Qualitative Research Methods: Types, Approaches and Real Examples

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Quick answerQualitative research studies experiences, meanings and reasons using words, observations and images rather than numbers. Its main methods are interviews, focus groups, observation and document analysis, and its main approaches include case studies, phenomenology, grounded theory and ethnography. Data is often analysed by finding recurring themes.

Below, we explain the main qualitative methods and approaches in plain language, with real qualitative and case studies published by PhD researchers on ScholarsColab.

Qualitative vs quantitative research at a glance

Qualitative Quantitative
Data Words, observations, images Numbers and measurements
Question Why? How? What is it like? How many? How much? Is there a difference?
Sample Small, chosen for relevance Larger, often random
Analysis Themes and interpretation Statistics
Result Rich understanding of a situation Measurable patterns that can be generalised

The main qualitative approaches

Approach What it aims to do Example
Case study Understand one case, or a few, in depth How one hospital introduced electronic records
Phenomenology Describe what an experience is like for people The experience of first-generation PhD students
Grounded theory Build a new theory from the data How small farmers decide to adopt new technology
Ethnography Understand a group’s culture by spending time with it Daily life in a software start-up
Narrative research Study people’s life stories Career paths of women engineers

Example: qualitative studies by our mentors

To explain how qualitative research works in practice, we look at real studies published by our mentors. Our data: 41,792 papers, mostly published between 1998 and 2026, by 967 ScholarsColab mentors (data updated 15 October 2026).

Step 1
Look at real qualitative studies. Notice words like “interviews”, “qualitative” and “thematic analysis” in their titles:

Published paperYearCitations
The effect of fertilizer treatments at three compactness levels on qualitative traits of sport lawn in winter season
Maliheh Eftekhari		20121
Stockpiling on Off-Label Medicines in Anticipation of COVID-19 in Belize: A Qualitative Study
Danladi Chiroma Husaini		20210
QUALITATIVE STRUCTURE ACTIVITY RELATIONSHIP (QSAR) OF NEW ORGANIC COMPOUNDS SYN THESIZED BY STILLE CROSS COUPLING REACTION WITH ANTITUMOR ACTIVITY
Ibrahim fathy Nassar		20150
On the Power of Ideas and Values: An Interview with Ioanna Kuçuradi, FISP President
W. Julian Korab-Karpowicz		20020
Methods of data collection in qualitative research: Interviews, focus groups, observations, and document analysis
Dr Satish Chand		2025217

Step 2
Look at real case studies. Each focuses on one organisation, place or situation in depth:

Published paperYearCitations
Assessment of the Biogas Potential in the Vhembe District of Limpopo: A Case Study of Waste-to-Energy Conversion Technology
Thilivhali Rasimphi		20184
A case study on power quality analysis for 600 kW grid connected wind farm
Dr. Rajesh Pinoriya		20204
Sustainable development under belt and road initiative: A case study of China-Pakistan economic corridor’s socio-economic impact on Pakistan
Rashid Menhas		2019154
Combining AHP and genetic algorithms approaches to modify DRASTIC model to assess groundwater vulnerability: a case study from Jianghan Plain, China
Dr. Malik Muhammad Akhtar		201772
Promoting sustainable smallholder aquaculture productivity through landscape and seascape aquapark models: a case study of Busia County, Kenya
Nicholas Outa		202235

Step 3
Notice what these studies ask. They ask how and why things happen, and what people experience, rather than measuring how much.

Interviews and observationswords and meanings
→
Themespatterns across participants

Step 4
See how common it is. 79 of the 41,792 papers in our data (0.2%) show this in their title: interview / qualitative study. It is most common in Social sciences & education, where 1.1% of papers show it. Qualitative methods are central in education, management, the social sciences and health, and much rarer in engineering, which dominates our data.

How a qualitative study is carried out

  1. Frame an open research question beginning with how, why or what.
  2. Choose an approach (case study, phenomenology, grounded theory…).
  3. Select participants purposively: people with relevant experience.
  4. Collect data through interviews, focus groups, observation or documents, until new data adds little (called saturation).
  5. Analyse the data, usually by coding it and grouping the codes into themes.
  6. Show trustworthiness: describe your process, check interpretations with participants, and reflect on your own influence.

Common mistakes reviewers point out

  • No clear approach, just “interviews were conducted”.
  • Thin analysis that lists quotations without interpreting them.
  • Judging qualitative work by statistical standards, such as asking for large random samples.
  • No explanation of how themes were developed.

Frequently asked questions

What are the main qualitative research methods?

The main methods are in-depth interviews, focus groups, observation and analysis of documents or images. They are used within approaches such as case studies, phenomenology, grounded theory and ethnography.

What is thematic analysis?

Thematic analysis is a common way of analysing qualitative data, in which the researcher codes the data and groups the codes into themes that describe recurring patterns of meaning.

How many participants does a qualitative study need?

There is no fixed number. Many interview studies use between 10 and 30 participants, continuing until new interviews add little new information, a point called saturation.

Is a case study qualitative?

Case studies are often qualitative, but they can also use quantitative data or both. What defines a case study is the in-depth focus on one or a few cases.

Can qualitative research be generalised?

Not statistically. Qualitative findings aim for transferability: rich enough description that readers can judge whether they apply to other settings.

Use this data in your own work

Use this data in your own research. Download the aggregated figures behind these charts (counts, medians and shares by type of paper, period, method and discipline) as a CSV file. Please cite it as:ScholarsColab (2026). ScholarsColab Research Methods Index [Data set]. Vidhilekha Soft Solutions Pvt Ltd. Retrieved 15 October 2026, from https://scholarscolab.com/research-methodology/. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.Download the data (CSV) →

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Mentors whose published work uses this approach:

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About the data on this page. The ScholarsColab Research Methods Index is built from the Google Scholar publication lists of PhD researchers who mentor on ScholarsColab, and is updated daily as mentors and publications are added. Methods, designs and paper types are identified from titles, so papers whose titles do not mention them are not counted in those groups. The mentors are not a random sample of all researchers (engineering and computer science are strongly represented), so the figures describe this group of researchers and may not apply to research as a whole.