Qualitative research (Essay Sample)

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Qualitative research is the field of inquiring data which aims to gather the in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons behind such behavior. It investigates the how, why, what and where of decision making while quantitative research refers to the systematic investigation of social phenomena through mathematical or statistical techniques. It develops mathematical models and formulates theories and employs the same to get the end results (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2010). In comparison of quantitative and qualitative research, there is the restriction of qualitative research to a small group of subjects but goes into details while quantitative research does not go into details or study large group of subjects. The number of participants that are in qualitative research is much less than that of quantitative research, and this means that the time spent in qualitative research is much less than that of quantitative due to the few subjects (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2010).
The research results from qualitative method are more likely to be biased as the method of research is open to different interpretation unlike results from quantitative. Quantitative research usually tests hypotheses that the researcher generates while qualitative research usually discovers and encapsulates meaning once the researcher immerses the data (McBurney& White, 2010). Exploratory research design is a form of research that determines the nature of the problem and tries to provide conclusive evidence that is why it relies so much on a qualitative approach since the approach does gather information in depth from individuals such as employees (Panneerselvam, 2004).
Causal research design, explores the effect of one thing on another by measuring the impact change will have on existing norms and the result, and this makes it rely on quantitative research since quantitative research focuses in investigating the relationship between the phenomenon and quantitative properties (Panneerselvam, 2004). There are three basic orientations of qualitative research namely phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory and case studies (Creswell, 2003). The most appropriate orientation for conducting a confirmatory research is case studies. This is because case studies do describe the events of the company, and this can be used to confirm for instance confirm on any decisions made earlier by the company.
There are different types of exploratory research and each can be used in different situations. In a situation where a manager suggests developing a non-tobacco cigarette, one would opt to use need assessment where the manager can get an opinion from the survey whereby the subjects assess the quality of the cigarettes. In a situation where one has to evaluate potential names for corporate, one would prefer to use focus groups whereby there is sharing of several opinions and in this case they can share opinions about the name. In a situation where the manager has to determine the most notable benefits ofemployee health plan, he could prefer...