Fundamentals of Qualitative Research

What is Qualitative Research?

Qualitative research is an approach to research aimed at a deep understanding of social phenomena through the study of the meanings that people attach to their experiences. Unlike the quantitative approach, qualitative research operates with words, images, and observations, rather than numbers.

Key characteristics:

• Focus on understanding and interpreting phenomena
• Use of non-numeric data (words, images, observations)
• Inductive approach — theory is formed from data, not tested on them
• Small, purposive samples (purposive sampling)
• Contextuality — phenomena are studied in their natural environment
• The role of the researcher as the instrument of research

Reflexivity

Reflexivity is the ability of the researcher to be aware of and critically assess their own influence on the research process and results. This is one of the key principles of qualitative research.

The researcher brings to the research their:

• Values and beliefs — cultural, religious, political
• Prior experience — professional and personal
• Theoretical preferences — commitment to certain schools of thought
• Social position — gender, age, ethnicity, class

Practice of reflexivity includes:

• Keeping a reflexive journal, where the researcher records their thoughts, feelings, assumptions, and decisions during the research process
• Open discussion of their positionality — how the personal characteristics of the researcher may influence the research
• Decision audit — documenting why certain methodological decisions were made

Sampling in Qualitative Research

Unlike quantitative research, which strives for representativeness and random sampling, qualitative research uses purposive sampling.

Types of purposive sampling:

Maximum variation sampling — intentional selection of participants with maximally different characteristics in order to identify common patterns among differences.

Criterion sampling — selection of all participants who meet a certain criterion. For example, all managers who have completed a leadership program in the past year.

Snowball sampling — one participant recommends another. Useful when studying hard-to-reach groups.

Typical sampling — selection of participants representing a “typical” case of the phenomenon.

Sample size

In qualitative research, there is no fixed rule about sample size. The key principle is data saturation: data collection continues until new data cease to bring new insights.

Indicative sizes:

• In-depth interviews: 12–25 participants
• Focus groups: 3–5 groups of 6–10 participants each
• Case studies: 1–10 cases (depending on design)

Qualitative Data Analysis: Coding

Coding is the process of systematically organizing data by assigning labels (codes) to segments of text. This is the first step in qualitative data analysis.

Stages of coding:

1. Open coding — initial “fragmentation” of data and assignment of a descriptive code to each fragment.

Example: Interview fragment: “I felt that my opinion was not valued at meetings. When I proposed ideas, they were simply ignored.” Codes: [undervaluation], [opinion ignored], [meeting experience]

2. Axial coding — grouping open codes into categories and establishing connections among categories.

Category “Organizational climate”:

• Undervaluation
• Opinion ignored
• Lack of feedback
• Hierarchical communication

3. Selective coding — identifying the central theme or theory that connects all categories.

Software for Qualitative Analysis

NVivo — a popular program for computer-assisted qualitative data analysis (CAQDAS — Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis Software).

NVivo capabilities:

• Organizing and storing data (interviews, documents, audio, video)
• Coding texts using “nodes”
• Visualizing connections between codes
• Creating queries to search for patterns
• Generating reports

Important: NVivo is an organizational tool, not an analytical one. The software does not analyze data for the researcher; it helps organize the process of manual analysis.

Practical Assignments

Assignment 1

Question: Read the following interview fragment and propose 3–4 open codes: “When the company switched to remote work, the first months were horrible. I didn’t understand what was expected of me, because the supervisor almost never got in touch. But then I learned to plan my day myself and became even more productive than in the office.”

Solution: Possible open codes:

1. [adaptation difficulties] — “the first months were horrible”
2. [uncertainty of expectations] — “I didn’t understand what was expected of me”
3. [insufficient supervisor communication] — “supervisor almost never got in touch”
4. [development of self-organization] — “learned to plan my day myself”
5. [productivity increase] — “became even more productive than in the office”

These codes can be grouped into categories:

• Organizational barriers: [uncertainty of expectations], [insufficient supervisor communication]
• Personal adaptation: [adaptation difficulties], [development of self-organization]
• Results: [productivity increase]