What Is Qualitative Research? Methods, Types, Approaches, and Examples

Glossary of Key Terms

Key Takeaways

• Qualitative research collects and interprets non-numerical data (words, images, observations) to understand experiences, behaviors, and meanings.
• It is grounded in research paradigms, most often interpretivism or constructivism, which shape how questions are asked and data is interpreted.
• Common approaches include phenomenology, grounded theory, ethnography, case study, narrative research, and action research.
• Data is gathered through interviews, focus groups, observation, and document or secondary research, and analyzed using methods such as thematic, content, narrative, discourse, and framework analysis.
• Longitudinal qualitative research tracks the same participants or themes over multiple time points to study change.
• Rigor is judged through trustworthiness criteria (credibility, transferability, dependability, confirmability) rather than statistical validity.
• Reporting and appraisal checklists such as COREQ, SRQR, CASP, and JBI help researchers write up and evaluate qualitative studies.
• A conceptual framework, sampling strategy, and ethical safeguards should be planned early and revisited as the study evolves.
• Dissertation researchers should plan for the time-intensive nature of transcription and coding, and align their paradigm, methodology, and methods.

What Is Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research is an approach that collects and interprets non-numerical data, such as words, images, and observations, to understand people’s experiences, behaviors, and the meanings they attach to them. It is exploratory in nature and is often used to generate hypotheses or theories rather than test them.

Qualitative research methods draw on principles from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and education. Researchers aim to understand the feelings, motivations, and perspectives behind a response, rather than simply measuring how often that response occurs.

Examples of Qualitative Research Questions

These examples illustrate the type of open-ended, exploratory questions that qualitative research is designed to answer:

• How does remote work affect employees’ sense of belonging within a team?
• How do patients describe their experience of managing chronic pain?
• What factors influence first-generation students’ decisions to remain enrolled in college?
• How do community members interpret and respond to a new public health campaign?
• Why do consumers choose one brand of medicine over a competing brand?

What Are Research Paradigms in Qualitative Research?

A research paradigm is the underlying set of beliefs about reality (ontology) and knowledge (epistemology) that shapes how a researcher designs a study, collects data, and interprets findings. Choosing a paradigm helps justify why qualitative methods are appropriate for a given study.

Qualitative Research Approaches

The following table summarizes the major approaches used to design a qualitative study. There is often overlap between approaches, and a single study may combine elements of more than one.

Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative research methods are the specific techniques used to collect data. Researchers often combine more than one method within a single study.

Types of Qualitative Research

Beyond specific approaches, qualitative studies can also be grouped by their broader purpose:

• Exploratory research: Conducted to gain initial insight into a poorly understood topic, such as emerging online learning behaviors.
• Descriptive research: Provides a detailed account of a phenomenon as it naturally occurs, such as the communication styles used by social media influencers.
• Interpretive research: Focuses on how people interpret and make sense of their social world, such as how patients understand the idea of “care” in clinical settings.
• Evaluative research: Assesses the effectiveness or impact of a program or intervention, such as a community health education initiative.

What Is Longitudinal Qualitative Research?

Longitudinal qualitative research collects data from the same participants, or about the same phenomenon, at multiple points in time to study how experiences, perceptions, or behaviors change or develop. It adds a time dimension to standard qualitative approaches such as interviews or case studies.

Longitudinal qualitative research is useful for studying recovery journeys, career or life transitions, and the long-term impact of policies or programs. Key challenges include:

• Participant attrition, as some individuals drop out between waves of data collection.
• Recall bias, when participants reinterpret earlier events in light of later experiences.
• Maintaining a consistent coding framework across multiple time points while still allowing new themes to emerge.
• The additional time, funding, and researcher continuity required compared with a single-point study.

Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis Process

How Is Qualitative Data Collected?

Qualitative data collection is the process of gathering observations or measurements that are typically non-numeric and subjective. Common forms include:

• Handwritten notes, audio recordings, and video recordings taken during interviews or observations.
• Transcriptions of recordings into text for analysis; an experienced researcher may need eight to ten hours to transcribe a single hour-long interview.
• Field notes, which capture the researcher’s own observations, non-verbal cues, or contextual details rather than participants’ direct answers.

What Are the Five Steps of Qualitative Data Analysis?

Most qualitative data analysis follows the same five core steps, regardless of the specific method used:

1. Prepare and organize the data, including transcribing interviews and collecting field notes.
2. Review and explore the data to identify initial patterns or points of interest.
3. Develop a coding system to categorize and connect the data.
4. Assign codes to the data and refine the coding system as new patterns emerge.
5. Identify recurring themes, patterns, or relationships and present the findings.

What Are the Main Qualitative Data Analysis Methods?

The main qualitative data analysis methods are thematic analysis, content analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, grounded theory, framework analysis, and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Each suits different research questions and data types.

Characteristics of Qualitative Research Methods

• Unstructured, descriptive data: Findings are presented descriptively, using non-numerical data, rather than through statistics.
• Site-specific, naturalistic data collection: Data is gathered in real-world settings, and participants are not required to leave their usual environment.
• Central role of the researcher: Researchers rely on their own observation, communication, and listening skills to collect and interpret data.
• Use of multiple methods: Studies often combine interviews, observation, and document review rather than relying on a single source.
• Capacity to address complex issues: Breaking down complex problems into themes makes them easier to interpret and communicate.
• Flexibility throughout the study: Data collection and analysis can occur together, and the approach can be adjusted as new insights emerge.

When Should You Use Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research is most appropriate when the goal is to understand the reasons behind behaviors and patterns, rather than to measure how often they occur. The checklist and use cases below can help determine whether it fits your study.

Checklist: Is Qualitative Research Right for Your Study?

• Relatively little is known about the topic being studied.
• There is a need to understand or simplify a complex problem or situation.
• Participants’ experiences, beliefs, or feelings are central to the analysis.
• There is no existing hypothesis, and a theory may need to be developed after analysis.
• An in-depth understanding is required that does not depend on numeric data.

Common Use Cases

• New product development or idea generation.
• Strengthening a product’s marketing strategy.
• Conducting a SWOT analysis to support strategic decisions.
• Understanding consumer purchasing behavior.
• Assessing reactions to an advertising campaign.
• Understanding the effectiveness of a new treatment within a specific population.

Qualitative Research Case Study Example

The following example illustrates how a qualitative research method case study is structured and reported.

• Context: A US high school underwent a turnaround process and experienced below-average teacher retention. Researchers wanted to understand teachers’ experiences and how the process affected morale and retention.
• Method: Purposive sampling was used to select eight teachers who remained employed through the turnaround process. One-on-one, semi-structured interviews explored their views on morale and the turnaround.
• Results: The study identified six factors affecting morale, including powerlessness, excessive monitoring, loss of confidence, ineffective instructional practices, stress and burnout, and inadequate professional development. Four recommendations were made to improve retention by addressing these factors.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Qualitative Research

Advantages

• Reflects real-world settings and allows for flexibility as new developments emerge.
• Helps researchers understand feelings and beliefs that quantitative data alone cannot capture.
• Uses a descriptive, narrative style that is accessible to readers from many backgrounds.
• Allows sensitive or controversial topics to be explored in depth.
• Draws on multiple data sources and methods, giving a more holistic picture.
• Greater participant involvement can lead to more open, less biased responses.

Disadvantages

• Large-scale datasets are difficult to include because of time and cost constraints.
• The subjective nature of the data can make validity and reliability harder to establish.
• Other researchers may find it difficult to replicate findings in the same context.
• Findings are generally not generalizable to wider populations or settings.
• Data collection and analysis can be highly time-consuming.
• The researcher’s own interpretation can introduce unintended bias.

Qualitative Research vs Quantitative Research: What Is the Difference?

Qualitative research explores meanings, experiences, and patterns using non-numerical data, while quantitative research tests hypotheses and measures relationships using numerical data and statistical analysis.

Some studies combine both approaches in a mixed methods research design, using qualitative data to explain or contextualize quantitative findings, or quantitative data to test patterns identified through qualitative work.

How Do You Create a Conceptual Framework for Qualitative Research?

A conceptual framework is a visual or narrative map of the key concepts, constructs, and assumed relationships that guide a study. In qualitative research, it is typically drawn from the literature and research questions, and is treated as flexible rather than fixed.

1. Identify your research questions and the central phenomenon you want to understand.
2. Review relevant literature and theory to identify concepts and relationships that may apply to your topic.
3. Define each key concept or construct and describe how you expect them to relate to one another.
4. Represent these relationships visually, such as in a diagram with boxes and arrows, or describe them narratively.
5. Situate the framework within your chosen research paradigm; for example, grounded theory studies often build the framework inductively from data rather than before data collection.
6. Revisit and refine the framework as data collection and analysis proceed, since new themes may reshape the relationships you originally proposed.

A conceptual framework differs from a theoretical framework: a theoretical framework applies an existing theory to your study, while a conceptual framework is specific to your own research questions, context, and concepts, even if it draws on existing theory.

Which Checklists Are Used to Evaluate Qualitative Research?

Researchers and journals commonly use four checklists for qualitative studies: COREQ and SRQR for reporting a study you have conducted, and CASP and the JBI checklist for appraising studies written by others.

As a general rule, use COREQ or SRQR when writing up the methods section of your own study to ensure you have reported all expected details, and use CASP or the JBI checklist when evaluating the credibility of studies you are reviewing or citing.

Sampling Strategies for Qualitative Research

How Do You Ensure Rigor and Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research?

Rigor in qualitative research is commonly assessed using four trustworthiness criteria: credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability. These serve a similar purpose to validity and reliability in quantitative research, but are adapted to the interpretive nature of qualitative work.

Ethical Standards in Qualitative Research

• Informed consent: Researchers must clearly explain the study’s purpose and how responses will be used before engaging with participants.
• Anonymity: Participants should not be identifiable in the study, including through indirect details.
• Confidentiality: Recordings, transcripts, and notes must be stored securely to protect participants’ identities.
• Right to withdraw: Participants should know they can withdraw from the study at any point without penalty.
• Ethics committee or IRB review: Most qualitative studies involving human participants require prior approval from an institutional ethics board.

How Do You Address Bias in Qualitative Research?

Bias in qualitative research can be addressed through a combination of cross-checking, transparency, and structured reflection during analysis.

• Compare your interpretations of the findings with those of colleagues or co-researchers to identify consistencies.
• Where possible, ask participants whether your interpretations reflect their views, often called member checking.
• Use data triangulation, drawing on multiple sources, to see whether different methods support the same interpretation.
• Consider alternative explanations for your findings and try to rule them out where possible.
• Conduct a peer review of your findings to identify gaps that may not be visible to you.
• Frame questions in a context-appropriate way to reduce both researcher and participant bias.

Key Considerations When Using Qualitative Research for Your Dissertation

• Align paradigm, methodology, and methods: Make sure your stated research paradigm, chosen approach (such as phenomenology or grounded theory), and data collection methods are consistent with one another.
• Justify your sample size through saturation, not a fixed number: Explain how you will recognize and document theoretical or thematic saturation, rather than citing an arbitrary participant count.
• Budget realistic time for transcription and coding: Transcribing and coding interviews is labor-intensive; build this into your project timeline well before submission deadlines.
• Choose an appropriate reporting checklist early: Reviewing COREQ or SRQR before data collection can help ensure you gather the details examiners and journals expect to see reported.
• Address trustworthiness explicitly in your methodology chapter: Describe concrete steps for credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability rather than asserting that the study is rigorous.
• Decide on your approach to data management software: Consider whether CAQDAS tools such as NVivo, ATLAS.ti, MAXQDA, or Dedoose are appropriate for your dataset size and your committee’s expectations.
• Plan for ethics approval timelines: Institutional review processes can take weeks or months; factor this into your overall research schedule.
• Maintain a reflexivity record throughout: Keep ongoing notes on your own assumptions and positionality, which can be drawn on when writing the discussion and limitations sections.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many interview participants do I need for a qualitative dissertation?

There is no fixed number; sample size in qualitative research is generally guided by saturation, the point at which additional interviews stop producing new codes or themes. Empirical studies have found that code saturation is often reached within roughly nine to seventeen interviews for relatively homogenous samples, or around four to eight focus groups, though more complex or diverse populations may require more.

Can I combine qualitative and quantitative methods in one study?

Yes. This is known as mixed methods research, and it is often grounded in a pragmatic research paradigm. Qualitative data might be used to explain unexpected quantitative results, or quantitative data might be used to test patterns first identified through qualitative work.

Do I need ethics committee or IRB approval for qualitative interviews?

In most academic settings, yes. Even informal-seeming conversations or observations that involve identifiable individuals typically require prior review by an institutional ethics board, covering informed consent, confidentiality, and data storage.

Is qualitative research less rigorous than quantitative research?

No, but rigor is judged using different criteria. Rather than statistical validity and reliability, qualitative studies are typically assessed using trustworthiness criteria, credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability, and can be appraised using structured tools such as the CASP or JBI checklists.

How long does qualitative data analysis actually take?

It is generally time-consuming. Transcribing a single recorded interview can take an experienced researcher around eight to ten hours, and this is followed by multiple rounds of reading, coding, and theme development, which can extend over weeks or months depending on the dataset size.

Should I use software such as NVivo or ATLAS.ti, or code my data by hand?

This depends on the size of your dataset and your familiarity with the tools. CAQDAS software can help organize, code, and retrieve large volumes of text efficiently, but it does not perform the interpretation itself; for small datasets, manual coding using spreadsheets or printed transcripts is also a valid and common approach.

Can qualitative research findings be generalized to other populations?

Generally not in the statistical sense used in quantitative research. Instead, qualitative researchers aim for transferability, providing enough contextual detail that readers can judge whether the findings are likely to apply to other, similar settings.

How do I choose between thematic analysis and grounded theory for my thesis?

Choose thematic analysis if your goal is to identify and interpret recurring themes within existing data without building a new theory. Choose grounded theory if your goal is to develop a new theory inductively, which requires collecting and analyzing data simultaneously and iteratively throughout the study rather than analyzing only after all data is collected.

This article was originally published on February 15, 2023, and updated on June 12, 2026.