Theme 4 reflection

So, qualitative methods, what is it? Our collaborate info about qualitative methods now says “ “Qualitative Research Methods: A Data Collector’s Field Guide”, a qualitative research is especially effective in obtaining culturally specific information about the values, opinions, behaviors, and social contexts of particular populations. “. But in this view about qualitative methods I believe that we have gone a step towards pure social science research in some way where it is all about human behavior. Maybe that is what media technology is about? I think that we in this part of the course about the methods should discuss even more what kind of research that is special about media technology. It is a broad area, yes, but it still is an area.

We discussed a lot in our group about how to evaluate the data you get from a qualitative research. You have to be careful and look at your own views a lot when analyzing this data because the results can easily be affected by you as a researcher. I have read about a view called constructionism and this is about that there is no objective reality, especially not in the social world. This is about that people construct their reality based on their beliefs and expectations. This is a thought as hard as the discussion about knowledge in the beginning of the course. I still think it is very important to have these thoughts in the back of your head when talking about qualitative research. How can you be neutral when the research is about human behavior? We also discussed phenomenologism and this view is about that a person’s perception is what creates the persons reality. And people don’t perceive things in the same way. Therefore people’s reality is different and this is what is studied.

Qualitative research is though important and interesting but my point is that it should be made with caution and a open mind. Otherwise is can easily go wrong.