Overview of Qualitative Research Study-Terence Essay

Overview of Qualitative Research Study-Terence - Essay Example This research method answers the how and why of decision making. It goes further than quantitative research method which only answers the where, what, and when? This paper aims at dissecting qualitative research to gain an understanding on the characteristics of the research design and to know when and where it is appropriate for use. A sample size refers to a subset of a population that gets selected for a given study. Sample size is a vital aspect of any research study. It provides for a basis from which inferences about a population can be determined. It refers to the number of observation used to calculate or determine the characteristics of a given population (Barbour, 2013). When undertaking sample size determination for qualitative studies, it is vital to know that there are no fixed or fast rules. However, it is important to give at least two considerations when coming up with the sample size. The first consideration should be how large does the sample need to be to enable the identification of consistent patterns. The sample size should be large enough to leave the researcher with nothing left to learn or no emergent trend. The second consideration should be how large the sample should be to provide a reflection of the target population. The sample size must be large enough to help assess an appropriate amount of diversity represented across the target population. Under qualitative studies, the researcher may estimate the sample size base on his or her data collection methods or the approach of their study. For example when undertaking a case study approach in a qualitative study, the researcher selects one case or one person. Another example can be when using focus group discussions as a data collection method. The researcher gets to create groups that average 5-10 people each (Silverman, 2013). The researcher also has to consider the number of focus groups that will be