Qualitative research has many branches. The reason for the so many branches that make up qualitative research is that researchers have different ways of capturing the complexity of human behaviour and depth of perception of phenomena. There are also reasons which are conditioned by the theory of knowledge that the researchers have that seem to centre on the level of involvement of the researched. In QR there are procedures that aim at involving the researched completely. This view point informs such branches as action research and participatory research.
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Action research
This basically evolves from the researched – they have a need to carry out research to solve an immediate problem. The role of the researcher is to enable them to realise this goal. The researcher is part of the group and his/her role is to facilitate the process by asking some questions which make the people themselves do most of the things.
Rapid Rural assessment
This is a way of investigating a problem in the shortest possible time. It is conducted by an interdisciplinary team employing mainly interviews. It is a survey technique that employs human instruments instead of questionnaires. RA arose out of the frustration with some social science methods that are too lengthy though rigorous or too brief and lacking in accuracy. The emphasis is on cost effectiveness especially at the beginning of a research project.
Participatory Research
Participatory research combines research, education and action. The role of the researcher in this case is first to become the focal point that enables the participants to translate the unarticulated problems into needs, to provide education in such areas as techniques for data collection and analysis and to enable participants to plan and implement the results of the research.
Phenomenological research
The researcher has greater control over the research process. He/she observes and records phenomena as they occur or affect the participants in the research, and interprets the findings using his or her own judgement. There is clear element of expertism in phenomenological research though the biography of the researcher needs to be known so that the interpretation can be judged against the assumptions the researcher had at the beginning.
Ethnography
is a form of qualitative research carried out singularly and sometimes over a long period of time. It employs such techniques as observation and interviews. The researcher stays on one site, talks to the participants and some times takes part in activities e.g. teaching in a school, but primarily he/she is a keen observer of what is going on.
Biographical Research
Biographical research is a form of self-study. The participant is asked to write about his/herself. What he/she writes is prompted by questions prepared by the researcher. Mwanakatwe used one long autobiographical account by Mwamba Luchembe (Mwanakatwe, 1993). In it, this ex-soldier who ruffled Kenneth Kaunda by announcing a short-lived coup attempt recounted his own life from school to the army and to the day when he announced the coup de tat. A biography written on the basis of an interview is called a semi biography.
Case studies
Case Studies are studies of single sites or persons in depth for the purpose learning about one site or person. A case study takes a long time.