Interviews, data collection qualitative research

The quantitative research methods collect quantitative data (numbers), while the quahtative research methods collect qualitative data (texts). The quantitative research methods may include close-ended questionnaire survey, test, interview, and observation using checklists that collect quantitative data. The qualitative research methods may include open-ended questionnaire survey, interview, observation using field note, artifact analysis, and so on that collect qualitative data. 

Unlike survey research studies, in which analysis normally begins only after all the data have been collected, in-depth interview studies allow for the simultaneous collection and analysis of data. Qualitative researchers should attend to their interview transcripts as the research progresses, looking for emerging themes and plausible lines of analysis. Often ideas emerging from earlier interviews are incorporated into later ones, thus allowing the researcher to test preliminary hypotheses during the... 

The most common methods of data collection in qualitative research designs are interviews, observations, and document analysis. 

In my research my over-arching method is action research, described in Rasmussen [7]. Action research aims at doing a change in practice at the same time as research is performed. The methods I have used are qualitative, collecting data about the people, the system and the context. Examples of methods used are semi-structured interviews, field studies and participatory observations. 

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