UNIT 3: QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
C. Characteristics of Qualitative Research
• Qualitative Research Topic
The research topic represents the key variables that are the focus of the research, usually written in the title of the research project. Unlike quantitative research emphasizing the quantifications of data, qualitative research closely investigates humans’ words, actions and records by establishing patterns emerging from the collected data. Another striking difference from quantitative research is that the qualitative inquiry is not intended to make a broad generalization, but to contextualize the findings.
The title of the research should include the nature or approach, main variables, research subjects, location, and time of research.
Examples of qualitative research titles:
• Strategies in Informal English Learning: A Case of EFL Students at an Indonesian University
24 ~ Kasyfur Rahman, Soni Ariawan, Ribahan
• Problems Encountered by English Young Learners during Daily English-Speaking Activities at an English Course Program
• EFL Students’ Strategies in Overcoming the Challenges of Online Speaking Lessons
• Background of Research
This section describes why some topics are deemed fascinating, relevant, and need to be explored by academics. This word refers to the problem's importance. It is required to describe three aspects in the context of the study:
Normative basis as an umbrella for thesis theoretical framework);
It is necessary to present the institutional basis of the state/institution (relevant laws/regulations) with the problem being researched;
Field empirical facts that become the actual research problem.
• Focus of Research
In quantitative research, the emphasis on qualitative research is referred to as the study's limitation. It covers a variety of topics that are nonetheless broad in scope. This constraint stems from the importance, urgency, and viability of the problem to be handled, as well as a lack of labor, cash, and time. It is stated to be possible if enough resources/capital are available to solve difficulties.
To decide the good problem in research, there are some criteria objectively and subjectively. The objective criteria to decide the problem of research are:
(1) It is up to date;
(2) It is interesting and actual to be studied;
(3) It has practical benefits when researched;
(4) It has a high discovery value;
(5) It has never been studied in other studies;
(6) It is not a repetition of another research;
(7) It has a problem faced by the wider community;
(8) It is important to find the answer;
Research Methods in ELT ∼ 25 (9) It has clear theoretical references;
(10) It has clear boundaries;
(11) It has weight in operational dimension;
(12) the hypothesis can be formulated (if necessary);
(13) It has a clear data source;
(14) It has clear instruments and is able to be validated.
The subjective criteria to decide the problem of research are:
(1) It is affordable by the available resource capacity;
(2) It is matched with the researcher's field and ability;
(3) the problem is ethical to study;
(4) It raises the researcher's interest;
(5) It is according to the scientific discipline and research expertise;
(6) The researcher has adequate theoretical mastery;
(7) The researcher's experience related to the scope of the study;
(8) There is sufficient time for research.
The examples of the focus of research are:
“The current study looked at how students felt about using online reading in speaking classes at the State Islamic University of Mataram's English Education Study Program. Students' preferences for online reading, motivation, the benefits that students received through online speaking, and students' future usage likelihood were all discussed during the conversation."
"The current study will focus on the investigation of code-mixing in Speaking class at the State Islamic University of Mataram's English Education Study Program. The researcher will look at the different types of code mixing in the classroom, the reasons for the instructor mixing the codes, and the reactions of the students."
• Objective and Significance of Research
The research objectives mention specifically the objectives to be achieved from the research. The research benefits mention the
26 ~ Kasyfur Rahman, Soni Ariawan, Ribahan
(new) contribution expected from the research for the development of science, both theoretical and practical.
• Scope of Research
Within the scope of the research, the limits and scope of the research focus are described. Limits can be made both on the magnitude and distribution of the problem as well as on a theoretical perspective. In the research setting, the researcher describes the natural setting (place or location) for the research to be carried out.
• Review of Previous Research
This section contains a systematic description of the results of previous research (prior research) that are relevant to the issues to be studied in this thesis. Therefore, a critical review that contains the advantages, disadvantages, and results of previous research is presented in this section. The researcher puts forward and shows firmly that the problem to be discussed has never been studied before or explains the author's research position among previous studies.
• Theoretical Basis
This section contains the theoretical basis made by the author about the problems to be studied. In this case, the researcher does not make an inventory of the theory but is required to make and determine the theory as a basis for analyzing the problem being studied, complete with a logical explanation of the operation.
• Research Method
This section contains a series of explanations for the scientific mechanism of research implementation starting from determining the research approach, the type of research, what data will be extracted, using what research instruments, and various stages of research to measure the validity of the data.
• Approach and Type of Research
This section provides brief reasons to choose a qualitative approach in the present research. It also explains the type of qualitative research such as (1) case study, (2) action or classroom research, (3) ethnography, (4) phenomenology, or others.
Research Methods in ELT ∼ 27 The example of this subchapter is:
This is a qualitative, descriptive literature review study.
Literature reviews, including research syntheses and meta- analyses, are critical evaluations of material that has already been published (APA, 2010, p. 10). For the reliability and validity of the study the coding of the data was carried out using constant comparison method and crosscheck by the researchers. Constant comparison is an inductive data analysis procedure in which the researcher generates and connects categories by comparing incidents in the data to other incidents, incidents to categories, and categories to other categories.11 Although there was a rubric consisting of pre- defined categories, while coding the data, new categories could arise deriving from the data analyzed. After the coding has finished, the completed rubric was cross-checked by the researchers.
D. TYPES OF QUALITATIVE STUDY