Qualitative Research - Essay Example

Qualitative research refers to a wide range of research that relies on unstructured data and non-numerical forms of data analysis. Data used in qualitative research may come in the form of field noted that from a researcher's observation, video recordings, interviews or audios recorded in the area of study. Furthermore, a researcher may use interviews or documents from people who had done research or material artefacts related to the investigation. Qualitative research is mostly used in academic fields in subjects such as health science, social sciences and criminology. However, researchers are using it in market researches to describe human-computer interactions. Excellent qualitative research has to fully utilize all the data available in the field of study to produce comprehensive results that can be scientifically proven. In modern organizations, managers have used qualitative research method to determine the human interactions and levels of productivity of the employees. One of the most critical aspects of modern companies is the training of employees through development courses to improve their skills in the workplace. Through qualitative research, managers can determine the levels of success of these projects by interviewing the employees. From this data, its managers can formulate new plans depending on the results from the qualitative research.

In layman's language, qualitative research tries to answer the question "why" not "what". The three main areas of focus I qualitative research are communication, individuals or community cultures. Before conducting qualitative research, one needs to understand the pro and cons of this research. Firstly, qualitative research provided content that is applicable in practical life situations. In the modern world, one of the significant challenges to efficient communication between people is authenticity. Understanding people's perspectives on how they define themselves and other people in society and choices that influence decision making. Qualitative research shows how people structured; hence content from the study can be put into practical application. Secondly, qualitative research uses small data samples, producing accurate results as compared to other forms of research. This makes it easier for social scientists to come up with quick general answers that can be applied to the general population. Furthermore, qualitative research provides an insight into specific matters in society since human beings are complicated structures. Since people make decisions according to their comfort and convenience, the small details such as non-verbal communications assist researchers in understanding humans better.

Certainly, qualitative research eliminates any form of bias present in data. All human being are prone to notions that may influence their decision making in any situations. Researchers and social scientist are not immune to this. However, qualitative research makes it possible for judgment to be made using actual structures used in making decisions. Indeed, qualitative research uses open-ended questions, making it possible for a researcher to collect additional information from the individual. Unlike other methods of analysis, this process enables researchers to collect additional data that may be useful in the research.

Furthermore, this process can convert human experiences into usable data. Qualitative research turns individual experiences into data that can be used to explain how humans make choices in life. Notably, qualitative research is cheaper as compared to other methods of analysis. Many research groups rely on qualitative research since it's fast, effective and affordable. In this research, few samples are required, and specific questions are asked saving on time and resources. Certainly, qualitative research involves fluid operations that are less rigid as compared to other forms of research. Analysis using this process is flexible to peruse any human aspect that may be of significant relevance to the study been conducted.

Although qualitative research has many advantages, it has also been associated with some disadvantages. Firstly, it consumes a lot of time to collect data point from the research information collected. Sorting out the necessary information from the data collected is time consuming mostly in situations where time is scarce. Furthermore, this process does not provide statistical representations of such as percentages and statistics. Findings from this process cannot be used in a broader population since the data cannot be presented in a statistical form. Notably, this process requires the researcher to have comprehensive information on the research he or she is undertaking. This is disadvantageous since a resea5rcher can waste a lot of time asking irrelevant questions if they don't have accurate information on the research being conducted.

Furthermore, the overdependence on the non-verbal cues leads to inaccurate information since a researcher may have a different understanding of non-verbal communication. Lack of a proper match between the verbal and non-verbal communication may lead to a false conclusion or incomplete results from the research. Indeed, this process requires repetitive research works that may be time-consuming or demanding funds. Since the procedure uses small samples, there is a need for constant reviews to have accurate results that can predict future human activities.

For the qualitative research to be successful, some steps need to follow by the researcher. First, the researcher should adequately identify the problem that needs to be solved. This is done through research on the topic under investigation. The research problem in our case is to understand if the employees are learning through development courses in the company. From the question, the researcher can design the research plan. The second step proper review of the problem under investigation. All necessary data that may be relevant to the subject under investigation should be properly analyzed to provide a foundation on the problem area. In our case study, the methods of training in the company need to understand fully. Also, the researcher has to interview the employees to know if they are gaining any knowledge from training and development courses in the organization. The managers also have to be talked to known how they plan on the future of the training programs.

The third step in conducting qualitative research is clarifying the problem. The data collected from filed samples are sometimes too large to be used for specific research. The data must be analyzed and categorized according to the particular areas they touch on. The information gained from the literature review should help in narrowing down the data to a specific topic—the topic on how staff members are learning from the training institutions in the organization. A researcher may collect a lot of data that needs to be analyzed and narrowed down into a piece of specific information on the topic of research. The fourth step involves the definition of terms and concepts in the study. In the study, some words and phrases are used and may not be familiar to the reader of the report. Also, the terms used may have different definitions in different concepts. By defining the ideas in the study, the study is easily manageable, making it easy for a social scientist to collect data. The fifth step is clearly defining the population targeted by the research.

A research project may focus on park development, marketing efforts, financial status or employee evaluation. The researcher has to single out the population which he or she is collection g data on, to produce expected results. In our study, the target population is the employees undergoing training in development courses in the company. This is the people who should be interviewed by the researcher since they will provide the data needed for the research. After defining the population, the researcher has to develop an instrumentation plan for the project. This is the plan that the researcher will follow to accomplish the research study. Research questions and tools to be used in the research should be clearly stated in the research plan. After developing the project, the researcher needs to collect any data that will be useful in the study. Some of the methods used in collecting data include, questioners and surveys, interviews, observation focused group studies and from records and past documents. Some tools used in data collections include camera and voice recorders, magazine and periodicals, checklists and questioners. Finally, the data needs to be analyzed and presented as a final copy for the readers.

In our cases study, interviews will be the most used methods of data collection. A good interview needs to have questions that will give answers to the case study. Some of the issues in the interview to the employees should include: have you gained any new skill from the training? , what would you improve the conditions in the training programs? , and in your opinion, does the training improved working in the company.