Qualitative Research Report on Understanding Qualitative Research Methods and Field Work Methods

This report discusses qualitative research methods and fieldwork methods, the qualitative research paradigm, ethical considerations, and a research topic and mind map. It emphasizes the importance of respect for human rights, diversity and equality, social responsibility, and integrity in qualitative research. The research topic focuses on the social role of religion in the lives of people, specifically the Catholic religion in Dublin, Ireland. The report is relevant to social sciences, education, and political science researchers.

Running Head: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH REPORT
Qualitative Research Report
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Table of Contents
1. Understanding Qualitative Research Methods and Field Work Methods..........................2
2. The Qualitative Research Paradigm...................................................................................3
3. Three Ethical Considerations Important to Qualitative Research......................................4
4. Research Topic and Mind Map...........................................................................................5
References and Bibliography.....................................................................................................7

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1. Understanding Qualitative Research Methods and Field Work
Methods
As argued by Becker (1996: 55), qualitative research methods simply allude to the
scientific manner of observing non-numerical data. Such research refers to definitions,
concepts, meanings, metaphors, descriptions of things and symbols. Qualitative research
does not measure or count data and in this sense it differs entirely from quantitative
research. In the view of Zina O’leary (2004), qualitative research is deployed by scientists
in a wide range of disciplines but particularly in those that have a sociological focus.
What qualitative research is essentially known to concentrate on are the human elements
in natural sciences and social sciences. Apart from academic contexts, qualitative
research methods are also made use of in fields such as journalism, non-profit service
demonstrations, in business and in qualitative market research. Also as argued by Zina
O’Leary (2004), qualitative research projects tend to vary in nature depending on
disciplinary backgrounds. It is used extensively by education, social science and political
science researchers.
Fieldwork methods are methods that are deployed to carry out extensive field research
for a wide range of academic disciplines but particularly those that have a humanities or
social science focus. Field research is comprised of a number of variable but well defined
methods such as focus group discussions, in depth personal interviews, participant
observation, collective discussions, direct observation and self analysis and analysis of
documents that are personal in nature. Field research methods are those that fall within the
purview of qualitative research and the results of such research methods are those that can be
fully relied on. Field research methods are conducted in open air and involve a great deal of
exertion on the mind and on the body. While the results that are generated from such research

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methods can indeed be trusted, field research results also tend to be quite subjective in nature
and varies from one discipline to another.
2. The Qualitative Research Paradigm
In the view of Marvasti (2004), the paradigm that is most commonly associated with
qualitative research is the paradigm of inquiry. This is because qualitative research methods
are those that tend to ask the most questions. Questionnaires form a common feature of
qualitative research methods as these do the quantitative research methods. Other well-known
aspects of qualitative research such as focus group discussions and in depth personal
interviews are those that ask a lot of questions as well in the course of being implemented. It
is mandatory for qualitative researchers to ask at least ten to fifteen questions as a part of
focus group discussions and several more questions are asked when the in depth personal
interviews are in progress. According to Lindloff and Taylor (2017), the whole purpose of
qualitative research is to make use of the paradigm of inquiry to uncover the root causes of
social science problems. Qualitative research begins with the presumption that there is a
problem to be solved, usually a problem that has a political science, sociological or
pedagogical focus (Graham 2015: 335). This problem is then identified using the paradigm of
inquiry and possible answers or solutions to the problem are also uncovered with the help of
the inquiry paradigm. Since qualitative research makes use of the inquiry paradigm to
uncover answers to research questions, this is a mode of research that is regarded by scientific
researchers around the world to be a hundred percent authentic. In the view of Silverman
(2016), qualitative research begins by asking questions and while it concludes with possible
answers to these questions, it poses yet another set of questions again, which are to be
pondered on and later researched on. The paradigm of inquiry therefore forms an integral

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feature of qualitative research. It is not possible to carry out qualitative research without
adopting a scientific method of inquiry,
3. Three Ethical Considerations Important to Qualitative Research
According to the Ethical Guidelines of the Sociological Association of Ireland, three
ethical considerations that are important to qualitative research are respect for human rights,
diversity and equality, social responsibility and integrity. Integrity is especially important for
a researcher to have when carrying out qualitative research largely because of the fact that the
results of such research methods cannot be quantified or proven scientifically with the help of
numbers. The Ethical Policy Research Guidelines of Maynooth University states that the
results of qualitative research are entirely subjective in nature and much of the analysis of this
research depends on understanding and perceiving what people have to say, what personal
reflections reveal about a particular subject matter etc. As per the Ethical Guidelines of the
Sociological Association of Ireland, respect for human rights, equality and diversity is also
exceedingly important for qualitative research because of the fact that qualitative research is
primarily sociological in focus and is carried out on human beings. The rights and the dignity
of human beings must be respected by researchers at all times at the time of posing questions
or when conducting detailed interviews. As stated in the Ethical Guidelines of the
Sociological Association of Ireland, researchers need to take care not to ask interviewees
questions that are likely to make them feel very uncomfortable. Rather, researchers need to
take care to be as ethical in their approach to research as possible and take permission from
those who they are about to interview before they actually go ahead with the interview
process. Finally, social responsibility forms an important feature of qualitative research.
While qualitative researchers need to primarily concern themselves with academic
investigations and the proper and accurate dissemination of knowledge, they also need to

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protect and look into the safety and wellbeing of those who they interview. All the
information or data that is revealed in the course of focus group discussions and in depth
personal interviews must be kept fully confidential by qualitative researchers at all times.
4. Research Topic and Mind Map
1. The major research question that will be addressed in the research is:
 What social roles does religion play in the lives of the people?
2. The sub- questions that might be derived from the major research question are:
 What is the impact of catholic religion in the lives of people in Dublin?
 How does the catholic religion influence social affairs, social communication and
social work in Ireland?
The research that will be undertaken will focus on the social role that religion has to
play in the lives of people. The research will specifically look at the Catholic religion, which
is the dominant religion in the county of Ireland and assess the impact that this religion has
on influencing social affairs, social communication and social work undertaken in Ireland.
Two of the major sub-topics of this research will be the impact that Catholic religion has on
the lives of men and women. This is reflected in the mind-map drawn below.
The research will concentrate on the capital city of Dublin and the sample research
population will comprise of women and men belonging to the age group between twenty and
fifty. The research will conclude that Catholic religion has a crucial role to play in guiding
the social lives of the people of Ireland and in Dublin in particular, with the majority of the
population living here being God fearing or believers.

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Religion on Irish
society
Impact on social
institutions
Impact on men Impact on women
Conjugal lifeDivorce Belief
Marriage Decision making Increase in teen-age pregnancy Conservatism

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References and Bibliography
Becker, Howard., 1996, “The epistemology of qualitative research”. Ethnography and human
development: Context and meaning in social inquiry, 27: 53-71.
Bernard, Russell, 2017. Research methods in anthropology: Qualitative and quantitative
approaches. Rowman & Littlefield
Glesne, Corrine., 2015. Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction. Pearson
Graham, Anne, 2015. “Ethical research involving children: Encouraging reflexive
engagement in research with children and young people”. Children & Society, 29(5):
331-343.
Lewis, Sarah., 2015. “Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five
approaches”. Health promotion practice, 16(4): 473-475.
Lindlof, Thomas. and Taylor, Bryan., 2017. Qualitative communication research methods.
Sage publications.
Makhoul, Jihad., Chehab, Rana., Shaito, Zahraa. and Sibai, Abla., 2018. “A scoping review
of reporting ‘Ethical Research Practices’ in research conducted among refugees and
war-affected populations in the Arab world”. BMC medical ethics, 19(1): 36.
Marvasti, Amir., 2004. Qualitative research in sociology. Sage.
McNabb, David., 2015. Research methods for political science: Quantitative and qualitative
methods. Routledge
O'leary, Zina., 2004. The essential guide to doing research. Sage
Silverman, David. ed., 2016. Qualitative research. Sage.

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Smith, Jonathan. ed., 2015. Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods.
Sage.
Taylor, Steven., Bogdan, Robert. and DeVault, Marjorie, 2015. Introduction to qualitative
research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons