What is QDA in research? Qualitative data analysis. Outlines of classes: Media education and professionalization.

Media education and professionalization. Audience and professional groups. In-depth interview

Main concepts

Qualitative research methods – research techniques used in social sciences that focus on understanding phenomena rather than their quantitative measurement. They involve collecting and analyzing non-numerical data in order to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. Researchers can use, for example, participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus groups.

In-depth interview – this is a qualitative method in which researchers conduct interviews in a free-form manner based on a script of questions. It allows for obtaining detailed, comprehensive answers from respondents.

What is QDA in research? Top content

1. The philosophy of qualitative research. It is different from positivist quantitative research. It assumes a different concept of social reality, man, as well as the purpose of the study and the research process.
2. Audience and professional groups. Narrowly defined groups of recipients using the media or groups of representatives of media professions. We try to understand the specifics of using the media, e.g. by blind people or the motivations and professional responsibilities, e.g. journalists writing about basketball.
3. Qualitative methods and journalism. There is a certain similarity between qualitative research and the work of a reporter, mainly due to observation, conversations – interviews, analysis of documents. In qualitative research, however, we do not look for sensations, but for stories of others about reality as they perceive it.
4. Qualitative research report. Diploma thesis using qualitative methods. After transcribing the interviews, we look for common categories in them, which we arrange into a structure. We can use CAQDAS software. We use the constant comparison technique, the grounded theory of Barney Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss.

Literature and discussion questions

• Drzewiecki P., Medioznawstwo sportowe, Warszawa 2021, s. 62-87.

In my book Sports Media Studies (Medioznawstwo sportowe) I have prepared several chapters on qualitative research. I have discussed them using examples from the study of audience and professional groups related to sports.

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research compared to quantitative research?
2. What audiences or professional groups would be worth investigating?
3. What are the key elements of a well-conducted in-depth interview?