Qualitative research pursues the objectives of understanding the underlying nature and gaining insight of any given occurrences.

These types of research provide justification to deliberate questions of why certain reactions persist in such ways and what are the elements which influence such actions. These aspect are of particular important for business as it provides information of what the customers want and how are their decisions upon say purchases are determine and what influences these decisions. Findings of qualitative research are generally subjective and addressing the underlying context of a phenomena without applying quantifiable variables to postulate certain degrees of relational connectivity. In simplistic term, qualitative research opt to provide imagery structure to the whole issues as how it is being perceived, visualised and comprehended by the masses (Grant, 2008) while quantitative research are more focused on instating numerical measurement to components pertaining to the issues. (Thomson, 2008) Qualitative researcher constructed representations of phenomena via interpretation of observatory materials such as interviews, recordings, etcetera that are collected within the phenomenas natural settings. (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005) Noting the aforementioned description of qualitative research, it is clear that one of its distinct dimensions are its context specific nature that generally provides platform for the process of studying the narratives feedback collected from the research participants and identifying underlying stimuli upon which the feedbacks are provided. Simultaneously, qualitative research would represent insight or internal perspective of those involves in a given phenomenon. Furthermore, it also provides the avenue for identification of new and also allowing for the emergence of new and unanticipated discoveries given to the iterative nature of qualitative research. (Wicks & Whiteford, 2006) Incongruent to quantitative research, qualitative research is not testing hypotheses that are bound to the assertion of validity via empirical confirmation in which by nature are not a characteristics of qualitative research. Nevertheless, collected data and findings made via this particular research may prompt identification of new hypotheses or theories related to the issues. In regards to this, it is usually noted that qualitative research are more towards theory building rather than theory testing. As a rule of thumb, researcher should deign and affirm themselves to a number of important questions before deciding to embark on doing qualitative research. Researcher should subject themselves in knowing the aim of the research whereby whether the main purpose is towards generating new theories or hypotheses or just trying to justify the existence of certain variable that have been predetermined from previous research. This is utterly important as realizing this nature would enable the researcher to acknowledge possible constraint and obstacles such as lack of resources i.e. time, money etcetera. Qualitative researcher would usually result in deliberate immersion into the studied phenomenon; therefore it should be clear that it is perhaps not suitable for business that required instant result. Another question that needs to be addresses is whether the researcher need to achieve deep understanding of the issues or just to have a scratch of the surface as this would point towards appropriate methods to undertake the research further. Finally, there is also the question of whether the researcher wouldnt mind of exchanging the element of generalization to attaining the meticulous details of the issues. If the researcher are looking

for concrete, statistically-supported outcome then perhaps quantitative approach should be more appropriate. Qualitative approaches of research study are mainly revolving on the general idea in which any qualitative research is being undertaken. These aspects in particular would provide the characteristics of the research in regards to indicating the research objectives, structural framework of the research, methodology related to data collection and analysis, apart from annotating the functions of the researcher throughout the entire process. Given to the nature of qualitative research that is to provide descriptive analysis of phenomena therefore it can be concluded into a number of orientations namely phenomenology, ethnography, grounded theory and case studies with its sets of characteristics yet it is not a prerogative to ascertain that each orientations could be clearly being differentiated from one another. Phenomenology is one of the apparent orientations of qualitative research that basically originating from the needs to study philosophical and psychological aspects of subjects. Researcher basing their qualitative approaches with this orientations would opt to focused on observing the impact of inter-relationship between participant and his/her surroundings that could be in the form of another person, environment, objects and so on. Collecting information through these particular orientations would usually require the researcher to allow participants to share their personal experience upon the matters being studied. One of the challenges with this is to ensure feedback given by the participants are genuine and without apprehension especially in instances where the issues being studied is having negative overtone such as drug abuse, prostitution etc. The researcher(s) needs to ensure the participants are comfortable enough to share their story and experience. As mentioned, the overall process would be done within unstructured conversation spectrum between participants and researchers without interjection of apparent leading questions. Business that perhaps aiming to produce a product that caters to teenagers for instance could use this approaches in determining whether the products suite their preferences. The overall setting for the study should also be acceptable to the target respondents such that it should be done not within the close vicinity of adults. Ethnography is another form of orientations for qualitative research that is originating from the study of cultural-related nature. This particular orientation would usually be undertaken with the researcher(s) to be closely involved within the culture itself. Researcher(s) would immersed themselves into the culture and thus taking notes and making observations throughout from what they see, feel, experience and comprehend personally. For instance, to study on organizational behaviour, researcher(s) can become employees of an organization and use this approach to gain insight from within the organization. Furthermore, as the researcher(s) are becoming part of the organizations, they might be able to observe behaviour that may not be visible from outside of the organization. This particular approach is also practical in gaining insight from participants who cant or reluctant to verbalise their experience on the issues such as children experience with toys etc. Grounded theory on the other hand is referring to elaborate investigation that involve imposing for further probing of

information provided by participants or by making references to historical information. However this practice is unbinding thus maintaining the whole approach to be non-static and unrestrictive. (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) Although this approach is using probing initiative yet is not engineered from a theory but the questions is derived from any area of interest since this particular approach were generally effective to gain insight from dynamically changing environments. Customers could provide information of their experience upon particular products, and researcher can use this information to probe further into identifying their positive experience and negative experience. Based on initial information, further findings can visualized the spectrum of positive and negative experience of the consumers. In a business setting grounded theory orientation may be viable to measure the effectiveness of for instance the promotional campaign undertaken by the business. Researcher may inductively generated a theory over this matter through analysis of archived records related to the said campaign such as meetings, email correspondence etcetera and further explore this notion in order to established more grounded theory and findings. Case studies on the other hand refer to the type of qualitative research orientation in which reference would be made on historical information pertaining to the issues in question. Scrutinizing the historical documentation would allow the researcher(s) to acknowledge specific themes arises and thus uses such themes to identify variables applicable to probable justifications to the issue. Businesses perhaps utilized these types of qualitative research orientations towards reflecting on its previous conditions or actions. Researcher would be able to investigate the entire structure of the business related to the issues being studied. Businesses that would like to come up with future decisions on how it may wish to proceed in creating a niche for its product or service offering may opt for these types of orientation. As suggested, findings made may suggest that historically the organization may have been associated with authentic and prestige value. The business could either re-enhance by capitalizing on this association or made contradictory decisions depending on its subsequent business objectives. As discussed earlier, the visible characteristics of qualitative research provides acceptable platform in studying in-depth subjects that is in particular are considered new and lack of previous research done on it. Qualitative research would allow the researcher to explore any phenomena quite freely without being restricted with theoretical assumption that may not be appropriately related to the subjects. As the researcher embarks utilizing available research tools such as the focus group interviews, observations etcetera, the researcher are able to derived narrative overview of the phenomena and also provide insight of the variables influencing the occurrences of such phenomena. A restaurant that decided to introduce new menu would easily gain the information of how perceptive the customers with it. Approaching customers, especially regular customers would allow for the restaurant to understand underlying satisfaction of the customers upon this new product introduction and also looked upon whether it is appropriate to the customers preferences. Furthermore, within the process, the restaurant may encounter additional information such as suggestion for further improvement that

the customers would actually wanted to see being done by the restaurant. Implementing qualitative research also would enable for more genuine private information that would open up towards broader spectrum of research. Businesses that wish to measure the level of effectiveness of its marketing department for instance may encounter the general findings that affirmed the plausible effectiveness of the department as a whole but at the same time would receive certain anecdote regarding the ineffectiveness of the department customer outreach program etcetera. Another advantage of qualitative research is the existence of its verbal information that in some cases were able to be converted into statistical figures that makes the findings of the research to be quantifiable. For business that practically would base most decisions on numbers and figures, this particular association would add more weight and support upon the worthiness of undertaking any decision. Qualitative research that concluded the customers were satisfied with products or services provided by the business may associate this finding with the sales values of such products and services thus adding more weight on deciding to increase the investment made for any business activities related to it. It is also notable to state that qualitative research approaches would have to the possibility of revealing information that was unexpected or uncalled for based on its generally freeform structure. Unlike quantitative research that in general would seek to find data towards justifying certain hypotheses and theories based on pre-determined data collection methods, qualitative research on the other hand were more flexible in which the information collected is in general seek not to provide measuring elements to the subjects but more to provide the description of it. However, regardless of the advantages, qualitative research also presented several disadvantages. One of such disadvantages is the inability of qualitative research findings to be generalized to represent the general population. In certain cases, qualitative findings may include numerical feedbacks from the participants yet since the number of participants included within qualitative research is mostly smaller to accommodate the meticulous needs of the research; therefore it is not reliable to be used as a representation of the overall population. In an organization, although 8 out of 10 employees involves with a qualitative study stated that they aspire for the organization to review the current salary scale, yet to annotate this view as the general view of all say 500 employees of the organization is therefore might be a skewed judgement. There is also challenges in determining statistical methods to represent findings made given to the nature of research that is mainly based on open ended questions or stated in a very subjective manners. The notion of associating numbers to information derived from qualitative research is somewhat tedious, and furthermore it is not statistically viable as stated above. Using a small number of sampling not only makes it hard for generalization purposes but also distort the used of statistical analysis that can assist researcher to pinpoint variables to another. In one of the example above, it was suggested that certain findings can be linked to specific numerical figures i.e. high customers satisfaction indicated with high sales value for products and services. Without sufficient numerical input, it is usually difficult for viable statistical data analysis to be done.

Therefore, in regards to the above scenario, the relationship between customer satisfaction with sales value may be the underlying theme identified yet it may not be statistically proven and furthermore the actual strength of the relationship between both variable is not identifiable. Suggestively, without statistically viable analysis, business that decide on making investment on enhancing the products functional capabilities may have made a misguided decisions if such elements of the product have only contribute to just mere satisfaction to the customers in general. Above all, one major disadvantage of qualitative research and that has always been the most challenging aspect is the question of reliability. Based on its philosophical orientations, qualitative research is considered oblivious to the issue of objectivities in which the findings is to construct distinct adherence to accept or reject outlined hypotheses as those that can be done with quantitative research. However, it should be noted that viability of findings under qualitative research can indeed be ascertain with by judging the research with separate criteria on its own accord rather than by using the typical judging criteria outlined for quantitative research. Furthermore, the reliability of qualitative findings can be enhance with numerous methods such as researcher substantiation, peer reviewing, elongate engagement within the subject environment, and more. It is obvious that there are distinct differences between quantitative and qualitative research and also noticeable that it is adhering to specific needs and requirement of the researcher. Nonetheless, it also obvious that each possess its own advantages and disadvantages, and pertaining to businesses the findings construed to rational decision making for the businesses. Quantitative research findings would justify the generalization of general consumers of particular products and thus enable the business to undertake specific or anticipative measures that qualitative research may not be able to provide while on the other hand qualitative research may provide the insight of the customers preferences etcetera that would be a vital information in product development process of the business. The abovementioned statement also indicative that in any research regardless of whether it is done via neither qualitative nor quantitative approach, it is considered heavily skewed to note that one is better than the other. Yet it is justifiable to note that given certain attributes and requirements, one is more appropriate than the other and most of the time being interjected upon the completion of each other. Qualitative research that is known for its exploratory nature was often followed with quantitative research for the purpose of further confirmation of findings while there are also cases in which quantitative research findings further scrutinized with qualitative research towards seeking logical explanation of the numerical findings made. Given such nature therefore it is frequently applied the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods within one study. This combination would allow for multidimensional overview of the subject matter and thus allowing for broader and even more comprehensive understanding. 2,573 words

Wicks, A. & Whiteford, G. (2006) Conceptual and practical issues in qualitative research: Reflections on a life history study. Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences Papers. University of Wollonggong. Grant, R. (2008) A phenomenological case study of a lecturers understanding of himself as an assessor. The Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, Volume 8, Issue 10. Denzin, N. K. & Lincoln, Y. (2005) The sage handbook of qualitative research, 3rd edition. California: Sage Publication. Thomson, C. (2008) Phenomenology in teacher education contexts: enhancing pedagogical insight and critical reflexivecapacity. The Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, Volume 8, Issue 9. Glaser, B. G. & Strauss, A. L. (1967) The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research New York: Aldine de Gruyter.