Qualitative Study Review of the Theoretical Studies

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2.2.8 Qualitative Study

We conduct qualitative research because a problem or issue needs to be explored. This exploration is needed due to a need to study a group or population, identify variables that can be measured, or hear silenced voices. Another reason why we conduct qualitative research is because we need a complex, detailed understanding of the issue. Furthermore, Creswell 2007: 40 describes when we want to empower individuals to share their stories, hear their voices, and minimize the power relationship that often exist between a researcher and the participants in a study, a qualitative study is used. When we want to understand the contexts or settings in which participant in a study address a problem or issue, qualitative study is employed, as well. This study is used to develop theories when partial or inadequate theories exist for certain populations and samples or existing theories do not adequately capture the complexity of the problem we are examining. According to Denzin and Lincoln 2005: 3 in Creswell 2007: 36, “Qualitative research is a situated activity that locates the observer in the world. It consists of a set of interpretive, material practices that make the world visible. These practices transform the world. They turn into a series of representations, including fieldnote, interviews, conversation, photographs, recordings, and memos to the self. At this level, qualitative research involves an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in term of the meanings people bring to them. 43 Qualitative study begins with assumption, a worldview, the possible use of theories, and the study of research problem inquiring into the meaning individual or group ascribe to a social or human problem. In studying this problem, the researcher employ a qualitative approach to inquiry, the collection of data under the study, and data analysis that is inductive and establishes patterns. In the end, Creswell 2007: 10 divides the qualitative study into five kinds of research mostly used which consists of narrative research, phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, and case study. There are characteristic common to all forms of qualitative research, and the different characteristics will receive different emphases depending on the qualitative project.

2.3 Theoretical Framework