PSYB01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 11: Qualitative Research, Qualitative Property, Participant Observation
Document Summary
Fundamentals of qualitative research: qualitative methods involve an interpretive, naturalistic approach to the world in which things are studied. Qualitative researchers typically begin their projects seeking not to test preformulated hypotheses but to discover what people think, how they act, and why, in some setting. Only after many observations do qualitative researchers try to develop general principles to account for their observations (cid:173) a focus on previously unstudied processes and unanticipated phenomenon. Previously unstudied attitudes and actions can"t adequately be understood with a structured set of questions or within a highly controlled experiment. So qualitative methods have their greatest appeal when we need to explore new issues, investigate hard to-study groups, or determine the meaning people give to their lives and actions (cid:173) A focus on human subjectivity, on the meanings that participants attach to events and that people give to their lives.
