Qualitative research methods in educational leadership studies

¶ … Educational Leadership

Qualitative research is an assortment of various approaches, which have differences and commonalities. In qualitative research, the truth is not considered as an objective but as a subjective reality where various individuals experience differently. The aim of qualitative research is to address any of the problems found in the society. Psychology, education, and sociology are the subjects in which qualitative research methods are used. Qualitative research methods attempt to know why human beings exhibit specific behaviors and make certain choices unlike in the quantitative research method where such details are not shown (Lewis, 2015). The contents of a research paper written using qualitative method vary depending on the methods incorporated and focus in the study.

Introduction

The introduction is the first part of the process, which sets down the direction of the paper. It lays out exactly what the researcher is trying to achieve at the end of the research. The introduction has three parts; the first part is the general presentation of the research problem. In this part, the researcher will concentrate on why the problem has not been solved, or the benefits obtained at the end of the research. The researcher will express the weaknesses or the useful leads that were not discussed by the previous researchers (Lucas, 2015). Other researchers might have covered some interesting did not manage to reach the significant stage due to small samples or experimental error. Another part of the introduction is expressing the exact direction and the purpose of the paper. In this case, the research problem should not have to be a statement but is should imply what the researcher is trying to find. At the end of the introduction is a hypothesis or thesis statement, which indicates the position of the researcher. The hypothesis or the thesis statement should be placed in the last sentence of the introduction such that the reader can understand the full picture of the whole research.

Purpose of the Study

In this part, the researcher should explain the reason for carrying out the research and the expectations. The researcher should state the significance or the importance of the study to the general body of information on the phenomenon or the statement of the problem. At this stage, the researcher needs to justify qualitative methodology and the qualitative approach (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015).

Literature Review

On this part, qualitative research needs an examination of the previous or the existing research and the information about the chosen problem to be dealt with in the research. The previous studies examined will inform the conceptual framework and reflects the prominent emerging themes of the study. In most cases, qualitative research follows a naturalistic paradigm based on the assumptions that various realities exist, and the participants adapt to the existing realities (Demeh & Rosengren, 2015). It aims to explore the problem in question by concentrating on the individuals who experience the problem. Qualitative methods are concerned with attitudes, feelings and experiences as opposed to statistical analysis and precise measurements. Existing literature provides both context for interpreting findings and the basis for the research.

Sample Description

The individuals being studied in the research are referred to as the sample. Certain characteristics of the sample are identified, as they are important to the research problem. Such characteristics include educational background, socioeconomic status, gender, age, and many other characteristics the researcher might need to identify in the sample. In most cases, this part of the research paper often scrutinized for disparities.

Data Collection Methods

One the researcher has identified the sample group; the next step is to determine how to obtain information from the group sample. The researcher will have various choices of obtaining the information, which includes surveys, phone interviews, face-to-face interviews, and group discussions. In the face-to-face interviews, the researcher will ask questions direct to the respondent while recording the responses given by the respondent and the same applies to the phone interviews. When it comes to the survey, the researchers will design research questions, which will be presented to the interviewees and given time to respond to the questions, which will be collected later for analysis (Lucas, 2015). In the discussions, all the respondents together with the researcher will gather in a room or any other place. The researcher will offer the questions and note the responses given in the form of personal opinions and ideas from the interviewees. It is important to include the copies of research questions used by the researcher when gathering for the information in this section of the research. In case the interviewers keep any anecdotal records, they will be kept and made available on this section of the research.

Results

It is the most variable part of any research paper, and it depends upon the results and aims of the research study. In qualitative research, results involve broader discussion of trends without going in detail. If the research generates many results, it will be better to include graphs, tables, and charts of analyzed data. It will allow the researcher to leave the raw data in the appendix such that the reader can follow up and check the calculations. The researcher should comment on all the presentations such that the results are linked together to avoid the display of isolated and unconnected findings, figures, and charts (Malen et al., 2015).

Discussions

This part is where the researcher will elaborate his/her findings by explaining what he/she has found from the research. The researcher should also include personal interpretations from the results as he/she understands better since he/she has been in charge of the research from the beginning. The researcher should link the discussion with an introduction, such that all the initial points can be addressed individually. Every point made on the discussion part should be directly related to the thesis statement such that the researcher can avoid clouding the findings.

Conclusions

The researcher will build upon his/her discussion and refer the findings to other researchers all over the world. For a short research, the conclusion might be one or two paragraphs. In addition, the researcher will summarize the main points discussed in the research and offer some recommendations as per the findings obtained. The findings are pointed here if it is not separated because sometimes it can be written as a separate topic (Tylor et al., 2015).

Qualitative research is a subjective approach used in describing life experiences and giving them meaning. Quantitative research is a systematic, objective, and formal process of obtaining information about the world. Besideees, it is a method used to describe and test relationships and examining cause and effect relationships (Brooks & Normore, 2015). The goal of qualitative research is to gain insight by exploring complexity, richness, and the depth in a phenomenon while the goal of quantitative research is testing relationships, describing, and examining cause and effect relations in the research. The hypothesis in the qualitative research is evolving, tentative, based on the particular study and not fixed but depends on the basis. On the quantitative research, the hypothesis is testable, specific, and it can be stated before the start of a particular study.

The research setting in qualitative research is not controlled but in quantitative research, it is controlled to the highest degree possible. The sampling method applied in qualitative research is purposive since the researcher intends to select a small sample, which is not necessarily representative, as the researcher targets in-depth understanding. In the quantitative research, sampling is random, and the researcher selects larger sample such that he/she can generalize the results to a population (Lewis, 2015). Data analysis in qualitative research offers raw data in words, which involves using comments or observations to arrive at a conclusion. In a quantitative research study, the raw data are in numbers and performed at the end of the study involving statistics where numbers are used to arrive at the conclusions. Interpretation of data in qualitative research is tentative as the conclusions can change in the process of reviewing the conclusions made earlier. When it comes to quantitative research, conclusions and generalizations are formulated at the end of the research, and they are stated with a predetermined degree of certainty.