Coaching researchers: Why should qualitative research matter?

04 October 2013

When most researchers talk about clinical research, most people will make an instant connection with studies where everything is quantified. Whether it is an experimental study such as a randomized trial or an observational study, everything has to be represented by a number or a category. What most of these people miss, however, is that results from quantitative research can hardly be evaluated in the absence of context, and context is qualitative.

Here is a simple example: There is a humongous amount of research regarding healthcare disparities, the vast majority of them demonstrating that racial minorities usually have worse results when treated for a given condition. What is often uncertain however, is why that might be the case. For example, is is because there is racial discrimination? Communication problems? Issues in accessing care? All of the above?

This is where qualitative research comes in, because to even create a hypothesis about why a certain factor might be a player in the disparity scenario, a researcher first has to know that that factor exists. For example, if I attempt to study a group where disparities abound, but I don't even think about the possibility of that phenomenon being related to mistrust issues among the minority group, the researcher might misinterpret the disparity as being caused by the healthcare provider.

Second, in order to properly measure all the different aspects during the quantitative study, it is important to have a deep qualitative understanding of the phenomenon. Back to our example regarding mistrust, unless a researcher has a deep understanding about the various components of mistrust, it would be impossible to capture the underlying causes. For example, are the main underlying factors issues such as historical events, the fact that healthcare providers are perceived as being from a racial or ethnic group that is different from theirs, or whatever else might be underlying the issue. The fact is that without qualitative research it is virtually impossible to determine what will have to measured in the quantitative portion of the study.

Last, one of the big misconceptions about qualitative research is that it has to entirely precede the quantitative components. The problem with that concept is that if in order to conduct a quantitative study we have to wait for the qualitative to be completed, the full study would take a really long time. Instead, an ideal workflow would be to have iterative cycles of short studies where the qualitative results help guide the quantitative ones, and the quantitative studies would help point the qualitative ones to the areas where more depth is needed.

by Ricardo Pietrobon

About Me

My name is Ricardo Pietrobon and I am interested in big data and situated cognition applied to immersive distance education.