CHAPTER IV

4. Analysis and data interpretation

The data obtained from the panel forum and the interviews.

ANALYSIS OF DATA OBTAINED FROM THE PANEL FORUM AND

INTERVIEWS

Data obtained from Mrs. Elsa Ramos point of view.

The qualitative research has come evolving through different stages of mankind

development. It was with the emergence of the Social Sciences that the qualitative

research method started to be used in Europe. It was during the 60s that the

qualitative research method had a great enhancement not only with sociology,

anthropology and ethnography but also with other areas.

Some of the main characteristics of the qualitative research method are, that the

approach studies the subjective part of life, it is inductive because there is a close

relation with the communities therefore things are known as they are. The

approach is holistic because it does not see the particular aspect but the general.

The qualitative research method makes emphasis on validity and not in

dependability because dependability referes to the numeral aspect and the

researcher must find out why a certain number of people say yes and why another

part say no.

The qualitative research method studies exploratory phenomena and it does not

have hypotheses to be proved and analized. This approach is flexible specially

when the results do not prove anything, but new questions emerge to continue with

the research. There should be just a general objective and specific objectives

which can change at any time and it does not mean that the research has not been

worthy.

The kind of instruments to be applied for collecting data are the participant

observation to discover all problem causes, and the open and semistructure

interviews to allow the interviewed people express their thoughts and points of

view, and this is the difference between the qualitative and the quantitative

research methods.

A disadvantage in the Qualitative research method is that during the research

work fields are required and there should be a good relationship with people

involved. In addition the number of questions and the interviewed people is limitted,

It can not exceed thirty. The most convenient number is twenty or twelve as

minimun. If this number is exceed there could be repetition and similarities in the

data obtained. The Qualitative research permits to analyze a whole problem and

also an aspect of a small group in its real setting.

It is through the qualitative research method that certain problems are known and

solved that is why it is necessary that people and goverment entities support to this

kind of researches in order to improve the development in El Salvador. But there

are still a lot of people who can not master this approach and consequently opt for

a quantitative research method because it is easier and it does not require a big

effort and time.

Data obtained from Mr. Elmer Mendoza point of view.

The qualitative ressearch method is related with the subjective senses through

which people practice the social relationship. A characteristic of a qualitative

research in Social Sciences is the good relationship between the design,

techniques, analysis and theoretical construction that means the practice which is

the clue for a significant research, consequently the results are obtaind from real

settings.

The qualitative approach has three types of bibliography they are specific,

theoretical and methodological. This approach is alert with the phenomena origens,

how someone behaves, what someone sees or not and what someone observes.

The interpersonal relationship with the researcher are in this context.

The importance of the qualitative research method stems from the dialogic

concression that is to say that there is a talk with people because researchers are

on a dialogue position.Therefore an advantage of the qualitative research method

is that it is focused on the communicative interaction and the popular language

which is obtained through the practice. The major desadvantage of this method is

that if the researchers have a lack of effective human relationship it would not be

convenient to develop this kind of research.

The Qualitative method takes a major depth while a natural relationship is

established between data that become criteria. researcher should have an open

mind to the reality in that way researchers can learn from people. Considering this,

the researchers should be apprentice because if the researchers notice a narrow

attitude, the effect and the objectives in mind will not be obtained.

There can be a combination between the qualitative and the quantitative

research methods, but just in case that a small sample can be taken to reflect

numerical data. It would be suitable to use the qualitative research in Educational

field depending on the topic.

Data obtained from Mr. José Agustín Merlos point of view.

The qualitative research method points out some of its main characteristics

because they are regarded as important in research. The qualitative research

method is dynamic, subjective,explotatory, inductive and descriptive. The

qualitative research is considered dynamic because it is based on people's natural

setting ,it is connected with their lives and tries to understand the full dynamic

deeds of the subject in study. The qualitative research method focuses on

subjective data that is not easily coded into numbers. This approach is also

exploratory typically when the researcher does not have hypotheses or an specific

assumption concerning to the problem. The process of the qualitative research

method is inductive because the researcher builds concepts , abstractions and

theories from details. This approach is also descriptive; that is, the researcher is

interested in process, meaning, and understanding gained through words or

pictures. The qualitative research method uses the observation and the interview to

have direct contact with the research object. This approach has a flexible design.

The selection of the approach to be developed in a research project depends on

the topic to investigate or on the results that a researcher wants to obtain because

the qualitative and quantitative approaches give satisfactory results . But those

results would be based on the data treatment. The qualitative research method

describes qualities , and it is based on the Social Sciences. It contributes with

Education because it forms a lot of values and qualities during the teaching and

learning process.