Definition, characteristics and ethics

John Creswell (1994): it´s an inquiry process to explore a social or human problem.

Merriam (2009): qualitative researchers are interested in understanding how people make sense of their world and the experiences they have in the world.

Dr. Leslie Curry (2015): It´s a strategy to collect, organize and interpret textual information

According to Bogdan and Biklen (2007)
qualitative research is:

Descriptive data: the data collected take the form of words or pictures rather than numbers (photographs, videos, personal documents). All details are considerate.

Naturalistic: a no experimental approach in which subjects are studied in their natural settings; there isn´t manipulation of the environment

Concern with process: focuses on process rather than outcomes; focus group, in-depth interviews and participant observation are main methods of data collection.

Meaning: it is of essential concern to the qualitative approach and it is based on participant´s perspectives.

Inductive: theories or concepts are built on the base of gathering data.

Participants contribute to the analysis of the data they generate

Ethical principles can make researchers achieve the goals of a research as well as respect the participants’ rights.

To realize ethical research is vital because dealing with human subjects in depth can affect both participants and researchers.