Publishing Qualitative Research.

The article categorizes and describes qualitative research areas. Qualitative researchers involves studying qualities or entities and understanding them in a particular context. The notion of context sensitivity forms the basis of qualitative research. Qualitative research represents the belief that the environment in which individuals find themselves has great influence on their thought and action. The view that human acts are context-sensitive forms another basis of qualitative research. Qualitative research is characterized by self-examination and criticism of the roles established, of the methods used and of mistakes made. Some qualitative research may be described as systematic. Conflict theories and structural-functional theories are two social theories used to explain social life by qualitative researchers. A conflict theorist views schools as a representator and reproductor of the existing class and economic divisions in the society as a whole where as structural functionalism sees schools as one component in a cohesive system of interlocking parts. The researcher operating from the conflict theories framework chooses topics for study and focuses the analysis of data around these themes. The researcher operating from the structural functionalism framework identifies how the schools function with respect to the larger system and identifies dysfunctional aspects.