Qualitative data includes….

• Open question questionnaires
• Unstructured interviews
• Participant observation
• Public and private documents such as newspapers and letters.

Theoretical strengths

• Better validity than for quantitative data
• More insight (Verstehen)
• More in-depth data
• More respondent-led, avoids the imposition problem.
• Good for exploring issues the researcher knows little about.
• Preferred by Interpretivists

Practical strengths

• A useful way of accessing groups who don’t like formal methods/ authority

Ethical strengths

• Useful for sensitive topics
• Allows respondents to ‘speak for themselves’
• Treats respondents as equals

Theoretical limitations

• Difficult to make comparisons
• No useful for finding trends, finding correlations.
• Typically small samples, low representativeness
• Low reliability as difficult to repeat the exact context of research.
• Subjective bias of researcher may influence data (interviewer bias)
• Disliked by Positivists

Practical limitations

• Time consuming
• Expensive per person researched compared to qualitative data
• Difficult to gain access (PO)
• Analyzing data can be difficult

Ethical limitations

• Close contact means more potential for harm
• Close contact means more difficult to guarantee anonymity and confidentiality
• Informed consent can be an issue with PO.

Nature of Topic – When would you use it, when would you avoid using it?

• Useful for complex topics you know little about
• Not necessary for simple topics.

Crunch Paragraph/ Conclusion – Generally, how important is qualitative research to Sociology?

• More hassle practically, lacks objectivity, but good for validity which is probably the most important factor required when doing research.