Qualitative research is one of the most used research design as it systematically collect, organize, and interpret textual data. Its goals is to explore and to have an in-depth understanding on the specific phenomena that leaves a mark on the minds of the researchers. It is an inductive approach wherein researchers begins in seeking patterns from their observation and then theorize these patterns, or in other words, they will make a broad conclusion from the specific observations, evidence, or patterns that they were able to gather from their data collection. The settings of this research design is based on the natural environment wherein the researchers will collect the data in a place where the issue or problem is being experienced. The sampling of the participants is purposeful in nature wherein they are chosen because they specifically share a given characteristics and or experienced the particular phenomena that the researcher is trying to study. The participants will not be experimented rather they will have a face to face interaction with the researcher over time so that the researchers will be able to talk to them directly and will be observe first hand on how they behave and act on a certain phenomenon. The data on the qualitative research will not just rely on a single data source but will rely in a multiple sources such as interviews, observations, and documents. Then the researchers will analysis it by reviewing and interpreting all the gathered data and organize it into categories or themes. One of the end product of a qualitative research is the recurrent themes that emerged upon the interpretation of the data. These themes are known for unifying concepts and statements, identifying and characterizing patterns or behaviors, group interaction, and individual perceptions, and helping to develop a testable hypothesis by identifying salient factors what matters in perspectives, and inform predictions about relationships.
In making a well-formed qualitative research question, the researcher must first established what is the aim or objectives of the research because the research questions will solely revolve around it. Stating of the goal is through the use of verbs and some of the commonly used verbs are “to characterize,” “to describe,” and “to understand.” The researcher must identify the topic of interest that the research study will address so that the focus will be set since it helps in determining the appropriate methods to be used, it serves as a guide in the study planning, and it frames the analysis and findings of the data to be collected. In identifying on what topic to be focus on, it is much better to only focus on a single phenomenon, concept, or idea so that the research will not be too broad that will make the research to be too impossible to work and finish on. The sample and the setting must be specific so that the research will be done only to the appropriate participants in order to gain only the desired information that could help answer the research questions. Keeping in mind when forming a qualitative research question it should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bounded so that it is feasible enough to be conducted. Developing research question is somewhat challenging that is why a researcher must invest time in defining the knowledge gap that could be a great help to know what to focus more in order to develop a good research question that is essential on the success of the study.
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