Page "Qualitative psychological research" Paragraph 0

In psychology, qualitative research has come to be defined as research whose findings are not arrived at by statistical or other quantitative procedures.

Qualitative research is often said to be naturalistic.

That is, its goal is to understand behaviour in a natural setting.

Two other goals attributed to qualitative research are understanding a phenomenon from the perspective of the research participant and understanding the meanings people give to their experience.

It attempts to do this by using so-called naturalistic methods — interviewing, observation, ethnography, participant observation and focus groups.

Each of these methods seeks to understand the perspective of the research participant within the context of their everyday life.

This means that the researcher is concerned with asking broad questions that allow the respondent to answer in their own words.

These methods allow the researcher to try to qualify their understanding during the research process through further probing questions.

In addition, a method such as observation allows the researcher to observe people within natural settings — particularly those in public places.

This has resulted in greater understanding of people's behaviours in, for example, lifts, public transport, and queues.