Annual General Assembly 2004 - Tasmania

Session 4A

Why A Qualitative Research Strategy? A discussion on research strategies, focusing on qualitative research; a challenge for the maritime cluster

Jan Horck
World Maritime University
Malmö, Sweden
jh@wmu.se

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the qualitative versus quantitative strategies in research, emphasizing the qualitative strategies. With the increased importance in studying maritime human behaviour, in a research area historically dominated by quantitative strategies, a qualitative strategy will give additional and deeper knowledge relevant to every IAMU researcher. Qualitative strategies have been used since the mid 60s. What do they signify? Are they unbiased? It certainly cannot be just an ignorant interviewing of a population and its world that the researcher wishes to investigate. There is more to it. We must realize that human perception is highly selective. What people "see" is dependent on their interests, biases and backgrounds. Those who do observational research are expected to go beyond ordinary looking and do systematic "seeing". Nota bene, if the researcher lacks method-knowledge there is the risk of subjectivity. This paper introduces, to the MET world, a few research strategies to reasonably do away with subjectivity.

Both qualitative and quantitative data can be collected in the same study. We have to realize that different perspectives give different types of insight. Qualitative strategies are preferably used in social science.

In walking together and communicating with the research object the researcher attains knowledge that s/he otherwise would not be able to discover. Truth is created by dialogue and by observing people's reactions to specifi c occurrences. Through language humans handle situations, surroundings, themselves, relationships, etc. Classroom teaching articulates ways of using language in social relations. Research strategies sometimes classifi ed as "loose" can certainly be justified.

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