Is social research just a fancy name for "Facebook Stalking"? Well, not really, but they certainly share some core principles. Finding out more about someone by looking them up online is essentially qualitative research - albeit on a small, and intimate, scale.
This type of social investigation is just one method of qualitative research, which focuses on people's personal and subjective experiences. An example of qualitative research might be looking at a social sub-group (perhaps the members of the 1.3 million strong Facebook group "Accomplishing something before the microwave reaches :00"… seriously!) and interviewing them about why they are members of the group or what their experience of being in the group has been, in order to examine group membership and social interaction online. In contrast, the scientific measurement approach may be to collect data on the ages of people in the group or their country of residence to build a demographic profile of users.
Qualitative research is concerned with understanding human behaviour, including the "why" and "how" humans make decisions, as well as what influences their actions. Social researchers are also interested in the meaning conveyed to other people by observed actions. What we do conveys messages to others - this meaning may be direct - we embrace someone in the street - or indirect - we throw rubbish out of the car window, or do not clean up after our dog. There may be no direct physical contact involved, but our actions impinge on others' experience.
This unit introduces students to qualitative research methods in sociology, which can also be applied to marketing and market research, or any discipline which requires an in-depth understanding of human behaviour. You will be introduced to a range of theoretical approaches, which can be used as tools to help understand and explain social phenomenon.