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Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research.
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| Submitted: Fri Jun 03 2005
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Aqeel Hussain POLI 2001 - Political Thought and Research Methods Stephen Parsons Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research. Qualitative research is about the study of local and small-scale social situations. It seeks to answer 'why' rather than 'how many' questions. Its techniques involve close and sustained encounters with people, such as participant observation, in-depth interviews, 'focus groups' and 'mystery customers' (who test how easy it is to get in touch with the right person and how the user is treated). The researcher investigates people's own perceptions, attitudes and behaviour without re-structuring data by 'imposing' a questionnaire schedule on respondents or using secondary sources. Small purposive samples of tyres of individuals are used rather than the large probability sample typical of quantitative research. Qualitative research emphasises the importance of looking at variables in the natural setting in which they are found. Interaction between variables is important. Qualitative researchers are concerned in their...
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