Goals and Objectives of Qualitative Analysis - Essay Example

 Qualitative analysis involves studying of qualitative data and making of conclusions using statistical methods of approach.. Qualitative data cannot be measured on a natural numerical scale, such as; the quality of grades of students in a class. This type of data may also be classified as ordinal or nominal. Nominal data is that which can be ranked (ordered) while ordinal data cannot be ranked. Goals and objectives: The focus group will be carrying out the qualitative research with the following objectives in mind; i. To establish a particular characteristics in the population. Since they will be studying different qualities in the population, the group will be able to determine a particular characteristic (quality) which will be common in the members of the population. ii. To determine the behaviour (a characteristics that stands out) in the population Through qualitative research, the group will be able to establish the characteristic that stands out among the members of the population hence this may be concluded as the behaviour of the population members. iii. To study the characteristics of the population. Through qualitative research the group hopes to identify different practices in the population thus this will give a picture of the various qualities of the population. NOTE: The characteristics (qualities) could be behaviour, habits, grades, depending on the qualities the group will base their research on., qualitative research will be of great importance to the general public, like to businessman, they can easily learn the preferences of their customers, to politicians, they can learn the expectations of the general public in terms of leadership and sometimes even managers can learn the attitude of their workers towards them. Through the different groups of people learning about what others think, expect and want ,the general public will be able to benefit by having different leaders, like politicians keeping to the expectations of the general public thus better running of public affairs. Also businessmen will keep to the standards that their customers expect among other benefits. METHODS AND TECHNIQUES OF ANALYSIS AND DATA COLLECTION. DATA COLLECTION: The data to be collected is mainly primary data and the group will mainly collect their data through interviews which will be audiotape thus this interviews could be conducted by visiting the sites of the survey or through radio and also through telephone calls. The group is to study the different qualities of the population and they might identify outstanding practices in their study and also learn why the population has to practice certain characteristics in relation to the qualities identified. This research is to be carried out by the focus group in a site of their own choice where they find suitable depending on the qualities they would like to study, in relation to the population of their choice. METHODS OF ANALYSIS Qualitative data can mainly be analyzed by describing data using: i) Numerical methods and ii) Graphical methods. Numerical analysis: The data could be classified into Classes: This is where data in the audiotapes is categorised in relation to the different qualities being studied. (Data is grouped into: Class frequency: The number of observations in the data set falling in a particular class grouped together. Class relative frequency: The class frequency divided by the total number of observations in the data set. Through these descriptions, qualitative data can be analysed in a table such as the one shown below: Behaviour (class) No. of individuals (frequency) Relative frequency (proportion) Kind Rude polite 5 7 10 0.227 0.318 0.455 Totals 22 1.000 Advantages: i. One is able to get an overview of the data clearly in one glance. ii. We can easily determine the number of different individual that full under each quality. iii. The total number of the population of study can be easily determined and also the proportions. iv. They are easy to prepare. Disadvantages; i. Comparisons of the characteristics of interest cannot be easily made. ii. The percentages of the different qualities cannot be easily seen from the data, thus one has to calculate them. iii. This type of analysis leaves more questions unanswered and for one to answer them, they have to follow a long procedure. Graphical analysis: In this method different graphs and charts are used to bring out differences among the characteristics of the qualities of interest to the researchers. These methods include; bar graphs and pie charts, mainly. i) Bar graphs: They show the frequency of the quality of interest against the quality itself. They are drawn such that the height of the rectangle or “har” is equal to the class frequency (sometimes the bar heights can be proportional to class relative frequencies). The bars are usually of the same width, the values in the vertical scale are written on the lines, not in the gaps. The height of each bar represents the frequency for each characteristic and the bars are blocked in to emphasise the differences and are separated by a gap (which is not necessary in every bar chart). Example (illustration) Characteristics of interest Advantages of bar charts: i. They give a clear picture of the differentials in the different characteristics. ii. They are easier to understand as compared to the tables from numerical analysis iii. They are attractive and appealing to study to the eye as compared to the tables. Disadvantages: i. They involve more procedures to prepare than the tables ii. They take more time to prepare iii. They require some skills in preparation which may not be obvious to everyone. iv. Pie chart This is a circle (spanning 3600) and it has pre slices (assigned angles) such that each is proportional to the class relative frequency expressed in degrees. (Angles) Example (illustration) Advantages: i. It is attractive and good impression of the data to the eye. ii. It gives a good picture of the comparisons for the different qualities. Disadvantages: i. It is more complex and requires more understanding of the data so as to draw conclusions. ii. More complicated to construct as compared to the previous methods. iii. The data may be presented in degrees (angles) or percentages which require conversion in order to have the original proportions for comparisons. Mainly graphical (graphs and pie charts) and numerical analysis are used in analyzing qualitative data. Content analysis. The focus group will be coded according to the different characteristics as the audiotape interviews may reveal. This will aim at discovering and examining trends and patterns in the population interviewed. It will provide the researcher with the necessary empirical basis for monitoring shifts in behaviour .The conversations and interviews audiotape will be used in future studies to show whether the observed behaviour may change with time. The data will be qualitative and it will be drawn from a population size to be determined .The context of the data will be measuring different variables evident in the focus groups. The analysis will strictly be limited to qualitative data audiotape from the focus group. PROJECT WORK PLAN The data collected from the interviews and audio taped should first be analysed using any of the methods discussed above, depending on the interest of the focus group interviews; objectives: The analysis of this data could take a shorter time and could cost less depending on the efficiency, skills, numbers of the analysis and the clearness of the audio taped data to be analysed. The management techniques to be used will include the availability of a channel through which they can listen to the recorded tape (preferably a tape player), writing materials and personnel to listen and record the information in preparation for analysis. REQUIREMENTS FOR EVALUATION: The analysts should clearly present their ideas for easy study by the rest of the people who may need to use the results and for easy study in future. CONCLUSION Through the analysis of qualitative data, the focus group should be able to come up with different conclusions in relation to the objectives so as to determine whether their expectations were true or not and to also come up with new findings from the new things they learn about their population of study through the audio taped information for future use, in other related studies. BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. B. Kuipers. Qualitative reasoning modeling and simulation with incomplete knowledge. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA 1994 2. Britain N. Qualitative interviews in medical research BMS 1995. 3. D.S. Weld, et al Readings in qualitative reasoning about physical systems. Morgan Kautmann, San Mateo, CA, 1990 4. Glaser BG, Strauss AL. The discovery of grounded theory. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine, 1967. 5. JM Morse, editor. Critical issues in qualitative research methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994. 6. Holloway I. Basic concepts for qualitative research. Oxford: Blackwell. 7. Kitzinger, S – Introducing focus groups. BMJ. 1995. 8. M. Kleiber, Z. Kulpa. Computer assisted hybrid reason insimilation and analysis of physical system. CAMES. 1995. 9. Mayl, N. and Pope, C.Riger and qualitative research BMJ 1995. 10. Schwandt TA. Qualitative inquiry: a dictionary of terms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1997. Read More