Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches Essay

Qualitative interrogation figIntroduction Qualitative search corporeal body is an burn d ingest intentd in seek by investigate workers and scientists to acquire the behaviour and habits of human beings in the society. match to Flick, (2009 p. 17) the seek radiation diagram is used in various fields such(prenominal) as wellness, social sciences, business and other social sciences to study incompatible behaviours. In health, soft research whitethorn be used to study issues on health aw arness, availability of health facility, and access to primary, secondary, and tertiary health c ar services. The entropy obtained is past used as the basis for health overture recommendations. Consequently, the qualitative research design tramp be applied in business to study the problems affecting business and how solutions stinker be modelled to mitigate performance of the industry. consort to Saunders et al., (2012 p. 6) business research is a systematic research aimed at st udying problems and solutions to business. From the fact that business is a wide field, the design is also adapted in specific disciplines of business such as intersection design, marketing, advertisement, human resource, and studying bran-new business opportunities. For example, in harvest- m design, the powers whitethorn want to obtain info ab come to the fore the existing products be on consumers feedback and use the tuition to improve or design new product exploitation references, counsel conventions or ethnographic studies. Similarly, the same approach rump be used in market research to establish the demand of certain products and the product penetration in the market. The investigator prep bes questions to be used in either hearings or focus group. The info obtained from the audiences is then analysed to date the demand of a angleing(p) product in the market. casing of qualitative research for product designer whitethorn include product designers whitethor n want to study the gap in the market for a certain product for them to introduce new product that meet consumers tastes and preference. The designer may opt to question several people in the targeted neighborhood and ask questions that may give knowledge closely the gap in the existing products. For example, they may obtain information approximately a detergent that does not work effectively to remove stains and therefrom design a new product that would meet consumers taste and preferences. Hence, qualitative research design forms the intimately efficient tool to obtain the entropy demand to launch the decision. The design is also used as a lead for numerical design. The viability of hypothesis is tested through the qualitative design and then proven using the quantitative design through mathematical digest. Hence, the design is actu both(prenominal)y important for preliminary studies where the police detective may want to gather information about the field befor e embarking on detailed quantitative research. According to Siegel & Olshansky, (2012 p. 53) there are several approaches used to obtain the info in qualitative design, which includeInterviewsFocus groupsEthnographic research The references and the focus groups lead be studied in details in the rest of the stem through critical evaluation and analysis to understand the application and how their cons place be improved in piece to improve qualitative research design.Interviews Interviews involve questions and closure session mingled with the detective and the participants (DiCiccoBloom, & Crabtree, 2006 p. 317). The investigator or the interviewer asks the questions while the participant responds to them found on his experience or the knowledge about the questions. The interviewer guides the respond throughout the interview until tot on the wholey the questions are answered comprehensively. The interview may involve individuals or groups. According to Seidman, (2013 p. 113) interviews plunder be carried out through various methods such as face-to-face interactions, telephone or electronic devices such as internet-enabled computer. There are different types of interviews depending on how they are carried or how the interview questions are structured. The paper will elaborate, tax and analysed four forms of interviews namelyStructured interviewSemi-structured interviewsUnstructured interviews andIinformal interviewsTypes of interviews The types of interviews are discussed based on Creswell, (2014 p. 189) explanations.Structured interviews They are the main tool of research when the investigator has well disposition of the research field of study. This is because the researcher is able to formulate all the possible research questions and get as very much information from the participants as possible. The researcher may be interested in proving a possibleness or previous studies. Hence, interview is based on the literature reviewed or observa tions related to the study during less structured interviews. The interview is begined using takings specific and close-ended questions. This is from the fact that the researcher has well thought of the topic and scope and gum olibanum limits the information that he or she should obtain from the participants. Although the researcher is able to obtain information that is specific to his or her study, it may be hard for the responder to answer all the questions well since he may be limited to answers. In addition, overleap of knowledge about a certain question may result in rudimentary interviews.Semi-Structured interviews The interview is used when the researcher has limited magazine, respondent availability is not guaranteed, and thus different people conduct the interview in the field at the same time. The interview has well explained instructions to guide the interviewers in order to provide blameless and qualitative data in addition to trainings meant for brain the topi c. The interviews are preceded by informal interviews and observations in order to help the researcher to understand the topic in order to develop the semi-structured interview. The interview questions are mainly disperse ended and thus the respondent has the freedom to answer the questions in his own understanding and experience. The interview becomes interesting when the respondent understands the topic and thus he or she may give as much information as possible. The additional information shadower be remark in a bank billbook to support the data during presentation.Unstructured interviews They are carried out when the researchers lack enough understanding on the topic and accordingly have take onance for additional information from the respondent. The researcher tries to gets as much information from the respondent as possible in order for him or her to image on the existing information. The questions are open ended and the researcher has no stoop on the respondents answe rs. However, the researcher has a clear understanding of the research setting.Informal interviews The method is communally used for social research and or during the early set up of the study. In this type of interview, the researcher aim is to obtain as much information from participants as possible. This is because the topic is poorly understood and there is little literature on the topic and thus information can only be obtained from primary sources to work out on the existing information. Most informative interview approach are carried out for studies that are based on experience, interests, or a given culture that is not researched and so the researcher uses observations to develop more understand of the inquiry and develop a rapport. Like the structured, the interview questions are open ended as the respondents information is crucial towards outgrowth of the study.Pros of the interviewsAccurate data According to Seidman, (2013 p. 1oo) interviews give more accurate data than other data collection methods. The researcher explains to the respondents almost questions that might be difficult of him or her and thus end up getting the required information. In addition, the researcher explore the topic or questions using probe that enables him or her to get more information and details, which results in more accurate data. That is, the researcher has a chance to clarify and explain some questions that the interviewee my lack the knowledge and understanding thus getting the intended information. The interview provides a rich data with details and insights about the topic. The respondent describes his or her own understanding on the topic with the help of the researcher. In addition, the researcher can create a favourable environment for the interview thus resulting in general and sensitive information that is important to the study compared to other methods of data collection such as questionnaires and focus group. For example, in focus group, the interacti ons of a number of respondents at the same time may hinder word of honor of sensitive information due to lack of confidentiality. However, interview between the researcher and respondent only creates a favourable environment to give all types of information.Feedback There is direct response from the interviewee and the feedback. This ensures that the information sought is obtained and in effect of disparity. In addition, the researcher ensures that the information is obtained from the intended person. In other types of methods such as questionnaires, information may be obtained from unintended person.Observations Interviews can be carried out at the same time with observations to gain more understanding and information on the topic. Unlike other methods used in research, interviews allow researcher to make observations that may be important source of information. In addition, the research may compare the information from the respondents and what he or she observes and intercommun icate for clarity when disparity is noticed.Building Rapport Close interactions between the researcher and interviewee creates a more relaxed environment, which results to the respondent answering questions based on his or her experience rather than giving direct answers to the topic. The researcher then use the information obtained from the researcher to build a rapport with topic. The researcher may explore additional information from the respondent that may help to develop more understanding on the topicFlexibility Interviews are conducted at any time, locations, or based on the circumstances of the individual,. Thus, they are the most convenient method of data collection. For example, the researcher can conduct interviews in residential areas, trading areas, farming locations and any other place that may be convenient to the respondent.Cons of interviews sentence-consuming the plow of scheduling, conducting, and analysing the interviews consumes a lot of time (Zikmund, 2013 p. 150). The process of visiting the respondents and carrying the interview face-to-face can be dull and time consuming. Since huge data is obtained from interview, it becomes tedious to enter the data and a lot of time is consumed. Therefore, it is important to have a data adit and analysis plan before data collection.Costly The interviews are dear(p) because they require the interviewers to be trained, the schedules to visit respondents to be prepared and the actual interview process. They require physical participation of respondent and the researcher.Biasness The physical appearance of the interviewee may affect the attitude of the respondent and thus giving aslant information that may affect the accuracy of the data. Other factors that may results in biased information include the respondents voice tone and opinion, gender and race, inadequate note taking. Biasness affects the main purpose of the study, which may produce contradicting data from the existing one. This can misl ead future studies that may rely on the data.Inconsistencies The flexibility of the interviews may result in inconsistence data during interactions due to variation in interview setting such as changing environment. For example- interruption of interviews by passersby or other factors such as rain can make the respondent to lose track and give inconsistence informationFocus groups Focus group involves collection of data through semi-structured interview from a group of respondents who are identified based on diverse but related characteristics to form a diverse group that represent the actual population. The interview is moderated by a group leader and involves reciprocation of a specific topic. Fiske and Merton introduced the method during their studies that were based on audience participants (Sprenkle & Piercy, 2005 p. 87)Pros of focus groupDeveloping research topic Focus group give information to the researcher about a given subject, which help him or her to develop the topic a nd build rapport. The aim of the focus group is to obtain as much information as possible that is necessary for the study and thus it is a common method for preliminary study.Time saving Large substance of data from a big population can be obtained within the shortest time possible (Hesse-Biber, & Leavy, 2011 p. 164). Data is collected from groups of respondents at the same time. This is in different to interviews where the questions are asked to a single respondent for a given time and it may take a lot of time to cover a given number of respondents as opposed to focus groups.Accurate data The discussion involves the consensus among the group members. In case of diverse information, members agree on given information that giving accurate and homogeneous data The data is also specific on the researchers topic.Economical Huge data can be summarized using group consensus and thus data entry and analysis is cheap and time saving as opposed to interviews where huge amount is obtained from very large number of respondentsObservations Just like interviews, the researcher can get additional data from the participants behaviour, feelings and thought about the topic. In addition, focus group helps to generate information for a study that could have imperceptible features.Cons of focus groupBiasness The moderator of the group or the researcher makes the nett purpose and interpretation of the discussion. Subjective judgment and poor interpretation has high peril of introducing personal businesses in the discussion and thus biased data. The participants may tend to follow the initial opinions thus resulting in biased resultsRisk of in double-dyed(a) and inaccurate data The planning, scheduling and contacting participants may be costly and involving and thus poor management may result to incomplete study that may affect the character reference of data collected.Sensitive information It is not a good method for addressing sensitive issues. This is because people may feel unsatisfied sharing sensitive information among their friends or enemies that might be in the group, which may have a negative contributory factor to the prize of data obtained.Addressing the interview consTime consuming The use of alternative direction of communication such as telephone and computer can subside the time spent in scheduling and visiting the respondents. Therefore, avoiding face-to-face interviews can help to save time and making the method more economical. Time that could be spent to travel to respondent and carry physical interview is minimised. Planning should also be done prior to the study in order to avoid time wasting during the actual study.Costly Activities such as data entry and analysis can be carried along with the interviews to ensure that no additional cost that is incurred during independent data entry. Minimised locomotion through phone interviews would cut down on cost.Biasness Presentable physical appearance should be encouraged. The physica l appearance of the interviewer that would not have influence on respondents should be emphasized during training. Interviewers should be discouraged from making inwrought judgments that would affect the interactions.Inconsistencies The interview should be conducted in a neutral environment that has no effect on information delivery. The researcher should spend a considerable good amount of time in looking for a natural setting for the interview conducive for the respondents (Merriam, & Merriam, 2009 p. 17). For example, interviews in closed board may have minimal interference, thus maintain consistence information delivery, and thus maintain high quality data.Addressing focus group consBiasness In order to avoid biasness, the moderator of the focus group should be well trained about making subjective judgment and interpretations. Good relationship between respondents and the researcher promotes mutual understanding that contributes to accurate interpretations of the information ( Marshall, & Rossman, 2011 p. 101). The moderator should not be an active part of the study and should be limited to the information on the expected result of the study.Risk of incomplete and inaccurate data suitable management should be done prior to the study so that all the scheduling and contacting of the participants is made in time. This will ensure that the participants are assured of the scope of the study and their roles and thus the study will be complete successfully. When participants are well-prepared psychologically, they become patient and go through the whole process thus giving complete data.Sensitive information The moderator should inform the participants about the confidentiality of the information shared in the focus group and create a friendly environment. This will give the participants confidence and freedom to share all the information that they may have including the sensitive one and thus the quality of the data will not be compromised. Participants may f eel that some issues belong to the community and that it should not be addressed to a stranger. The researcher may also involve people from the communities to help them moderate the discussion and thus creating favourable environment for discussing sensitive information that is vital to the final data.ReferencesCreswell, J. W. (2014).Research design Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Thousand Oaks, California SAGE Publications.DiCiccoBloom, B., & Crabtree, B. F. 2006. The qualitative research interview.Medical education,40(4), 314-321.Flick, U. 2009. An introduction to qualitative research. Los Angeles Sage Publications.Hesse-Biber, S. N., & Leavy, P. (2011).The practice of qualitative research. Los Angeles SAGE.Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. B. (2011). pattern qualitative research. Los Angeles Sage.Merriam, S. B., & Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco Jossey-Bass.Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. 2012. Research methods for business students. PearsonSeidman, I. 2013.Interviewing as qualitative research A guide for researchers in education and the social sciences. New York Teachers College PressSiegel, J. S., & Olshansky, S. J. 2012.The demography and epidemiology of human health and aging. Dordrecht Springer.Sprenkle, D. 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