Introduction Research is the urge to know the unknown in a systematic manner following certain principles.

Qualitative research is best used in fields like anthropology, sociology, human resources management, marketing sciences, philosophy, social psychology etc. It plays a critical role and gives valuable insight on the various social aspects and a better understanding of underlying social dynamics and phenomenon. The researchers focus on gaining varied rich experiences of people which then can be generalized to a wider sample or larger groups. Qualitative researchers search for a particular pattern or trait that might be common among the respondents although they do not work on any pre determined hypothesis. Observatory powers are of immense importance to a qualitative researcher. But qualitative research generally revolves taking a smaller sample of respondents or participants. The other more popular form of research is quantitative research. Quantitative research uses and focuses on the usage of various numerical and statistical tools to arrive at results. It has got widespread usage in the various forms of natural science especially in physics, biology, and chemistry. It also finds good use in management sciences sociology and psychology too. When researchers use quantitative analysis they generally have one or more hypotheses, possibly various kinds of probable relationships or predictions about the constituents of the topic they want to investigate. In recent times researchers tend to use complex softwares and other data analysis tools to enable them to determine the extent of correlation that exists between the different parameters on which the research is primarily based upon.

Basis of classification The purpose of the research Process Otucome of the research Logic of the research

Type of research Exploratory,Descriptive,analytical, predictive Quanatative or qualitative Applied or basic Deductive or Inductive.

Exploratory research

Exploratory research is generally done for research purposes when there is not much literature or research available on that particular topic. What exploratory research generally does is to scan for various types of hypothesis that may be chalked out rather than testing the hypothesis itself.

What is the nature of data that is the end result of an exploratory research needs to be understood first. Exploratory research generally produces qualitative data

Fig 1 Exploratory research This qualitative data that is produced as a result of exploratory research is generally textual in nature. This cannot however be analyzed by any quantitative or statistical methods or tools .But analysis of is done based on deductions and general logical principles. Exploratory techniques generally consists of face to face interviews, focus groups etc. The focus group interviews conducted may be of 60-90miutes of duration. The disadvantages of focus group interviews are that it cannot be generalized to a wider population as that would be extremely unscientific. Each question of a focus group is designed in such a way so that it may be answered within 30 to 60 seconds at most. At the beginning of the interview the group is made comfortable by general simple questions and then the key questions are placed. The participants are then encouraged

from general opinions to more concrete and specific questions. Lastly the participants or respondents are asked to summarize on their opinion and express their exact views. The focus group and in depth interviews are the most preferred techniques for collection of primary data. Many researchers are of the opinion that often qualitative evaluation as its is done in qualitative research is often given a secondary performance to questionnaire, surveys and various other quantitative based methods.
Comparison between Qualitative and quantitative analysis

Quantitative analysis Quantitative analysis generally focuses on data that would confirm the hypothesis it started with

Qualitative analysis Qualitative analysis is primarily concerned with exploring of the various phenomenons to form a suitable hypothesis.

Quantitative analysis uses more structured methods like questionnaires, various kinds of surveys or structured observation Instruments are rigid primarily focusing on particular responses to particular questions. In quantitative analysis the focus is quantification of the objective of the research. It predicts casual relationships or describes the surface characteristics of a population. The questionnaire pattern is generally closeended. The data obtained is mostly numerical in nature.

Qualitative analysis is based on semi structured methods such as in depth interviews, focus groups or participant observation. Instruments are much more flexible, trying to bring out the most candid response from the respondents. In qualitative analysis the focus is to describe in detail about the objective. It describes in detail the various relationships and explores individualistic experiences or group behaviours. The questions are always open ended.

The data obtained is mostly textual in nature.

Advantages of qualitative methods in exploratory research The prime advantage of qualitative research methods is its usage of open ended questions .This provides with an opportunity for the respondents to describe their opinion and express their honest

feelings about the research .The open ended questions help to generate responses which are meaningful .The responses are explanatory in nature and often even takes the researcher by surprise. In qualitative analysis the researcher is free to probe the participants, and dig deeper .The researcher must be very skilled however to probe in the right direction and reduce the amount of junk responses 3which respondents often may tend to give. Sampling Technique of qualitative research For qualitative research it is not absolutely necessary for the researcher to collect a huge amount of data from many respondents. A sample or subset of the entire population is good enough to serve the purpose. Qualitative data analysts sometimes use purposive sampling technique. Sample size is directly proportional to the availability of time and resources. Purposive sampling is most effective when data collection is followed up with data review and analysis.

Various Qualitative analysis techniques. Focus group interviews: One of the most important and premier methods of qualitative research is the usage of focus groups. The usage of focus group interviews s so widespread that it has become almost synonymous with qualitative analysis. Keeping the main idea or principle of qualitative analysis in mind focus group interviews are mainly unstructured, free flowing so that the best responses may be elucidated from the participants. The size of a focus group should not be very large and it typically varies between 6-10 participants at most who generally share a common subject of interest. A trained interviewer or moderator generally conducts the focus group interviews encouraging dialogue and debate among the respondents. A few very common focus group interview examples are Branding, advertisement likes and dislikes, new product concepts, employee satisfaction etc. Often to conduct a focus group interview successfully two moderators are preferred. The focus groups interviews are generally concluded when additional data doesnt come up with any new understanding, technically referred to as the saturation point of the discussion.

A typical example of a Focus group interview Thank you everyone for your volunteering to help us carry out this research. We call this typically a focus group .Let me just tell you how this works, let me know whenever you have any doubts. This will be a kind of a discussion where you may raise your own viewpoints about the subject. You are free two disagree with one another or comment on what you think. The rule is no one should interrupt one another for our clarity. The topic for todays discussion would be employee satisfaction in the modern competitive corporate world. 1. Ok,so lets talk about how much do all of you like your own job and what according to you the Job Brings to your life. 2. So do you think that liking the work you do is important for your satisfaction at work place? (Probe: Ok, so Joe is of the opinion that ..,what do others say on this issue.) 3. Now let me ask all of you a very specific question, do you think that appreciation by your immediate boss far a work that you have completed successfully is a good motivator for you? 4. So Helen believes more than verbal appreciation, an incentive or an award of merit would serve the purpose the best. Do we all agree to that?

Advantages of focus group interviews Less time consuming and Easy: Focus group interviews are easy to execute and relatively fast method of arriving at a definite conclusion. In case of emergencies it is quite possible to conduct three or four group interviews, analyze and report the results in the span of a week or so. All over the UK as well as the United states have many research organizations with their own focus group conduction facilities. Most of the large organizations have at least one focus group moderator in their research and development team to facilitate them whenever necessary. Flexibility Focus groups interviews offer considerable amount of flexibility owing to the fact that the moderator is allowed to probe for better understanding of the research. This is something which can never be

achieved with the help of structured interviews where the questions are close ended.yhe variations in consumer behavior for example can be analyzed with the help of a focus group where numerous topics can be correlated at once and with the skills of the moderator the participants project what exactly they would do in a real life scenario. Similarly there are many such situations like new product development, or psychological theories where the flexibility offered by focus group interviews are unparalleled. Scrutiny: Focus group interviews aid the moderator or interviewer in scrutinizing the responses in several ways. Generally the responses are taped and live video recording of the sessions are also done. The researchers view the entire process live.oif they feel that the moderator is not asking the right questions or the interview is going astray from the main issue ,then they quickly send a message which is conveyed to the moderator and the moderator then functions accordingly.