Editing Qualitative research (section)

{{short description|Form of research}}
{{Research}}
{{Sociology}}

'''Qualitative research''' is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' [[social reality]], including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This type of research typically involves [[Interview|in-depth interviews]], [[focus group]]s, or [[Field research|field observations]] in order to collect data that is rich in detail and context. Qualitative research is often used to explore complex phenomena or to gain insight into people's experiences and perspectives on a particular topic.  It is particularly useful when researchers want to understand the meaning that people attach to their experiences or when they want to uncover the underlying reasons for people's behavior. Qualitative methods include [[ethnography]], [[grounded theory]], [[discourse analysis]], and [[interpretative phenomenological analysis]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Creswell |first=John W. |title=Educational research : planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research |isbn=1-299-95719-6 |oclc=859836343}}</ref> Qualitative research methods have been used in [[sociology]], [[anthropology]], [[political science]], [[psychology]], [[communication studies]], social work, folklore, [[educational research]], [[information science]] and [[software engineering]] research.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=King |first1=Gary |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFMgEAAAQBAJ |title=Designing Social Inquiry: Scientific Inference in Qualitative Research, New Edition |last2=Keohane |first2=Robert O. |last3=Verba |first3=Sidney |date=2021-08-17 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-22464-0 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=QUALITI|url=http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/socsi/qualiti/PubSocMethJourn.html|publisher=cardiff.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Alasuutari|first1=Pertti|year=2010|title=The rise and relevance of qualitative research|journal=International Journal of Social Research Methodology|volume=13|issue=2|pages=139–55|doi=10.1080/13645570902966056|s2cid=143736805}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Seaman|first1=Carolyn|year=1999|title=Qualitative methods in empirical studies of software engineering|journal=Transactions on Software Engineering|volume=25|issue=4|pages=557–572|doi=10.1109/32.799955}}</ref>