Advantages & Disadvantages of Qualitative Methods

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Advantages & Disadvantages of Qualitative Methods

Advantages

  • It is better at explaining WHY things happen than quantitative, which often just states WHAT happens.
  • The research takes place in a natural setting so participants will feel relaxed and comfortable to offer additional information, support and feedback.
  • Lots of data is produced and it is rich in detail.
  • It is more appropriate for studying hard to reach groups who would not respond to quantitative methods.
  • It provides an insight into people's personal experiences and produces verstehen in the researcher.

Disadvantages

  • It may not be generalisable or representative as opportunity or non-probability samples are used. These samples are often small.
  • It is time consuming to collect the data but also to analyse it and draw conclusions as it is not quantitative.
  • Researcher bias could have an affect on the findings and conclusions, so the data would not be objective.
  • Many scientific researchers do not consider interpretivism (using qualitative methods) as a valid way of researching society.
  • The researcher must have good social skills, as trust and rapport needs to be established with participants.

Evaluation

Qualitative methods are useful in collecting a large amount of data rich in detail and getting an insight into the lives of people in possibly hard to reach groups. However the data collected may be not objective, representative or generalisable and it is time consuming to produce.

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