Answered! Public Administration: Research Methodologies Why do you think the researcher is so importat when conducting qualitative research? Defend your response….

The precision with which the qualitative researcher recognizes herself exposes numerous filters and the degree of sensitivity with which the researcher would collect, observe, analyze, and report the data. For example, In a case of conducting research activities where the participants having different racial, cultural, or linguist background than the researcher, the distance between the researcher and the participants impacts decisions made by the researcher at different stages of the research including samples selection, structuring the interview questions, conducting the observations, finding/ interpreting themes in the data, and generating insights. Key participants, for example, could share information that can be partially realized or even misinterpreted by researchers because of their unfamiliarity with the community’s language and cultural practices. This can result in potential adverse consequences include researchers’ misunderstanding and misrepresentation of communities’ histories, practices, and needs. Few such examples of consequences are cited in Table 1:

Source:

Arzubiaga, A., Artiles, A. J., King, K.A., & Harris-Muri, N. (2008). Beyond research ‘on’ cultural minorities: Challenges and implications of research as situated cultural practice. Exceptional Children, 74, 309-327