How to do a qualitative research - Essay Example

This method is also known as ethnomethodology or ground research. It creates data concerning people within social surroundings (Mason, 2002). Qualitative methods aim at getting a better perception through firsthand involvement, accurate recording, and citations of real discussions (Mason, 2002). The method aims at understanding how the respondents develop implication from their environs, and how their implication influences their conduct (Mason, 2002). According to Denzin and Lincoln (2005), in-depth interviews are important qualitative research data collection procedure normally used for various purposes, which entail conducting a needs evaluation, program improvement, identification of issue, and premeditated preparation.

This method of obtaining data is appropriate in situations like when the researcher wants to use open-ended items that provoke depth of facts from the selected respondents. These in depth, interviews had the following important characteristics as stated by other researchers. Using of open-ended questions, the respondents are in a position to give more details about the question asked and not just present a yes no question (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). . This can be achieved through active listening at what the respondents say and seek clarity where needed.

The researcher needs to be recording responses either by the use of audiovisual material or audio tapes. These records should be completed with recorded notes to support the records. These notes include observation of nonverbal movement made by the respondent (Mason, 2002). The interview participants were also selected using random sampling so as to involve many and different participants. This in depth interview follows the following major procedure. The interview question aimed at identifying the characteristics of events situations and circumstance.

in this stage-thematizing the initial stage of transcription- the researcher clarifies the purpose on the interview to the study participants. The second stage is designing where the researcher comes up with the manner in which he or she is going to elicit responses from the selected respondents. The guide should be designed to make the respondents focus on the topic of investigation. The next stage is interviewing, where the actual interview takes place by first obtaining permission from the authorities, informing the respondents the purpose of conducting the interview, then engaging the respondent in conversation until the required response is obtained (Marschan,-Piekarit and Welch, 2005).

The next stage is transcription, where the creation of a verbatim transcript of each discussion is done by transcribing out each item and answer using the audio tape. The next stage involves analyzing where the records are read to identify themes that come out of the responses provided. Then verification of what is recoded and lastly a report is provided to the internal and external stakeholders