Interviews and Focus Groups

Question 1

What is qualitative research? What sort of data does it focus on? How many cases? What does it look to achieve?

Answer 1

Qualitative research focuses on non-numerical data, focussing on a one or a few cases in depth. It looks at opinions, perspectives and insights from individuals.

Question 2

What value do interviews and focus groups have to researchers from positivist and interpretivist perspectives respectively?

Answer 2

Positivist - can discover specific facts or information by talking to people that relate to a particular event, policy or process.
Interpretivist - can understand how specific groups or subjects see the world, understand meanings!