Qualitative Research In Psychology

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Qualitative research allowed researchers interact actively with their participants (Muchnisky, 2003). According to Shaughnessy, Zechmeister, and Zechmeister (2003), qualitative research will not contain any statistical analysis since it only having verbal record. On the other way, quantitative methods will heavily rely on tests, rating scales, questionnaires, and physiological measures (Stone-Romero, 2002). This mean, quantitative research will reflect results in numbers while qualitative research will show results in flow diagrams and narrative descriptions of events or processes (Landy & Conte, 2004; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). When conduct qualitative studies on behavior, data such as how people experience and feel events in their lives will …show more content…

The main reason was due to only a limited qualitative researchers been trained in 1980s compare with quantitative researchers (Taylor & Bogdan). However, with the expansion of scope in the evaluation such as employee behavior, work performance, job satisfaction, stress management, personnel specifications, and human factor workplace, qualitative research was needed by industrial/organizational psychologists to study the organizations. Therefore, it is necessary to have a set of guide line for qualitative research methodologies and methods amenable to the study of organizations, especially for frequent users such as clinical psychologists (Camic, Rhodes, & Yadley, 2003).

2.0 Comparing quantitative and qualitative research
The main different between quantitative and qualitative research are their analytical objectives, the types of questions pose, the types of instruments use to collect data, the forms of data produce and the degree of flexibility built into study design.

3.0 Use of Qualitative Research Methods in …show more content…

Usually researchers will not talk to the participants to prevent any interruption during the research process. Participants will closely monitor by digital camera or close circuit television (CCTV) and observers will write down relevant personnel issue in a transcript. This transcript considered is qualitative since it only contains non-numerical terms such as language and images. Observational methods suit for supervisors, human resources experts and consultant in the organizational setting which was used to observed workers’ behavior on the job (Krumm, 2001). According to Muchinsky (2003) and Sackett & Larsen (1990), observational methods hardly use by industrial/organizational psychologists because it require a large amount of time and energy. Furthermore, under existing laws, all participants should be acknowledged by the researcher prior to the observational research start (Esterberg, 2002). The “Hawthorne effect” may occur since participants are fully aware that they being observes or studies (Orcher,

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