How Qualitative Research Came into Existence?

 

How Qualitative Research Came into Existence?

Human beings have always attempted to understand the world where they live. Before the 19th century, questions about human existence were answered from the Bible, the Church, and from Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle who believed that the process of “knowing” was absolute, systematic and logical.

It was during the late 18th century when the pursuit of knowledge experienced a scientific crisis. Other philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, William Dilthey, Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty believed that life consists of what we experience in our activities and reflections as we live out our personal histories and that we live in a matrix of complex relationships with others.

Therefore, humans cannot be studied as isolated units but must be understood in the context of their “lived world” or “cultural and social connections”. The seminal work of these philosophers paved the way for the birth of naturalistic or qualitative research.

In short, Qualitative Research has a long history in sociology and has been used within it for as long as the field has existed. This type of research has long appealed to social scientists to investigate the meanings people attribute to their behavior, actions, and interactions with others.