Research Methods in Social Sciences: Qualitative and Content Analysis

This essay provides a comparative analysis of two prominent research methods: qualitative research and content analysis. It begins by defining qualitative research as a method that explores human experiences and perspectives, often utilizing phenomenological studies to understand individual responses to specific situations. The essay contrasts this with content analysis, which focuses on the systematic examination of communication artifacts such as text, images, and videos to identify patterns and meanings. The essay highlights the different approaches each method takes, with qualitative research starting from a grounded theory and content analysis collecting data from various sources, including social media and mobile devices. The conclusion emphasizes the benefits of both methods for understanding complex issues in fields like political science, social work, and communication, underscoring their value in different research contexts.

Running Head: RESEARCH METHODS 0
Research Methods
Individual Assignment
Student Name

Research Methods 1
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Research studies..........................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................3
References...................................................................................................................................................4

Research Methods 2
Introduction
Phenomenological study is a qualitative study for research, which is used to describe
about phenomenon of human beings for a research method. All these are human responses for a
particular situation by their experiences and feelings. All the perspectives are aligning for the
research to getting a better result in this technique (Elo & Kyngäs, 2008).
I will discuss about both research technique in next part on this essay.
Research Methods
Research studies are based on the different fields as well as on the way of thinking about
the problem. In qualitative study, all non-numerical data are used for the research. This is totally
reflected on the future scope of that research field. Qualitative research study is used for small
study and focus on the social and natural sciences. It used scientific methods for gathering non-
numerical data form observation of different things (Neuendorf, 2016). It is based on the human
questions, such as what, who, when, and where. The education researchers, political science, and
social work use it. It used mathematical support for further research on the bases of hypotheses.
It start from grounded theory without using data in big amount, it used phenomenon on the
research. It is mostly used for academic social sciences, such as ethnographic research. Particular
field experts within the limit of that field conduct it. Researchers are used it for critical social
research, for understanding about the people, how they are making communication and develop
symbolic meanings (Lewis, 2015).
Content analysis is related to document and communication artifacts research study and it
is used for large study. It is used different thing for research, such as images, audio, video, and
different text formats. It is having a non-invasive nature and in contrast, it answers on the bases
of the collecting survey data. It accesses all the data relevant to that particular research and it
used meaningful pieces of content. It used that data systematically to analyze meanings of that
data in texts. For analysis, computer systems are used, such as machine learning. It use media
for deeply analyze for particular social issue or different topic. Now a day’s big data technique is
so helpful for the content analysis. Mobile devices and social media are so useful for collecting

Research Methods 3
content about the research. It is used for make inferences about the effects of a communication
(Maxwell, 2008).
Both studies are useful for the analysis but both have different approaches for analysis
based on content. Qualitative study is based on the phenomenon of the social work and it starts
research on that topic based on the basic information. Content analysis is first collect the content
from different sources for research, such as mobile devices, surveys, different documents in
databases of departments (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013).
Conclusion
It is concluded from the previous part of this essay that, both research studies are so
beneficial for research in mass communication based on the content. It is also concluded that,
qualitative research method is used phenomenon and start research without any deep study of the
previous work, but content analysis is first collect the complete data content about the research
through the help of social media and mobile devices.
Finally, it is concluded that both methods are beneficial for finding different ways for
understanding political science, social work and communication.

Research Methods 4
References
Elo, S., & Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of advanced
nursing, 62(1), 107-115.
Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches.
Health promotion practice, 16(4), 473-475.
Maxwell, J. A. (2008). Designing a qualitative study. (Vol. 2). London: The SAGE handbook of
applied social research methods.
Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. H. (2013). Qualitative research: The essential guide to theory and
practice. (Vol. 2). London: Routledge.