About This Course

Qualitative research provides richness, contextual understanding and depth to any research question. Researchers tend to veer away from qualitative research as a research methodology because it is a seemingly complicated research approach. But it doesn’t have to be.

Qualitative research is important because it seeks to describe, understand and explain human behaviour. Qualitative research is used to answer many research questions that quantitative research cannot answer. When paired with quantitative research, it is especially powerful for understanding behaviour, experiences, motivation and complex socio-political concepts such as power, gender or race in a more nuanced way. Qualitative research can be used to understand the research setting, improve design and tools, as well for triangulation: better understanding, insight and interpretation of quantitative research findings. Therefore researchers, including quantitative researchers, should become skilled at qualitative methods.