Qualitative methods produce useful but unreliable research. Discuss Essay

Qualitative methods produce useful but unreliable research. Discuss - Essay Example y, the issues and subjects that may be influenced by the emotion and feelings of the masses are generally more suitable for qualitative research methodologies. It is therefore surprising that even though, both the types of researches have their own specific relevance, qualitative research methodology sometimes seems to become less reliable, especially in terms of its validation by a small number of data as compared to the quantitative research which is backed by a large ‘number’. Qualitative research is a very important tool for evaluating trends and behavioural pattern of the people who are in a position to influence a set of defined parameters or vice versa. It is also a very means to analyse how the changes occur in our social lives and how and what the factors that affect our decisions are. It is especially true in the case of gauging trends in consumer behaviour or trying to evaluate public leaning to a political ideology or a burning political issue. It is the reason that social scientists use this methodology to go deeper into the emotional psyche of the public’s moods and attitude and thus try to identify the root cause for their current trends. Consequently, the numbers become irrelevant for the researchers and the emotions and feelings that dictate the attitudes and views of the public becomes primary criteria to the final selection of the research methodology. Hence main features and methodologies of the qualitative research would be discus sed in detail so that we can come to some concrete decision regarding the usefulness and reliability of the qualitative methods. The qualitative research is based on ‘grounded theory’ where the qualitative analysis of the data is used for generating theories that reflect the realities of life. Social scientists are therefore more inclined to use this type of research so that social changes and real life situations could be predicted with relative accuracy at unpredictable and unexpected circumstances. The