What impact does qualitative research aim to achieve?

Qualitative research aims to understand complex social phenomena through descriptive data, which allows researchers to capture the nuances, meanings, and experiences individuals have within specific contexts. This approach emphasizes the depth of understanding over breadth, often utilizing methods such as interviews, focus groups, and observations.

By focusing on how people interpret and make sense of their experiences, qualitative research provides richer insights into behaviors, emotions, and interactions that numerical data cannot fully capture. It helps generate theories or insights that can inform future research, practice, and policy while recognizing the diversity of perspectives and experiences among different populations.

In contrast, deriving numerical values to support a hypothesis indicates a quantitative approach, which focuses on measurement and statistical analysis rather than the depth of understanding found in qualitative methods. Similarly, confirming existing theories without modification does not align with the exploratory nature of qualitative research, which is often aimed at refining or developing new theories. Lastly, a focus on large-scale statistical findings is characteristic of quantitative research, emphasizing broad generalizations rather than the detailed and context-specific insights obtained through qualitative methods.