Qualitative+Research

Bogdan and Biklen (2007) give five characteristics of qualitative research:

1. Naturalistic - "Qualitative research has actual settings as the direct source of data and the researcher is the key instrument" (p. 4). 2. Descriptive Data - It is descriptive, with data being words or pictures instead of numbers. 3. Concern with Process - "Qualitative researchers are concerned with process rather than simply with outcomes or products" (p. 6). 4. Inductive - Theory is grounded in the data. It "emerges from the bottom up (rather than from the top down), from many disparate pieces of collected evidence that are interconnected" (p. 6). 5. Meaning - "Researchers who use this approach are interested in how different people make sense of their lives" (p. 7).

Some qualitative research traditions include: ethnography, phenomenology, case study, and grounded theory.

Bogdan, R. C., & Biklen, S. K. (2007). //Qualitative research for education: An introduction to theories and methods.// Boston: Pearson.