An Overview of Qualitative Research and Focus Group Discussion

Abstract

Recently, qualitative studies have been widespread in various areas such as, psychology, business, and sociology. In this review, the process of qualitative study has been clarified with the aim of offering a description of its general process. Basically, the qualitative investigation is exploratory, which indicates an understanding of the results made by the researcher(s). Likewise, designing a research is a process or guideline utilized to prepare, implement, and evaluate an idea that the researchers want to reveal about an issue. It is also a plan to answer the problems or concepts of an investigated study. Since qualitative studies help researchers to examine opinions, attitudes, and perspectives of human beings, so it has gained more attention in many fields and especially in the area of social sciences. Accordingly, the qualitative study focuses on how individuals perceive and give meaning to different social behaviors in order to explore people’s social observations. This study aims to reveal the qualitative research process and how the data would be collected via this approach. The researchers attempt to announce the significance of the qualitative study and focus group discussion tool (advantages and limitations as well) to propose a better understanding for the academics who want to utilize a qualitative study in social sciences.