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Monday, April 20, 2009

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is research generated outside the scaffold of quantitative approach. In qualitative research, data is not analyzed through formulae to generate projections. People from any field can follow their inquiries through qualitative research. The most important aspect of qualitative research is that it obtains deep knowledge of the project involved. Qualitative research is required in almost all sorts of disciplines, including psychology, medicine / nursing, marketing and business. Qualitative research stresses observing the variables in their natural environment. For qualitative research, the interaction between the variables is very important as it details their exact functioning.

The purpose of qualitative research is to comprehend the actions of people, because people’s actions change as their attitudes change. Qualitative research takes the values of people into consideration while carrying out research. Qualitative research prefers to look at the bigger picture as it takes every cause and reason into account before it reaches any conclusion. Thus the data and the result outcomes are in-depth and real. By taking the entire picture into account, qualitative research reaches the most appropriate situational decisions.

The utilization of qualitative research in Psychology is done in order to understand the reasons, causes, and outcomes of several human behaviors. Qualitative research helps you understand the prevalence of certain human behaviors belonging to certain areas or populations. Details of those behaviors are acquired through open-ended questions involved in qualitative research. The direct interviews form an essential part of qualitative research.

In medicine and nursing, qualitative research helps clients make the right decision when they do not have the required amount of information. Qualitative research is also useful in decision making when the existing information is contradictory in nature. Qualitative research is called the consensus method in medicine/nursing and other health services. Qualitative research has two types of consensus methods: the Delphi process and the Nominal group technique. In the Delphi process of qualitative research, the questionnaires are used to collect information and feedback. Thus the feedback acquired through Qualitative research is controlled and not contradicted. The nominal group technique of qualitative research is a kind of group discussion method, through which ideas are sought. In this method of qualitative research, the emphasis is put on the group and not an individual. Thus, this method of qualitative research makes everybody (even passive people) participate in the discussion.

Since qualitative research gives a first hand account of peoples’ perceptions, thoughts, ideas and thinking, qualitative research plays a very important role in the business arena. Whenever a company plans to introduce a new product in the market, it carries out a qualitative research study to understand the needs of the people. Qualitative research helps businessmen realize the requirements of people and enhances the features of their product. Thus, qualitative research also helps them to acquire different sorts of results from different types of places and populations. Such help provided by qualitative research also assists the marketing professionals as it gives them ideas about altering their marketing ideas according to the place and the kind of the consumers.

While doing qualitative research, the researcher should listen to his subjects patiently, record accurately and start writing qualitative research as early as possible. Qualitative research is extremely beneficial as it provides results that people can understand and relate to.

For information on qualitative dissertation consulting, click here.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a kind of research where a researcher from any discipline can inquire about various subject matters. The major goal of qualitative research is to obtain an in-depth understanding of the subject upon which a researcher is working.

Qualitative research in the field of psychology can be used to gain in-depth understanding about certain human behaviors. Qualitative research also helps in understanding the reasons of certain human behaviors and the prevalence of these behaviors. In order to understand certain human behaviors, qualitative research can be conducted by in-depth focus group study, contextual interviews, individual interviews, etc.

Qualitative research is very popular in social sciences like psychology. The reason that qualitative research is very popular is that qualitative research helps in answering many questions—and this is something that quantitative research cannot do. For example, in order to implement certain policies, qualitative research is very useful.

Qualitative research in the field of medicine/nursing can be used in cases where there is a decision making problem due to insufficient information, or due to contradictory information. Consensus methods in medical and health services research are termed as qualitative research. There are basically two types of consensus methods or qualitative research. In this case, they are Delphi Process and the Nominal Group Technique.

Delphi Process in qualitative research is the process that collects and filters knowledge using questionnaires (made by experts), in order to obtain an appropriate and controlled feedback. Qualitative research by controlled feedback means that the feedback obtained is not contradicted.

Nominal Group Technique in qualitative research is the structured variation of small group discussion methods. This method in qualitative research generally involves ideas and views of a group of people, rather than that of an individual. This method in qualitative research generally encourages participation of more passive group members. The basic advantage of this group in qualitative research is that it encourages equal participation of all the group members.

Qualitative research is used extensively in the field of business, especially in market research. Whenever a new company plans to launch a new product, then it performs the pre-launch qualitative research, or a survey based upon the kind of attributes a customer would expect from the product. After launching the product, the company performs post-launch qualitative research, or a survey about the views of the consumers about the new product.

Researchers argue that the qualitative research mentioned above is quite artificial. Thus, more advanced kinds of techniques have been introduced—techniques that are other than qualitative research.

Suppose a company is launching new software and wants to know the market scenario for the product. In this case, the qualitative research involves telephone interviews of people, which in-turn requires the preparation of a questionnaire. The questionnaire involves questions such as the company’s turnover rate, the company’s budget on IT products, etc. Although, the qualitative research involves questions that are very sensitive (like the company’s turnover rate), the response received will depend greatly on the researcher, and how he/she frames the question.

There are various aspects of Qualitative research. The role of group moderators who perform qualitative research is to establish a comfort level with the focus group of participants. The role of facilitators while performing qualitative research is to make the discussion easier for the focus group participants. The role of planners while performing qualitative research is to provide ideas and templates that frame a discussion with focus group participants. The qualitative research consultants are expert professionals on focus groups, individual depth interviews, ethnography, observational research, usability research, idea generation, etc.

The main idea behind the usage and the theory involved in qualitative research is to improve various disciplines of human sciences.

For more information and assistance with qualitative research, click here.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is a kind of research where a researcher from any discipline can inquire about various subject matters. The major goal of qualitative research is to obtain an in-depth understanding of the subject upon which a researcher is working.

Qualitative research in the field of psychology can be used to gain in-depth understanding about certain human behaviors. Qualitative research also helps in understanding the reasons of certain human behaviors and the prevalence of these behaviors. In order to understand certain human behaviors, qualitative research can be conducted by in-depth focus group study, contextual interviews, individual interviews, etc.

Qualitative research is very popular in social sciences like psychology. The reason that qualitative research is very popular is that qualitative research helps in answering many questions—and this is something that quantitative research cannot do. For example, in order to implement certain policies, qualitative research is very useful.

Qualitative research in the field of medical/nursing can be used in cases where there is a decision making problem due to insufficient information, or due to contradictory information. Consensus methods in medical and health services research are termed as qualitative research. There are basically two types of consensus methods or qualitative research. In this case, they are Delphi Process and the Nominal Group Technique.

Delphi Process in qualitative research is the process that collects and filters knowledge using questionnaires (made by experts), in order to obtain an appropriate and controlled feedback. Qualitative research by controlled feedback means that the feedback obtained is not contradicted.

Nominal Group Technique in qualitative research is the structured variation of small group discussion methods. This method in qualitative research generally involves ideas and views of a group of people, rather than that of an individual. This method in qualitative research generally encourages participation of more passive group members. The basic advantage of this group in qualitative research is that it encourages equal participation of all the group members.

Qualitative research is used extensively in the field of business, especially in market research. Whenever a new company plans to launch a new product, then it performs the pre-launch qualitative research, or a survey based upon the kind of attributes a customer would expect from the product. After launching the product, the company performs post-launch qualitative research, or a survey about the views of the consumers about the new product.

Researchers argue that the qualitative research mentioned above is quite artificial. Thus, more advanced kinds of techniques have been introduced—techniques that are other than qualitative research.

Suppose a company is launching new software and wants to know the market scenario for the product. In this case, the qualitative research involves telephone interviews of people, which in-turn requires the preparation of a questionnaire. The questionnaire involves questions such as the company’s turnover rate, the company’s budget on IT products, etc. Although, the qualitative research involves questions that are very sensitive (like the company’s turnover rate), the response received will depend greatly on the researcher, and how he/she frames the question.

There is a nonprofit association called the Qualitative Research Consultants Association that promotes all aspects of qualitative research. Through the Qualitative Research Consultants Association, one can have access to nearly 1000 qualitative research consultants. The qualitative research consultants include group moderators, facilitators, interviewers and planners. These qualitative research consultants are experts and professionals on focus groups, individual in-depth interviews, ethnography, observational research, usability research, idea generation, etc.

There is also an international association for qualitative research that revolves around the practice and study of qualitative research. The aim of this international association for qualitative research is to improve the theory involved in qualitative research and the usage of qualitative research across various disciplines of human sciences.

For help with your qualitative research, click here.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Methodology

Methodology in statistics in the field of psychology can be used for psychological tests, such as IQ tests. For example, if one needs to find out whether or not the students at school A have a higher IQ than the students at school B, one can do that with the help of methodology.

In order to perform this methodology in statistics, questionnaires must be prepared. The questionnaire in this methodology consists of questions based on current affairs, which can help in understanding the general knowledge of a student. Then, a hypothesis must be created in this methodology. Finally a test of significance, such as the t test of significance, must be conducted.

Methodology in the field of medical/ nursing deals within the branch called biostatistics. Biostatistics in methodology involves analyzing public health problems and it furthers biomedical research. The researchers perform clinical trials in this methodology. Since the biomedical data collected in this methodology are excessively large in number, the researchers in this methodology use SAS software to analyze the data. The researchers in this methodology perform clinical trials. Clinical trials in this methodology are conducted to ensure safety and efficacy of data. The methodology involves survival analysis, tests of hypothesis in statistical inference, etc.

Survival analysis methodology helps in knowing that a fraction of a population would have survived in the past at a certain point in time. Mathematically, this methodology can be interpreted as the probability that a person dies at a time ‘T,’ which is much later than the specified time ‘t.’ This methodology is assumed to approach zero as age increases.

The methodology called the test of hypothesis is one of the most relevant methodologies in the field of medical/nursing. In the healthcare sector, researchers perform various clinical trials in order to know the approximate number of dosages being given of a particular drug. If the amount of dosage of a particular drug is not given in a calculated manner, then it can cause Type II errors, which means that the person can die after consuming that drug. Thus, tests of hypothesis methodology help in extracting the type II errors and they thus tell the approximate amount of dosage one must give of a particular drug.

Methodology in the field of business deals with financial modeling, Econometrics, time series modeling, etc. Financial modeling methodology is generally done by the financial analysts. Financial analysts in this methodology generally write the reports, which describe their opinion on the company’s investment potential. In other words, financial analysts in this methodology generally look after the company’s annual report by developing certain models like Discounted Cash Flow model, binomial prizing model, etc.

Time series modeling methodology is generally done by the technical analysts. Technical Analysts in this methodology predict or forecast the price value of a commodity or the sensex. In time series analysis methodology, technical analysts fit various Time Series models, like Auto Regressive Moving Average Model (ARMA), Auto Regressive Integrated Moving Average Model (ARIMA), Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (ARCH) and Generalised Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity (GARCH).

Econometrics methodology is an amalgamation of economics and mathematical statistics. This methodology involves certain statistical models like the regression model, binomial prizing model, etc. The purpose of regression analysis methodology is to create a regression model that helps the researchers analyze the relationship among the variables. This methodology helps in calculating how much the dependent variable will change with the change in an independent variable. This methodology also helps in predicting the values of the dependent variables based on an independent variable.

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