Concerns with Qualitative Research

Qualitative research emphasizes on ideas and forming a picture in a reader’s head while quantitative research concentrates on numerical figures. Writing a qualitative research paper will be difficult for me because quantitative data is very helpful and easy to use when trying it make a strong argument but you have to manipulate qualitative data more to support a claim. I’m also worried that I won’t be able to come up with enough quality information to meet the requirements. With qualitative data, the author must dig deep to support their opinions because the amount of logos that comes from numbers is not as evident.            

            One of my main concerns with this paper is finding a good story to use that will have a lot to explore beyond the surface. I always waste so much time looking for a good article to use and then settle for one that I don’t even really like, which ends up with me having a hard time coming up with information to write about. I think I will have a good time with researching the motives behind the way a story has evolved but I think it may also be hard to gather other peoples’ opinions on it. Qualitative research is gathered in the form of interviews and in-depth conversations, not just surveying and gathering statistics. Going out into “the wild” to see how people naturally think and discuss on these topics may be hard so I will need to generate ideas of how to gather information on people’s opinions.

            I think this essay will be interesting to write and research because we can pick a story that we enjoy and therefore it will be more enjoyable to write about. I like digging deep beyond the surface of a text and seeing the motive behind the creator’s actions. I think it will also be fun to conduct research and see what other people write about the story and its differences in blogs and online chats.

            I expect to have some difficulty coming up with a sufficient amount of information and research to include, as usual. But, I plan to overcome this by doing a lot of brainstorming and writing down what ideas I want to include, before I start writing. This way I don’t have to think of everything as I go and I wont forget to include any ideas that come to mind. I also want to start on the paper early so I can leave and come back to it at my leisure and not be forced to just get it all down. I also want to interview a lot of people and do a lot of background research on the story before I write about it.

            Forming open-ended questions will definitely be a task because it is hard to create questions like this that are relevant to a story. To solve this I will read up on some good strategies to follow when forming these kinds of questions based on what kind of answers you want to get in response.