Qualitative research encompasses a family of methods, which have their origin in ethnography, grounded theory, narrative analysis, phenomenology, etc. These methods originated from the so-called ‘donor’ disciplines of anthropology, sociology, philosophy and linguistics, and were later embraced by ‘recipient’ disciplines such as psychology, education, health and nursing.
Qualitative research methods have the ability to reach areas of inquiry inaccessible to other methods. Qualitative methods attempt to understand complexities of human behaviour from the participants’ own frame of reference in a naturalistic setting (rather than in an experimental setting), the aim being to study a range of phenomena such as feelings, thoughts, human interactions and similar processes; for example, why certain interventions found to be efficacious during randomised controlled trial (RCT) are often difficult to apply in real life and become ineffective. Qualitative methods are the most appropriate to study such phenomena.
What makes qualitative methods fundamentally different from quantitative research methods? Qualitative research seeks to answer “what”, “why”, and “how” rather than “how often” or “how many”. The prime goal is not to enumerate, as is usually done in quantitative research. The RCT, with its focus on hypothesis testing through experiment controlled by means of randomisation, can be regarded as the epitome of the quantitative method. Quantitative research begins with an idea (usually articulated as a hypothesis), which through measurement, generates data and by deduction, allows a conclusion to be drawn. Qualitative research, in contrast, begins with an intention to explore a particular area, collects “data” and generates ideas and hypotheses from these data largely through what is known as inductive reasoning.