strengths of qualitative research is that is exploratory and flexible. For example, the results of qualitative inquiry using open questions, allows programmers and planners to have information on the characteristics of the study population through the use of pre-determined questions. The methodology is flexible enough to allow researchers to ask different questions in different ways, and to modify the questions and the data collection instruments if the importance of a subject was underestimated at the outset of the research.

The main differences between qualitative and quantitative research are:

Qualitative research

• Can only orient, cannot be extrapolated for the general population;

• Aim: to investigate and study;
• Open-ended questions without pre-determined responses;
• Relatively unstructured discussion;
• Small number of people, large quantity of detailed information;

• Interpretative – how and why?

Quantitative research

• Conclusive, can be extrapolated for the general population;

• Aim: to measure and evaluate;
• Mainly composed of closed questions with pre-determined responses;
• Structured survey;
• Large number of people, limited number of questions;
• Produces numeric data that can be easily aggregated;

• Statistics – what and how much/many?