Qualitative Research Methods in Social Science

This essay explores the effectiveness of qualitative research methods in social science, including case studies, interviews, and thematic analysis. It examines the advantages of qualitative research and the ethical considerations involved.

Explain qualitative research
methods in the social science
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Table of Contents
ESSAY PLAN ................................................................................................................................3
ESSAY ............................................................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................4
LITERATURE REVIEW ...........................................................................................................4
METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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ESSAY PLAN
The current essay is based on the topic of qualitative research methods in the social science.
Qualitative research is essential in gathering of detailed information about the topic. There are
various methods that helps in gathering qualitative data such as case study, interview etc.
Interview is useful in gathering information from the respondents. Along with this, case study is
useful is gathering secondary information from various sources i.e. articles, journals, magazines
and many more. All these are main sources and facilitate investigator in accomplishment of
research aim.
Aim: Main aim of this research is to identify the effectiveness of qualitative research
methods in social science.
Objectives:
 To identify the qualitative research methods.
 To examine the advantages of qualitative research in social science.
Along with this, thematic analysis is an analytical technique that is used for evaluating
qualitative data. This is an effective and essential technique because it not requires maximum
time and helps in completing full project in successful manner. There are different ethics i.e.
informed consent, confidentiality of the research participants, minimising the risk of harm etc.
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ESSAY
INTRODUCTION
Qualitative research is a type of research that is used for collecting accurate information
from participation observation, case study, interview and many others. Qualitative research helps
in gathering and evaluating non-numerical or in-depth information about any topic or subject.
There are various methods of collection qualitative data such as surveys, group discussion,
observation and interviews (Basias and Pollalis, 2018). Social science is the branch of the
science dedicated of the study of societies as well as the relationship among person in those
societies. Therefore, qualitative research methods are useful in social science because it assists in
identifying the requirements of students (Hennink, Hutter and Bailey, 2020). The present essay is
based on the qualitative research methods in social science. For conducting research over this
topic, there are certain activities that will be used for completing this essay. These are literature
review, methodology, findings etc.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review introduces to the process of gathering secondary data regarding any topic
or subject. There are various sources that are effective in gathering of secondary and qualitative
data about the social science. These are books, articles, magazines, journals and many others.
According to the, qualitative research is important in gathering in-depth information regarding
the social science because it does not consume maximum time and cost (Myers, 2019). Social
sciences is defined as study of human being in the changing cultural and social context. Cultural
and social contexts confront serious political, economic, ecological, social and other issues,
which call for intelligent, methodological researching about their reasons and also for searching
out their solutions. As issues are linked to human beings who are undependable and
unpredictable in behaviour, consequently different methods are considered for having clear
understanding and resolving the issues and finding out the situation of truth. For resolving
different problems related to society and satisfying the thirst of knowledge social science
research is important and for the successful conduct of a great social research it is necessary to
select a balanced method of social research (Lanka and et. al., 2020). Performing activities that
assists in comprehending human cultural, social, political and other behaviours that are
qualitative and intangible are the ingredients of studies of social science which are generally
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qualitative and therefore social investigators are the observers who gather factual empirical data
about different individuals by listening, interpreting and watching what others are performing.
Qualitative researches in social sciences are generally discovery oriented in nature which is
generally based upon procedure of trial and error for solving challenge like unclear objective
with incremental exploration and by using a familiar specifications to factors that are unknown.
People's outlooks, interpretations and know-how of the situations qualitative data is differently
extracted from the mind and heart of the people. Qualitative researcher seeks answers to all their
pre-defined questions in the real world. They collect what they see, realize, read and hear from
the places and people and from activities and events and the main motive are to learn about
different aspects of social world and find new understanding that could be considered by the
social world (Leavy, 2020).
METHODOLOGY
Qualitative research is defined as process of gathering, analysing and evaluating non-
numeric information such as audio, video or text) for understanding opinions, experiences and
concepts. It could be used for collecting in-depth facts into a issue or problem or generating new
ideas for research. Qualitative research is referred as process that is just opposite of quantitative
research because it involves gathering and analysing number information for statistical analysis.
Qualitative research is generally considered in the social sciences and humanities, in subjects like
sociology, education, anthropology, history, health sciences etc. Qualitative research is
commonly used for understanding how people are experiencing the world. There are different
types of approaches that are available to qualitative research, they tend to be focus and flexible
for retaining qualitative meaning when information is interpreted (Thomas and Bellingham,
2020). The major common approaches of qualitative research include grounded theory, action
research, phenomenological research, narrative research and ethnography. Every approach of the
qualitative research includes multiple methods of data collection like interviews, observations,
survey, focus group, secondary research etc. Qualitative research in Social sciences helps in
interpreting life-ways of people and culture rather than gathering explanations done on casual
basis for cultural practices. Grounded theory is one of the four qualitative designs generally
considered in the social and human sciences the other designs may include: phenomenological
studies, ethnographic and case studies. The main difference between grounded theory and
another designs are the stress on the development of theory (Thorne, 2020).
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Grounded theory has the notion that theory could be materialised by qualitative
information analysis. In the grounded theory the investigator considers various stages of
collecting, categorising and refining the information. By continuous comparisons and using
theoretical sampling are essential strategies considered for the development of grounded theory.
Closely related to grounded theory, the continuous comparative method is considered for
developing concepts from the information through analysing and coding at the same time. The
method of constant comparative combines systematic analysis, coding and data collection with
theoretical sampling with the motive of generating theory that is close to the information,
integrated and expresses in a way clear enough for the further usage. The constant comparative
methodology starts four stages: comparing incidents that are applicable to every category,
integrating properties and categories, theory delimiting and theory writing (Vindrola-Padros and
et. al., 2020).
Principles of ethics are used for guiding the research in addressing the starting and
ongoing problems arising from research of qualitative in relation to attain the objectives of the
research as well as for maintaining research respondent's rights. The qualitative research is
conducted without disturbing the privacy of selecting participants for gathering information. The
researcher is also responsible for using sources that are used for publicly for gathering data
(Walsh and et. al., 2020).
Therefore, qualitative research is referred as hall mark of social science research.
Revolution of media has revolutionised research of social science. Reading and hearing from the
people and events, activities and place are altering. Their learning especially about the social
world to generate new understandings that could be used by social world under modifications.
The importance of grounded theory remains essential that clearly holds the notion that theory can
materialise by data analysis of qualitative.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Basias, N. and Pollalis, Y., 2018. Quantitative and qualitative research in business & technology:
Justifying a suitable research methodology. Review of Integrative Business and
Economics Research. 7. pp.91-105.
Hennink, M., Hutter, I. and Bailey, A., 2020. Qualitative research methods. Sage.
Lanka, E. and et. al., 2020. Why we need qualitative research in management studies.
Leavy, P., 2020. introduction to the oxford handbook of qualitative research. The Oxford
Handbook of Qualitative Research, p.1.
Myers, M. D., 2019. Qualitative research in business and management. Sage.
Thomas, M. K. and Bellingham, R. eds., 2020. Post-qualitative research and innovative
methodologies. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Thorne, S., 2020. The great saturation debate: what the “S word” means and doesn’t mean in
qualitative research reporting.
Vindrola-Padros, C. and et. al., 2020. Carrying out rapid qualitative research during a pandemic:
emerging lessons from COVID-19. Qualitative health research. 30(14). pp.2192-2204.
Walsh, S. and et. al., 2020. Adherence to COREQ reporting guidelines for qualitative research: A
scientometric study in nursing social science. International Journal of Qualitative
Methods. 19. p.1609406920982145.
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