Why Qualitative Research is Best for Sensitive Social Issues

When you are deciding on a research method for your dissertation, there are three types of methods you can choose from. They are quantitative, qualitative, and a mix of both. If you are dealing with a sensitive issue such as religion or sexuality, the quantitative research method will best answer those questions without the necessity of large number crunching or statistics. The questions in your survey or observation can be open ended so that interpretation can be put in a narrative format. The narrative can be used to find patterns in behavior so that a conclusion can be drawn.

For example, if you want to do research on a sexual topic like gays in the military, you would have to create a problem statement that first discerns that there is a problem. The problem statement could contain the problem and the hypothesis you want to find out. After doing a through literature search through peer reviewed research, you may find that the answer is already there and that somebody has already done the research. You would then find another problem that would fit the same scenario. You may have to refine your question to "Do non-gay soldiers resent working with gay soldiers?"

A questionnaire could go out with questions that infer the favor or disfavor of working with gay soldiers. This survey should go out to all ranks and job descriptions in your survey population so that you do not get a cross-section that has an isolated opinion toward homosexuals. The questionnaire should be a likert type scale where the interviewee tells how strongly they feel about a statement. One should be unfavorably while five should be marked as favorably. All chosen marks in between should show the tendency toward either side of favor. The survey should be confidential or even anonymous.