assignment on qualitative method

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• Qualitative Methods
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• Theoretical Framework
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• Scholarly vs. Popular Publications
• Quantitative Methods
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• Common Grammar Mistakes
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The word qualitative implies an emphasis on the qualities of entities and on processes and meanings that are not experimentally examined or measured [if measured at all] in terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or frequency. Qualitative researchers stress the socially constructed nature of reality, the intimate relationship between the researcher and what is studied, and the situational constraints that shape inquiry. Such researchers emphasize the value-laden nature of inquiry. They seek answers to questions that stress how social experience is created and given meaning. In contrast, quantitative studies emphasize the measurement and analysis of causal relationships between variables, not processes. Qualitative forms of inquiry are considered by many social and behavioral scientists to be as much a perspective on how to approach investigating a research problem as it is a method.

Denzin, Norman. K. and Yvonna S. Lincoln. “Introduction: The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research.” In The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research . Norman. K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, eds. 3 rd edition. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2005), p. 10.

Characteristics of Qualitative Research

Below are the three key elements that define a qualitative research study and the applied forms each take in the investigation of a research problem.

• Naturalistic -- refers to studying real-world situations as they unfold naturally; non-manipulative and non-controlling; the researcher is open to whatever emerges [i.e., there is a lack of predetermined constraints on findings].
• Emergent -- acceptance of adapting inquiry as understanding deepens and/or situations change; the researcher avoids rigid designs that eliminate responding to opportunities to pursue new paths of discovery as they emerge.
• Purposeful -- cases for study [e.g., people, organizations, communities, cultures, events, critical incidences] are selected because they are “information rich” and illuminative. That is, they offer useful manifestations of the phenomenon of interest; sampling is aimed at insight about the phenomenon, not empirical generalization derived from a sample and applied to a population.

The Collection of Data

• Data -- observations yield a detailed, "thick description" [in-depth understanding]; interviews capture direct quotations about people’s personal perspectives and lived experiences; often derived from carefully conducted case studies and review of material culture.
• Personal experience and engagement -- researcher has direct contact with and gets close to the people, situation, and phenomenon under investigation; the researcher’s personal experiences and insights are an important part of the inquiry and critical to understanding the phenomenon.
• Empathic neutrality -- an empathic stance in working with study respondents seeks vicarious understanding without judgment [neutrality] by showing openness, sensitivity, respect, awareness, and responsiveness; in observation, it means being fully present [mindfulness].
• Dynamic systems -- there is attention to process; assumes change is ongoing, whether the focus is on an individual, an organization, a community, or an entire culture, therefore, the researcher is mindful of and attentive to system and situational dynamics.

The Analysis

• Unique case orientation -- assumes that each case is special and unique; the first level of analysis is being true to, respecting, and capturing the details of the individual cases being studied; cross-case analysis follows from and depends upon the quality of individual case studies.
• Inductive analysis -- immersion in the details and specifics of the data to discover important patterns, themes, and inter-relationships; begins by exploring, then confirming findings, guided by analytical principles rather than rules.
• Holistic perspective -- the whole phenomenon under study is understood as a complex system that is more than the sum of its parts; the focus is on complex interdependencies and system dynamics that cannot be reduced in any meaningful way to linear, cause and effect relationships and/or a few discrete variables.
• Context sensitive -- places findings in a social, historical, and temporal context; researcher is careful about [even dubious of] the possibility or meaningfulness of generalizations across time and space; emphasizes careful comparative case study analysis and extrapolating patterns for possible transferability and adaptation in new settings.
• Voice, perspective, and reflexivity -- the qualitative methodologist owns and is reflective about her or his own voice and perspective; a credible voice conveys authenticity and trustworthiness; complete objectivity being impossible and pure subjectivity undermining credibility, the researcher's focus reflects a balance between understanding and depicting the world authentically in all its complexity and of being self-analytical, politically aware, and reflexive in consciousness.

Berg, Bruce Lawrence. Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences . 8th edition. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 2012; Denzin, Norman. K. and Yvonna S. Lincoln. Handbook of Qualitative Research . 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000; Marshall, Catherine and Gretchen B. Rossman. Designing Qualitative Research . 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995; Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009.

Basic Research Design for Qualitative Studies

Unlike positivist or experimental research that utilizes a linear and one-directional sequence of design steps, there is considerable variation in how a qualitative research study is organized. In general, qualitative researchers attempt to describe and interpret human behavior based primarily on the words of selected individuals [a.k.a., “informants” or “respondents”] and/or through the interpretation of their material culture or occupied space. There is a reflexive process underpinning every stage of a qualitative study to ensure that researcher biases, presuppositions, and interpretations are clearly evident, thus ensuring that the reader is better able to interpret the overall validity of the research. According to Maxwell (2009), there are five, not necessarily ordered or sequential, components in qualitative research designs. How they are presented depends upon the research philosophy and theoretical framework of the study, the methods chosen, and the general assumptions underpinning the study. Goals Describe the central research problem being addressed but avoid describing any anticipated outcomes. Questions to ask yourself are: Why is your study worth doing? What issues do you want to clarify, and what practices and policies do you want it to influence? Why do you want to conduct this study, and why should the reader care about the results? Conceptual Framework Questions to ask yourself are: What do you think is going on with the issues, settings, or people you plan to study? What theories, beliefs, and prior research findings will guide or inform your research, and what literature, preliminary studies, and personal experiences will you draw upon for understanding the people or issues you are studying? Note to not only report the results of other studies in your review of the literature, but note the methods used as well. If appropriate, describe why earlier studies using quantitative methods were inadequate in addressing the research problem. Research Questions Usually there is a research problem that frames your qualitative study and that influences your decision about what methods to use, but qualitative designs generally lack an accompanying hypothesis or set of assumptions because the findings are emergent and unpredictable. In this context, more specific research questions are generally the result of an interactive design process rather than the starting point for that process. Questions to ask yourself are: What do you specifically want to learn or understand by conducting this study? What do you not know about the things you are studying that you want to learn? What questions will your research attempt to answer, and how are these questions related to one another? Methods Structured approaches to applying a method or methods to your study help to ensure that there is comparability of data across sources and researchers and, thus, they can be useful in answering questions that deal with differences between phenomena and the explanation for these differences [variance questions]. An unstructured approach allows the researcher to focus on the particular phenomena studied. This facilitates an understanding of the processes that led to specific outcomes, trading generalizability and comparability for internal validity and contextual and evaluative understanding. Questions to ask yourself are: What will you actually do in conducting this study? What approaches and techniques will you use to collect and analyze your data, and how do these constitute an integrated strategy? Validity In contrast to quantitative studies where the goal is to design, in advance, “controls” such as formal comparisons, sampling strategies, or statistical manipulations to address anticipated and unanticipated threats to validity, qualitative researchers must attempt to rule out most threats to validity after the research has begun by relying on evidence collected during the research process itself in order to effectively argue that any alternative explanations for a phenomenon are implausible. Questions to ask yourself are: How might your results and conclusions be wrong? What are the plausible alternative interpretations and validity threats to these, and how will you deal with these? How can the data that you have, or that you could potentially collect, support or challenge your ideas about what’s going on? Why should we believe your results? Conclusion Although Maxwell does not mention a conclusion as one of the components of a qualitative research design, you should formally conclude your study. Briefly reiterate the goals of your study and the ways in which your research addressed them. Discuss the benefits of your study and how stakeholders can use your results. Also, note the limitations of your study and, if appropriate, place them in the context of areas in need of further research.

Chenail, Ronald J. Introduction to Qualitative Research Design. Nova Southeastern University; Heath, A. W. The Proposal in Qualitative Research. The Qualitative Report 3 (March 1997); Marshall, Catherine and Gretchen B. Rossman. Designing Qualitative Research . 3rd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1999; Maxwell, Joseph A. "Designing a Qualitative Study." In The SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Research Methods . Leonard Bickman and Debra J. Rog, eds. 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2009), p. 214-253; Qualitative Research Methods. Writing@CSU. Colorado State University; Yin, Robert K. Qualitative Research from Start to Finish . 2nd edition. New York: Guilford, 2015.

Strengths of Using Qualitative Methods

The advantage of using qualitative methods is that they generate rich, detailed data that leave the participants' perspectives intact and provide multiple contexts for understanding the phenomenon under study. In this way, qualitative research can be used to vividly demonstrate phenomena or to conduct cross-case comparisons and analysis of individuals or groups.

Among the specific strengths of using qualitative methods to study social science research problems is the ability to:

• Obtain a more realistic view of the lived world that cannot be understood or experienced in numerical data and statistical analysis;
• Provide the researcher with the perspective of the participants of the study through immersion in a culture or situation and as a result of direct interaction with them;
• Allow the researcher to describe existing phenomena and current situations;
• Develop flexible ways to perform data collection, subsequent analysis, and interpretation of collected information;
• Yield results that can be helpful in pioneering new ways of understanding;
• Respond to changes that occur while conducting the study ]e.g., extended fieldwork or observation] and offer the flexibility to shift the focus of the research as a result;
• Provide a holistic view of the phenomena under investigation;
• Respond to local situations, conditions, and needs of participants;
• Interact with the research subjects in their own language and on their own terms; and,
• Create a descriptive capability based on primary and unstructured data.

Anderson, Claire. “Presenting and Evaluating Qualitative Research.” American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education 74 (2010): 1-7; Denzin, Norman. K. and Yvonna S. Lincoln. Handbook of Qualitative Research . 2nd edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2000; Merriam, Sharan B. Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2009.

Limitations of Using Qualitative Methods

It is very much true that most of the limitations you find in using qualitative research techniques also reflect their inherent strengths . For example, small sample sizes help you investigate research problems in a comprehensive and in-depth manner. However, small sample sizes undermine opportunities to draw useful generalizations from, or to make broad policy recommendations based upon, the findings. Additionally, as the primary instrument of investigation, qualitative researchers are often embedded in the cultures and experiences of others. However, cultural embeddedness increases the opportunity for bias generated from conscious or unconscious assumptions about the study setting to enter into how data is gathered, interpreted, and reported.

Some specific limitations associated with using qualitative methods to study research problems in the social sciences include the following:

• Drifting away from the original objectives of the study in response to the changing nature of the context under which the research is conducted;
• Arriving at different conclusions based on the same information depending on the personal characteristics of the researcher;
• Replication of a study is very difficult;
• Research using human subjects increases the chance of ethical dilemmas that undermine the overall validity of the study;
• An inability to investigate causality between different research phenomena;
• Difficulty in explaining differences in the quality and quantity of information obtained from different respondents and arriving at different, non-consistent conclusions;
• Data gathering and analysis is often time consuming and/or expensive;
• Requires a high level of experience from the researcher to obtain the targeted information from the respondent;
• May lack consistency and reliability because the researcher can employ different probing techniques and the respondent can choose to tell some particular stories and ignore others; and,
• Generation of a significant amount of data that cannot be randomized into manageable parts for analysis.

Research Tip

Human Subject Research and Institutional Review Board Approval

Almost every socio-behavioral study requires you to submit your proposed research plan to an Institutional Review Board. The role of the Board is to evaluate your research proposal and determine whether it will be conducted ethically and under the regulations, institutional polices, and Code of Ethics set forth by the university. The purpose of the review is to protect the rights and welfare of individuals participating in your study. The review is intended to ensure equitable selection of respondents, that you have met the requirements for obtaining informed consent , that there is clear assessment and minimization of risks to participants and to the university [read: no lawsuits!], and that privacy and confidentiality are maintained throughout the research process and beyond. Go to the USC IRB website for detailed information and templates of forms you need to submit before you can proceed. If you are  unsure whether your study is subject to IRB review, consult with your professor or academic advisor.

Chenail, Ronald J. Introduction to Qualitative Research Design. Nova Southeastern University; Labaree, Robert V. "Working Successfully with Your Institutional Review Board: Practical Advice for Academic Librarians." College and Research Libraries News 71 (April 2010): 190-193.

Another Research Tip

Finding Examples of How to Apply Different Types of Research Methods

SAGE publications is a major publisher of studies about how to design and conduct research in the social and behavioral sciences. Their SAGE Research Methods Online and Cases database includes contents from books, articles, encyclopedias, handbooks, and videos covering social science research design and methods including the complete Little Green Book Series of Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences and the Little Blue Book Series of Qualitative Research techniques. The database also includes case studies outlining the research methods used in real research projects. This is an excellent source for finding definitions of key terms and descriptions of research design and practice, techniques of data gathering, analysis, and reporting, and information about theories of research [e.g., grounded theory]. The database covers both qualitative and quantitative research methods as well as mixed methods approaches to conducting research.

SAGE Research Methods Online and Cases

NOTE :  For a list of online communities, research centers, indispensable learning resources, and personal websites of leading qualitative researchers, GO HERE .

For a list of scholarly journals devoted to the study and application of qualitative research methods, GO HERE .

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a method of research that produces descriptive (non-numerical) data, such as observations of behavior or personal accounts of experiences. The goal of gathering this qualitative data is to examine how individuals can perceive the world from different vantage points. A variety of techniques are subsumed under qualitative research, including content analyses of narratives, in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and case studies, often conducted in naturalistic settings.

SAGE Research Methods Videos

What questions does qualitative research ask.

A variety of academics discuss the meaning of qualitative research and content analysis. Both hypothetical and actual research projects are used to illustrate concepts.

What makes a good qualitative researcher?

Professor John Creswell analyzes the characteristics of qualitative research and the qualitative researcher. He explains that good qualitative researchers tend to look at the big picture, notice details, and write a lot. He discusses how these characteristics tie into qualitative research.

This is just one segment in a series about qualitative research. You can find the rest of the series in our SAGE database, Research Methods: 

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What is Qualitative Research? Methods, Types, Approaches and Examples

Qualitative research is a type of method that researchers use depending on their study requirements. Research can be conducted using several methods, but before starting the process, researchers should understand the different methods available to decide the best one for their study type. The type of research method needed depends on a few important criteria, such as the research question, study type, time, costs, data availability, and availability of respondents. The two main types of methods are qualitative research and quantitative research. Sometimes, researchers may find it difficult to decide which type of method is most suitable for their study. Keeping in mind a simple rule of thumb could help you make the correct decision. Quantitative research should be used to validate or test a theory or hypothesis and qualitative research should be used to understand a subject or event or identify reasons for observed patterns.  

Qualitative research methods are based on principles of social sciences from several disciplines like psychology, sociology, and anthropology. In this method, researchers try to understand the feelings and motivation of their respondents, which would have prompted them to select or give a particular response to a question. Here are two qualitative research examples :  

• Two brands (A & B) of the same medicine are available at a pharmacy. However, Brand A is more popular and has higher sales. In qualitative research , the interviewers would ideally visit a few stores in different areas and ask customers their reason for selecting either brand. Respondents may have different reasons that motivate them to select one brand over the other, such as brand loyalty, cost, feedback from friends, doctor’s suggestion, etc. Once the reasons are known, companies could then address challenges in that specific area to increase their product’s sales.  
• A company organizes a focus group meeting with a random sample of its product’s consumers to understand their opinion on a new product being launched.  

Table of Contents

What is qualitative research? 1

Qualitative research is the process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting non-numerical data. The findings of qualitative research are expressed in words and help in understanding individuals’ subjective perceptions about an event, condition, or subject. This type of research is exploratory and is used to generate hypotheses or theories from data. Qualitative data are usually in the form of text, videos, photographs, and audio recordings. There are multiple qualitative research types , which will be discussed later.  

Qualitative research methods 2

Researchers can choose from several qualitative research methods depending on the study type, research question, the researcher’s role, data to be collected, etc.  

The following table lists the common qualitative research approaches with their purpose and examples, although there may be an overlap between some.  

Types of qualitative research 3,4

The data collection methods in qualitative research are designed to assess and understand the perceptions, motivations, and feelings of the respondents about the subject being studied. The different qualitative research types include the following:  

• In-depth or one-on-one interviews : This is one of the most common qualitative research methods and helps the interviewers understand a respondent’s subjective opinion and experience pertaining to a specific topic or event. These interviews are usually conversational and encourage the respondents to express their opinions freely. Semi-structured interviews, which have open-ended questions (where the respondents can answer more than just “yes” or “no”), are commonly used. Such interviews can be either face-to-face or telephonic, and the duration can vary depending on the subject or the interviewer. Asking the right questions is essential in this method so that the interview can be led in the suitable direction. Face-to-face interviews also help interviewers observe the respondents’ body language, which could help in confirming whether the responses match.  
• Document study/Literature review/Record keeping : Researchers’ review of already existing written materials such as archives, annual reports, research articles, guidelines, policy documents, etc.  
• Focus groups : Usually include a small sample of about 6-10 people and a moderator, to understand the participants’ opinion on a given topic. Focus groups ensure constructive discussions to understand the why, what, and, how about the topic. These group meetings need not always be in-person. In recent times, online meetings are also encouraged, and online surveys could also be administered with the option to “write” subjective answers as well. However, this method is expensive and is mostly used for new products and ideas.  
• Qualitative observation : In this method, researchers collect data using their five senses—sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. This method doesn’t include any measurements but only the subjective observation. For example, “The dessert served at the bakery was creamy with sweet buttercream frosting”; this observation is based on the taste perception.  

Qualitative research : Data collection and analysis

• Qualitative data collection is the process by which observations or measurements are gathered in research.  
• The data collected are usually non-numeric and subjective and could be recorded in various methods, for instance, in case of one-to-one interviews, the responses may be recorded using handwritten notes, and audio and video recordings, depending on the interviewer and the setting or duration.  
• Once the data are collected, they should be transcribed into meaningful or useful interpretations. An experienced researcher could take about 8-10 hours to transcribe an interview’s recordings. All such notes and recordings should be maintained properly for later reference.  
• Some interviewers make use of “field notes.” These are not exactly the respondents’ answers but rather some observations the interviewer may have made while asking questions and may include non-verbal cues or any information about the setting or the environment. These notes are usually informal and help verify respondents’ answers.  

2. Qualitative data analysis 

• This process involves analyzing all the data obtained from the qualitative research methods in the form of text (notes), audio-video recordings, and pictures.  
• Text analysis is a common form of qualitative data analysis in which researchers examine the social lives of the participants and analyze their words, actions, etc. in specific contexts. Social media platforms are now playing an important role in this method with researchers analyzing all information shared online.   

There are usually five steps in the qualitative data analysis process: 5

• Prepare and organize the data  
• Transcribe interviews  
• Collect and document field notes and other material  
• Review and explore the data  
• Examine the data for patterns or important observations  
• Develop a data coding system  
• Create codes to categorize and connect the data  
• Assign these codes to the data or responses  
• Review the codes  
• Identify recurring themes, opinions, patterns, etc.  
• Present the findings  
• Use the best possible method to present your observations  

The following table 6 lists some common qualitative data analysis methods used by companies to make important decisions, with examples and when to use each. The methods may be similar and can overlap.  

Characteristics of qualitative research methods 4

• Unstructured raw data : Qualitative research methods use unstructured, non-numerical data , which are analyzed to generate subjective conclusions about specific subjects, usually presented descriptively, instead of using statistical data.  
• Site-specific data collection : In qualitative research methods , data are collected at specific areas where the respondents or researchers are either facing a challenge or have a need to explore. The process is conducted in a real-world setting and participants do not need to leave their original geographical setting to be able to participate.  
• Researchers’ importance : Researchers play an instrumental role because, in qualitative research , communication with respondents is an essential part of data collection and analysis. In addition, researchers need to rely on their own observation and listening skills during an interaction and use and interpret that data appropriately.  
• Multiple methods : Researchers collect data through various methods, as listed earlier, instead of relying on a single source. Although there may be some overlap between the qualitative research methods , each method has its own significance.  
• Solving complex issues : These methods help in breaking down complex problems into more useful and interpretable inferences, which can be easily understood by everyone.  
• Unbiased responses : Qualitative research methods rely on open communication where the participants are allowed to freely express their views. In such cases, the participants trust the interviewer, resulting in unbiased and truthful responses.  
• Flexible : The qualitative research method can be changed at any stage of the research. The data analysis is not confined to being done at the end of the research but can be done in tandem with data collection. Consequently, based on preliminary analysis and new ideas, researchers have the liberty to change the method to suit their objective.  

When to use qualitative research   4

The following points will give you an idea about when to use qualitative research .  

• When the objective of a research study is to understand behaviors and patterns of respondents, then qualitative research is the most suitable method because it gives a clear insight into the reasons for the occurrence of an event.  
• A few use cases for qualitative research methods include:  
• New product development or idea generation  
• Strengthening a product’s marketing strategy  
• Conducting a SWOT analysis of product or services portfolios to help take important strategic decisions  
• Understanding purchasing behavior of consumers  
• Understanding reactions of target market to ad campaigns  
• Understanding market demographics and conducting competitor analysis  
• Understanding the effectiveness of a new treatment method in a particular section of society  

A qualitative research method case study to understand when to use qualitative research 7

Context : A high school in the US underwent a turnaround or conservatorship process and consequently experienced a below average teacher retention rate. Researchers conducted qualitative research to understand teachers’ experiences and perceptions of how the turnaround may have influenced the teachers’ morale and how this, in turn, would have affected teachers’ retention.  

Method : Purposive sampling was used to select eight teachers who were employed with the school before the conservatorship process and who were subsequently retained. One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with these teachers. The questions addressed teachers’ perspectives of morale and their views on the conservatorship process.  

Results : The study generated six factors that may have been influencing teachers’ perspectives: powerlessness, excessive visitations, loss of confidence, ineffective instructional practices, stress and burnout, and ineffective professional development opportunities. Based on these factors, four recommendations were made to increase teacher retention by boosting their morale.  

Advantages of qualitative research 1

• Reflects real-world settings , and therefore allows for ambiguities in data, as well as the flexibility to change the method based on new developments.  
• Helps in understanding the feelings or beliefs of the respondents rather than relying only on quantitative data.  
• Uses a descriptive and narrative style of presentation, which may be easier to understand for people from all backgrounds.  
• Some topics involving sensitive or controversial content could be difficult to quantify and so qualitative research helps in analyzing such content.  
• The availability of multiple data sources and research methods helps give a holistic picture.  
• There’s more involvement of participants, which gives them an assurance that their opinion matters, possibly leading to unbiased responses.   

Disadvantages of qualitative research 1

• Large-scale data sets cannot be included because of time and cost constraints.  
• Ensuring validity and reliability may be a challenge because of the subjective nature of the data, so drawing definite conclusions could be difficult.  
• Replication by other researchers may be difficult for the same contexts or situations.  
• Generalization to a wider context or to other populations or settings is not possible.  
• Data collection and analysis may be time consuming.  
• Researcher’s interpretation may alter the results causing an unintended bias.  

Differences between qualitative research and quantitative research 1

Frequently asked questions on qualitative research  

Q: how do i know if qualitative research is appropriate for my study  .

A: Here’s a simple checklist you could use:  

• Not much is known about the subject being studied.  
• There is a need to understand or simplify a complex problem or situation.  
• Participants’ experiences/beliefs/feelings are required for analysis.  
• There’s no existing hypothesis to begin with, rather a theory would need to be created after analysis.  
• You need to gather in-depth understanding of an event or subject, which may not need to be supported by numeric data.  

Q: How do I ensure the reliability and validity of my qualitative research findings?  

A: To ensure the validity of your qualitative research findings you should explicitly state your objective and describe clearly why you have interpreted the data in a particular way. Another method could be to connect your data in different ways or from different perspectives to see if you reach a similar, unbiased conclusion.   

To ensure reliability, always create an audit trail of your qualitative research by describing your steps and reasons for every interpretation, so that if required, another researcher could trace your steps to corroborate your (or their own) findings. In addition, always look for patterns or consistencies in the data collected through different methods.  

Q: Are there any sampling strategies or techniques for qualitative research ?   

A: Yes, the following are few common sampling strategies used in qualitative research :  

1. Convenience sampling  

Selects participants who are most easily accessible to researchers due to geographical proximity, availability at a particular time, etc.  

2. Purposive sampling  

Participants are grouped according to predefined criteria based on a specific research question. Sample sizes are often determined based on theoretical saturation (when new data no longer provide additional insights).  

3. Snowball sampling  

Already selected participants use their social networks to refer the researcher to other potential participants.  

4. Quota sampling  

While designing the study, the researchers decide how many people with which characteristics to include as participants. The characteristics help in choosing people most likely to provide insights into the subject.  

Q: What ethical standards need to be followed with qualitative research ?  

A: The following ethical standards should be considered in qualitative research:  

• Anonymity : The participants should never be identified in the study and researchers should ensure that no identifying information is mentioned even indirectly.  
• Confidentiality : To protect participants’ confidentiality, ensure that all related documents, transcripts, notes are stored safely.  
• Informed consent : Researchers should clearly communicate the objective of the study and how the participants’ responses will be used prior to engaging with the participants.  

Q: How do I address bias in my qualitative research ?  

  A: You could use the following points to ensure an unbiased approach to your qualitative research :  

• Check your interpretations of the findings with others’ interpretations to identify consistencies.  
• If possible, you could ask your participants if your interpretations convey their beliefs to a significant extent.  
• Data triangulation is a way of using multiple data sources to see if all methods consistently support your interpretations.  
• Contemplate other possible explanations for your findings or interpretations and try ruling them out if possible.  
• Conduct a peer review of your findings to identify any gaps that may not have been visible to you.  
• Frame context-appropriate questions to ensure there is no researcher or participant bias.

We hope this article has given you answers to the question “ what is qualitative research ” and given you an in-depth understanding of the various aspects of qualitative research , including the definition, types, and approaches, when to use this method, and advantages and disadvantages, so that the next time you undertake a study you would know which type of research design to adopt.  

References:  

• McLeod, S. A. Qualitative vs. quantitative research. Simply Psychology [Accessed January 17, 2023]. www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-quantitative.html    
• Omniconvert website [Accessed January 18, 2023]. https://www.omniconvert.com/blog/qualitative-research-definition-methodology-limitation-examples/  
• Busetto L., Wick W., Gumbinger C. How to use and assess qualitative research methods. Neurological Research and Practice [Accessed January 19, 2023] https://neurolrespract.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s42466-020-00059  
• QuestionPro website. Qualitative research methods: Types & examples [Accessed January 16, 2023]. https://www.questionpro.com/blog/qualitative-research-methods/  
• Campuslabs website. How to analyze qualitative data [Accessed January 18, 2023]. https://baselinesupport.campuslabs.com/hc/en-us/articles/204305675-How-to-analyze-qualitative-data  
• Thematic website. Qualitative data analysis: Step-by-guide [Accessed January 20, 2023]. https://getthematic.com/insights/qualitative-data-analysis/  
• Lane L. J., Jones D., Penny G. R. Qualitative case study of teachers’ morale in a turnaround school. Research in Higher Education Journal . https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1233111.pdf  
• Meetingsnet website. 7 FAQs about qualitative research and CME [Accessed January 21, 2023]. https://www.meetingsnet.com/cme-design/7-faqs-about-qualitative-research-and-cme     
• Qualitative research methods: A data collector’s field guide. Khoury College of Computer Sciences. Northeastern University. https://course.ccs.neu.edu/is4800sp12/resources/qualmethods.pdf  

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• What Is Qualitative Research? | Methods & Examples

What Is Qualitative Research? | Methods & Examples

Published on 4 April 2022 by Pritha Bhandari . Revised on 30 January 2023.

Qualitative research involves collecting and analysing non-numerical data (e.g., text, video, or audio) to understand concepts, opinions, or experiences. It can be used to gather in-depth insights into a problem or generate new ideas for research.

Qualitative research is the opposite of quantitative research , which involves collecting and analysing numerical data for statistical analysis.

Qualitative research is commonly used in the humanities and social sciences, in subjects such as anthropology, sociology, education, health sciences, and history.

• How does social media shape body image in teenagers?
• How do children and adults interpret healthy eating in the UK?
• What factors influence employee retention in a large organisation?
• How is anxiety experienced around the world?
• How can teachers integrate social issues into science curriculums?

Table of contents

Approaches to qualitative research, qualitative research methods, qualitative data analysis, advantages of qualitative research, disadvantages of qualitative research, frequently asked questions about qualitative research.

Qualitative research is used to understand how people experience the world. While there are many approaches to qualitative research, they tend to be flexible and focus on retaining rich meaning when interpreting data.

Common approaches include grounded theory, ethnography, action research, phenomenological research, and narrative research. They share some similarities, but emphasise different aims and perspectives.

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Each of the research approaches involve using one or more data collection methods . These are some of the most common qualitative methods:

• Observations: recording what you have seen, heard, or encountered in detailed field notes.
• Interviews:  personally asking people questions in one-on-one conversations.
• Focus groups: asking questions and generating discussion among a group of people.
• Surveys : distributing questionnaires with open-ended questions.
• Secondary research: collecting existing data in the form of texts, images, audio or video recordings, etc.
• You take field notes with observations and reflect on your own experiences of the company culture.
• You distribute open-ended surveys to employees across all the company’s offices by email to find out if the culture varies across locations.
• You conduct in-depth interviews with employees in your office to learn about their experiences and perspectives in greater detail.

Qualitative researchers often consider themselves ‘instruments’ in research because all observations, interpretations and analyses are filtered through their own personal lens.

For this reason, when writing up your methodology for qualitative research, it’s important to reflect on your approach and to thoroughly explain the choices you made in collecting and analysing the data.

Qualitative data can take the form of texts, photos, videos and audio. For example, you might be working with interview transcripts, survey responses, fieldnotes, or recordings from natural settings.

Most types of qualitative data analysis share the same five steps:

• Prepare and organise your data. This may mean transcribing interviews or typing up fieldnotes.
• Review and explore your data. Examine the data for patterns or repeated ideas that emerge.
• Develop a data coding system. Based on your initial ideas, establish a set of codes that you can apply to categorise your data.
• Assign codes to the data. For example, in qualitative survey analysis, this may mean going through each participant’s responses and tagging them with codes in a spreadsheet. As you go through your data, you can create new codes to add to your system if necessary.
• Identify recurring themes. Link codes together into cohesive, overarching themes.

There are several specific approaches to analysing qualitative data. Although these methods share similar processes, they emphasise different concepts.

Qualitative research often tries to preserve the voice and perspective of participants and can be adjusted as new research questions arise. Qualitative research is good for:

• Flexibility

The data collection and analysis process can be adapted as new ideas or patterns emerge. They are not rigidly decided beforehand.

• Natural settings

Data collection occurs in real-world contexts or in naturalistic ways.

• Meaningful insights

Detailed descriptions of people’s experiences, feelings and perceptions can be used in designing, testing or improving systems or products.

• Generation of new ideas

Open-ended responses mean that researchers can uncover novel problems or opportunities that they wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

Researchers must consider practical and theoretical limitations in analysing and interpreting their data. Qualitative research suffers from:

• Unreliability

The real-world setting often makes qualitative research unreliable because of uncontrolled factors that affect the data.

• Subjectivity

Due to the researcher’s primary role in analysing and interpreting data, qualitative research cannot be replicated . The researcher decides what is important and what is irrelevant in data analysis, so interpretations of the same data can vary greatly.

• Limited generalisability

Small samples are often used to gather detailed data about specific contexts. Despite rigorous analysis procedures, it is difficult to draw generalisable conclusions because the data may be biased and unrepresentative of the wider population .

• Labour-intensive

Although software can be used to manage and record large amounts of text, data analysis often has to be checked or performed manually.

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to test a hypothesis by systematically collecting and analysing data, while qualitative methods allow you to explore ideas and experiences in depth.

There are five common approaches to qualitative research :

• Grounded theory involves collecting data in order to develop new theories.
• Ethnography involves immersing yourself in a group or organisation to understand its culture.
• Narrative research involves interpreting stories to understand how people make sense of their experiences and perceptions.
• Phenomenological research involves investigating phenomena through people’s lived experiences.
• Action research links theory and practice in several cycles to drive innovative changes.

Data collection is the systematic process by which observations or measurements are gathered in research. It is used in many different contexts by academics, governments, businesses, and other organisations.

There are various approaches to qualitative data analysis , but they all share five steps in common:

• Prepare and organise your data.
• Review and explore your data.
• Develop a data coding system.
• Assign codes to the data.
• Identify recurring themes.

The specifics of each step depend on the focus of the analysis. Some common approaches include textual analysis , thematic analysis , and discourse analysis .

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Qualitative study.

Steven Tenny ; Janelle M. Brannan ; Grace D. Brannan .

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Last Update: September 18, 2022 .

• Introduction

Qualitative research is a type of research that explores and provides deeper insights into real-world problems. [1] Instead of collecting numerical data points or intervening or introducing treatments just like in quantitative research, qualitative research helps generate hypothenar to further investigate and understand quantitative data. Qualitative research gathers participants' experiences, perceptions, and behavior. It answers the hows and whys instead of how many or how much. It could be structured as a standalone study, purely relying on qualitative data, or part of mixed-methods research that combines qualitative and quantitative data. This review introduces the readers to some basic concepts, definitions, terminology, and applications of qualitative research.

Qualitative research, at its core, asks open-ended questions whose answers are not easily put into numbers, such as "how" and "why." [2] Due to the open-ended nature of the research questions, qualitative research design is often not linear like quantitative design. [2] One of the strengths of qualitative research is its ability to explain processes and patterns of human behavior that can be difficult to quantify. [3] Phenomena such as experiences, attitudes, and behaviors can be complex to capture accurately and quantitatively. In contrast, a qualitative approach allows participants themselves to explain how, why, or what they were thinking, feeling, and experiencing at a particular time or during an event of interest. Quantifying qualitative data certainly is possible, but at its core, qualitative data is looking for themes and patterns that can be difficult to quantify, and it is essential to ensure that the context and narrative of qualitative work are not lost by trying to quantify something that is not meant to be quantified.

However, while qualitative research is sometimes placed in opposition to quantitative research, where they are necessarily opposites and therefore "compete" against each other and the philosophical paradigms associated with each other, qualitative and quantitative work are neither necessarily opposites, nor are they incompatible. [4] While qualitative and quantitative approaches are different, they are not necessarily opposites and certainly not mutually exclusive. For instance, qualitative research can help expand and deepen understanding of data or results obtained from quantitative analysis. For example, say a quantitative analysis has determined a correlation between length of stay and level of patient satisfaction, but why does this correlation exist? This dual-focus scenario shows one way in which qualitative and quantitative research could be integrated.

Qualitative Research Approaches

Ethnography

Ethnography as a research design originates in social and cultural anthropology and involves the researcher being directly immersed in the participant’s environment. [2] Through this immersion, the ethnographer can use a variety of data collection techniques to produce a comprehensive account of the social phenomena that occurred during the research period. [2] That is to say, the researcher’s aim with ethnography is to immerse themselves into the research population and come out of it with accounts of actions, behaviors, events, etc, through the eyes of someone involved in the population. Direct involvement of the researcher with the target population is one benefit of ethnographic research because it can then be possible to find data that is otherwise very difficult to extract and record.

Grounded theory

Grounded Theory is the "generation of a theoretical model through the experience of observing a study population and developing a comparative analysis of their speech and behavior." [5] Unlike quantitative research, which is deductive and tests or verifies an existing theory, grounded theory research is inductive and, therefore, lends itself to research aimed at social interactions or experiences. [3] [2] In essence, Grounded Theory’s goal is to explain how and why an event occurs or how and why people might behave a certain way. Through observing the population, a researcher using the Grounded Theory approach can then develop a theory to explain the phenomena of interest.

Phenomenology

Phenomenology is the "study of the meaning of phenomena or the study of the particular.” [5] At first glance, it might seem that Grounded Theory and Phenomenology are pretty similar, but the differences can be seen upon careful examination. At its core, phenomenology looks to investigate experiences from the individual's perspective. [2] Phenomenology is essentially looking into the "lived experiences" of the participants and aims to examine how and why participants behaved a certain way from their perspective. Herein lies one of the main differences between Grounded Theory and Phenomenology. Grounded Theory aims to develop a theory for social phenomena through an examination of various data sources. In contrast, Phenomenology focuses on describing and explaining an event or phenomenon from the perspective of those who have experienced it.

Narrative research

One of qualitative research’s strengths lies in its ability to tell a story, often from the perspective of those directly involved in it. Reporting on qualitative research involves including details and descriptions of the setting involved and quotes from participants. This detail is called a "thick" or "rich" description and is a strength of qualitative research. Narrative research is rife with the possibilities of "thick" description as this approach weaves together a sequence of events, usually from just one or two individuals, hoping to create a cohesive story or narrative. [2] While it might seem like a waste of time to focus on such a specific, individual level, understanding one or two people’s narratives for an event or phenomenon can help to inform researchers about the influences that helped shape that narrative. The tension or conflict of differing narratives can be "opportunities for innovation." [2]

Research Paradigm

Research paradigms are the assumptions, norms, and standards underpinning different research approaches. Essentially, research paradigms are the "worldviews" that inform research. [4] It is valuable for qualitative and quantitative researchers to understand what paradigm they are working within because understanding the theoretical basis of research paradigms allows researchers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the approach being used and adjust accordingly. Different paradigms have different ontologies and epistemologies. Ontology is defined as the "assumptions about the nature of reality,” whereas epistemology is defined as the "assumptions about the nature of knowledge" that inform researchers' work. [2] It is essential to understand the ontological and epistemological foundations of the research paradigm researchers are working within to allow for a complete understanding of the approach being used and the assumptions that underpin the approach as a whole. Further, researchers must understand their own ontological and epistemological assumptions about the world in general because their assumptions about the world will necessarily impact how they interact with research. A discussion of the research paradigm is not complete without describing positivist, postpositivist, and constructivist philosophies.

Positivist versus postpositivist

To further understand qualitative research, we must discuss positivist and postpositivist frameworks. Positivism is a philosophy that the scientific method can and should be applied to social and natural sciences. [4] Essentially, positivist thinking insists that the social sciences should use natural science methods in their research. It stems from positivist ontology, that there is an objective reality that exists that is wholly independent of our perception of the world as individuals. Quantitative research is rooted in positivist philosophy, which can be seen in the value it places on concepts such as causality, generalizability, and replicability.

Conversely, postpositivists argue that social reality can never be one hundred percent explained, but could be approximated. [4] Indeed, qualitative researchers have been insisting that there are “fundamental limits to the extent to which the methods and procedures of the natural sciences could be applied to the social world,” and therefore, postpositivist philosophy is often associated with qualitative research. [4] An example of positivist versus postpositivist values in research might be that positivist philosophies value hypothesis-testing, whereas postpositivist philosophies value the ability to formulate a substantive theory.

Constructivist

Constructivism is a subcategory of postpositivism. Most researchers invested in postpositivist research are also constructivist, meaning they think there is no objective external reality that exists but instead that reality is constructed. Constructivism is a theoretical lens that emphasizes the dynamic nature of our world. "Constructivism contends that individuals' views are directly influenced by their experiences, and it is these individual experiences and views that shape their perspective of reality.” [6]  constructivist thought focuses on how "reality" is not a fixed certainty and how experiences, interactions, and backgrounds give people a unique view of the world. Constructivism contends, unlike positivist views, that there is not necessarily an "objective"reality we all experience. This is the ‘relativist’ ontological view that reality and our world are dynamic and socially constructed. Therefore, qualitative scientific knowledge can be inductive as well as deductive.” [4]

So why is it important to understand the differences in assumptions that different philosophies and approaches to research have? Fundamentally, the assumptions underpinning the research tools a researcher selects provide an overall base for the assumptions the rest of the research will have. It can even change the role of the researchers. [2] For example, is the researcher an "objective" observer, such as in positivist quantitative work? Or is the researcher an active participant in the research, as in postpositivist qualitative work? Understanding the philosophical base of the study undertaken allows researchers to fully understand the implications of their work and their role within the research and reflect on their positionality and bias as it pertains to the research they are conducting.

Data Sampling 

The better the sample represents the intended study population, the more likely the researcher is to encompass the varying factors. The following are examples of participant sampling and selection: [7]

• Purposive sampling- selection based on the researcher’s rationale for being the most informative.
• Criterion sampling selection based on pre-identified factors.
• Convenience sampling- selection based on availability.
• Snowball sampling- the selection is by referral from other participants or people who know potential participants.
• Extreme case sampling- targeted selection of rare cases.
• Typical case sampling selection based on regular or average participants. 

Data Collection and Analysis

Qualitative research uses several techniques, including interviews, focus groups, and observation. [1] [2] [3] Interviews may be unstructured, with open-ended questions on a topic, and the interviewer adapts to the responses. Structured interviews have a predetermined number of questions that every participant is asked. It is usually one-on-one and appropriate for sensitive topics or topics needing an in-depth exploration. Focus groups are often held with 8-12 target participants and are used when group dynamics and collective views on a topic are desired. Researchers can be participant-observers to share the experiences of the subject or non-participants or detached observers.

While quantitative research design prescribes a controlled environment for data collection, qualitative data collection may be in a central location or the participants' environment, depending on the study goals and design. Qualitative research could amount to a large amount of data. Data is transcribed, which may then be coded manually or using computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software or CAQDAS such as ATLAS.ti or NVivo. [8] [9] [10]

After the coding process, qualitative research results could be in various formats. It could be a synthesis and interpretation presented with excerpts from the data. [11] Results could also be in the form of themes and theory or model development.

Dissemination

The healthcare team can use two reporting standards to standardize and facilitate the dissemination of qualitative research outcomes. The Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research or COREQ is a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups. [12] The Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research (SRQR) is a checklist covering a more comprehensive range of qualitative research. [13]

Applications

Many times, a research question will start with qualitative research. The qualitative research will help generate the research hypothesis, which can be tested with quantitative methods. After the data is collected and analyzed with quantitative methods, a set of qualitative methods can be used to dive deeper into the data to better understand what the numbers truly mean and their implications. The qualitative techniques can then help clarify the quantitative data and also help refine the hypothesis for future research. Furthermore, with qualitative research, researchers can explore poorly studied subjects with quantitative methods. These include opinions, individual actions, and social science research.

An excellent qualitative study design starts with a goal or objective. This should be clearly defined or stated. The target population needs to be specified. A method for obtaining information from the study population must be carefully detailed to ensure no omissions of part of the target population. A proper collection method should be selected that will help obtain the desired information without overly limiting the collected data because, often, the information sought is not well categorized or obtained. Finally, the design should ensure adequate methods for analyzing the data. An example may help better clarify some of the various aspects of qualitative research.

A researcher wants to decrease the number of teenagers who smoke in their community. The researcher could begin by asking current teen smokers why they started smoking through structured or unstructured interviews (qualitative research). The researcher can also get together a group of current teenage smokers and conduct a focus group to help brainstorm factors that may have prevented them from starting to smoke (qualitative research).

In this example, the researcher has used qualitative research methods (interviews and focus groups) to generate a list of ideas of why teens start to smoke and factors that may have prevented them from starting to smoke. Next, the researcher compiles this data. The research found that, hypothetically, peer pressure, health issues, cost, being considered "cool," and rebellious behavior all might increase or decrease the likelihood of teens starting to smoke.

The researcher creates a survey asking teen participants to rank how important each of the above factors is in either starting smoking (for current smokers) or not smoking (for current nonsmokers). This survey provides specific numbers (ranked importance of each factor) and is thus a quantitative research tool.

The researcher can use the survey results to focus efforts on the one or two highest-ranked factors. Let us say the researcher found that health was the primary factor that keeps teens from starting to smoke, and peer pressure was the primary factor that contributed to teens starting smoking. The researcher can go back to qualitative research methods to dive deeper into these for more information. The researcher wants to focus on keeping teens from starting to smoke, so they focus on the peer pressure aspect.

The researcher can conduct interviews and focus groups (qualitative research) about what types and forms of peer pressure are commonly encountered, where the peer pressure comes from, and where smoking starts. The researcher hypothetically finds that peer pressure often occurs after school at the local teen hangouts, mostly in the local park. The researcher also hypothetically finds that peer pressure comes from older, current smokers who provide the cigarettes.

The researcher could further explore this observation made at the local teen hangouts (qualitative research) and take notes regarding who is smoking, who is not, and what observable factors are at play for peer pressure to smoke. The researcher finds a local park where many local teenagers hang out and sees that the smokers tend to hang out in a shady, overgrown area of the park. The researcher notes that smoking teenagers buy their cigarettes from a local convenience store adjacent to the park, where the clerk does not check identification before selling cigarettes. These observations fall under qualitative research.

If the researcher returns to the park and counts how many individuals smoke in each region, this numerical data would be quantitative research. Based on the researcher's efforts thus far, they conclude that local teen smoking and teenagers who start to smoke may decrease if there are fewer overgrown areas of the park and the local convenience store does not sell cigarettes to underage individuals.

The researcher could try to have the parks department reassess the shady areas to make them less conducive to smokers or identify how to limit the sales of cigarettes to underage individuals by the convenience store. The researcher would then cycle back to qualitative methods of asking at-risk populations their perceptions of the changes and what factors are still at play, and quantitative research that includes teen smoking rates in the community and the incidence of new teen smokers, among others. [14] [15]

Qualitative research functions as a standalone research design or combined with quantitative research to enhance our understanding of the world. Qualitative research uses techniques including structured and unstructured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation not only to help generate hypotheses that can be more rigorously tested with quantitative research but also to help researchers delve deeper into the quantitative research numbers, understand what they mean, and understand what the implications are. Qualitative research allows researchers to understand what is going on, especially when things are not easily categorized. [16]

• Issues of Concern

As discussed in the sections above, quantitative and qualitative work differ in many ways, including the evaluation criteria. There are four well-established criteria for evaluating quantitative data: internal validity, external validity, reliability, and objectivity. Credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability are the correlating concepts in qualitative research. [4] [11] The corresponding quantitative and qualitative concepts can be seen below, with the quantitative concept on the left and the qualitative concept on the right:

• Internal validity: Credibility
• External validity: Transferability
• Reliability: Dependability
• Objectivity: Confirmability

In conducting qualitative research, ensuring these concepts are satisfied and well thought out can mitigate potential issues from arising. For example, just as a researcher will ensure that their quantitative study is internally valid, qualitative researchers should ensure that their work has credibility. 

Indicators such as triangulation and peer examination can help evaluate the credibility of qualitative work.

• Triangulation: Triangulation involves using multiple data collection methods to increase the likelihood of getting a reliable and accurate result. In our above magic example, the result would be more reliable if we interviewed the magician, backstage hand, and the person who "vanished." In qualitative research, triangulation can include telephone surveys, in-person surveys, focus groups, and interviews and surveying an adequate cross-section of the target demographic.
• Peer examination: A peer can review results to ensure the data is consistent with the findings.

A "thick" or "rich" description can be used to evaluate the transferability of qualitative research, whereas an indicator such as an audit trail might help evaluate the dependability and confirmability.

• Thick or rich description:  This is a detailed and thorough description of details, the setting, and quotes from participants in the research. [5] Thick descriptions will include a detailed explanation of how the study was conducted. Thick descriptions are detailed enough to allow readers to draw conclusions and interpret the data, which can help with transferability and replicability.
• Audit trail: An audit trail provides a documented set of steps of how the participants were selected and the data was collected. The original information records should also be kept (eg, surveys, notes, recordings).

One issue of concern that qualitative researchers should consider is observation bias. Here are a few examples:

• Hawthorne effect: The effect is the change in participant behavior when they know they are being observed. Suppose a researcher wanted to identify factors that contribute to employee theft and tell the employees they will watch them to see what factors affect employee theft. In that case, one would suspect employee behavior would change when they know they are being protected.
• Observer-expectancy effect: Some participants change their behavior or responses to satisfy the researcher's desired effect. This happens unconsciously for the participant, so it is essential to eliminate or limit the transmission of the researcher's views.
• Artificial scenario effect: Some qualitative research occurs in contrived scenarios with preset goals. In such situations, the information may not be accurate because of the artificial nature of the scenario. The preset goals may limit the qualitative information obtained.
• Clinical Significance

Qualitative or quantitative research helps healthcare providers understand patients and the impact and challenges of the care they deliver. Qualitative research provides an opportunity to generate and refine hypotheses and delve deeper into the data generated by quantitative research. Qualitative research is not an island apart from quantitative research but an integral part of research methods to understand the world around us. [17]

• Enhancing Healthcare Team Outcomes

Qualitative research is essential for all healthcare team members as all are affected by qualitative research. Qualitative research may help develop a theory or a model for health research that can be further explored by quantitative research. Much of the qualitative research data acquisition is completed by numerous team members, including social workers, scientists, nurses, etc. Within each area of the medical field, there is copious ongoing qualitative research, including physician-patient interactions, nursing-patient interactions, patient-environment interactions, healthcare team function, patient information delivery, etc. 

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Disclosure: Steven Tenny declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Janelle Brannan declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

Disclosure: Grace Brannan declares no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies.

This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ ), which permits others to distribute the work, provided that the article is not altered or used commercially. You are not required to obtain permission to distribute this article, provided that you credit the author and journal.

• Cite this Page Tenny S, Brannan JM, Brannan GD. Qualitative Study. [Updated 2022 Sep 18]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2024 Jan-.

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• Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research | Differences, Examples & Methods

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research | Differences, Examples & Methods

Published on April 12, 2019 by Raimo Streefkerk . Revised on June 22, 2023.

When collecting and analyzing data, quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings. Both are important for gaining different kinds of knowledge.

Common quantitative methods include experiments, observations recorded as numbers, and surveys with closed-ended questions.

Quantitative research is at risk for research biases including information bias , omitted variable bias , sampling bias , or selection bias . Qualitative research Qualitative research is expressed in words . It is used to understand concepts, thoughts or experiences. This type of research enables you to gather in-depth insights on topics that are not well understood.

Common qualitative methods include interviews with open-ended questions, observations described in words, and literature reviews that explore concepts and theories.

Table of contents

The differences between quantitative and qualitative research, data collection methods, when to use qualitative vs. quantitative research, how to analyze qualitative and quantitative data, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about qualitative and quantitative research.

Quantitative and qualitative research use different research methods to collect and analyze data, and they allow you to answer different kinds of research questions.

Quantitative and qualitative data can be collected using various methods. It is important to use a data collection method that will help answer your research question(s).

Many data collection methods can be either qualitative or quantitative. For example, in surveys, observational studies or case studies , your data can be represented as numbers (e.g., using rating scales or counting frequencies) or as words (e.g., with open-ended questions or descriptions of what you observe).

However, some methods are more commonly used in one type or the other.

Quantitative data collection methods

• Surveys :  List of closed or multiple choice questions that is distributed to a sample (online, in person, or over the phone).
• Experiments : Situation in which different types of variables are controlled and manipulated to establish cause-and-effect relationships.
• Observations : Observing subjects in a natural environment where variables can’t be controlled.

Qualitative data collection methods

• Interviews : Asking open-ended questions verbally to respondents.
• Focus groups : Discussion among a group of people about a topic to gather opinions that can be used for further research.
• Ethnography : Participating in a community or organization for an extended period of time to closely observe culture and behavior.
• Literature review : Survey of published works by other authors.

A rule of thumb for deciding whether to use qualitative or quantitative data is:

• Use quantitative research if you want to confirm or test something (a theory or hypothesis )
• Use qualitative research if you want to understand something (concepts, thoughts, experiences)

For most research topics you can choose a qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods approach . Which type you choose depends on, among other things, whether you’re taking an inductive vs. deductive research approach ; your research question(s) ; whether you’re doing experimental , correlational , or descriptive research ; and practical considerations such as time, money, availability of data, and access to respondents.

Quantitative research approach

You survey 300 students at your university and ask them questions such as: “on a scale from 1-5, how satisfied are your with your professors?”

You can perform statistical analysis on the data and draw conclusions such as: “on average students rated their professors 4.4”.

Qualitative research approach

You conduct in-depth interviews with 15 students and ask them open-ended questions such as: “How satisfied are you with your studies?”, “What is the most positive aspect of your study program?” and “What can be done to improve the study program?”

Based on the answers you get you can ask follow-up questions to clarify things. You transcribe all interviews using transcription software and try to find commonalities and patterns.

Mixed methods approach

You conduct interviews to find out how satisfied students are with their studies. Through open-ended questions you learn things you never thought about before and gain new insights. Later, you use a survey to test these insights on a larger scale.

It’s also possible to start with a survey to find out the overall trends, followed by interviews to better understand the reasons behind the trends.

Qualitative or quantitative data by itself can’t prove or demonstrate anything, but has to be analyzed to show its meaning in relation to the research questions. The method of analysis differs for each type of data.

Analyzing quantitative data

Quantitative data is based on numbers. Simple math or more advanced statistical analysis is used to discover commonalities or patterns in the data. The results are often reported in graphs and tables.

Applications such as Excel, SPSS, or R can be used to calculate things like:

• Average scores ( means )
• The number of times a particular answer was given
• The correlation or causation between two or more variables
• The reliability and validity of the results

Analyzing qualitative data

Qualitative data is more difficult to analyze than quantitative data. It consists of text, images or videos instead of numbers.

Some common approaches to analyzing qualitative data include:

• Qualitative content analysis : Tracking the occurrence, position and meaning of words or phrases
• Thematic analysis : Closely examining the data to identify the main themes and patterns
• Discourse analysis : Studying how communication works in social contexts

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Chi square goodness of fit test
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Inclusion and exclusion criteria

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

Quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings.

Quantitative methods allow you to systematically measure variables and test hypotheses . Qualitative methods allow you to explore concepts and experiences in more detail.

In mixed methods research , you use both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods to answer your research question .

The research methods you use depend on the type of data you need to answer your research question .

• If you want to measure something or test a hypothesis , use quantitative methods . If you want to explore ideas, thoughts and meanings, use qualitative methods .
• If you want to analyze a large amount of readily-available data, use secondary data. If you want data specific to your purposes with control over how it is generated, collect primary data.
• If you want to establish cause-and-effect relationships between variables , use experimental methods. If you want to understand the characteristics of a research subject, use descriptive methods.

Data collection is the systematic process by which observations or measurements are gathered in research. It is used in many different contexts by academics, governments, businesses, and other organizations.

There are various approaches to qualitative data analysis , but they all share five steps in common:

• Prepare and organize your data.
• Review and explore your data.
• Develop a data coding system.
• Assign codes to the data.
• Identify recurring themes.

The specifics of each step depend on the focus of the analysis. Some common approaches include textual analysis , thematic analysis , and discourse analysis .

A research project is an academic, scientific, or professional undertaking to answer a research question . Research projects can take many forms, such as qualitative or quantitative , descriptive , longitudinal , experimental , or correlational . What kind of research approach you choose will depend on your topic.

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EDCO 747 Qualitative Methods of Research

• Course Description

For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the  Academic Course Catalog .

Course Guide

View this course’s outcomes, policies, schedule, and more.*

*The information contained in our Course Guides is provided as a sample. Specific course curriculum and requirements for each course are provided by individual instructors each semester. Students should not use Course Guides to find and complete assignments, class prerequisites, or order books.

The research problems addressed by the process of social science research often present a more complex problem than the use of traditional quantitative research approaches can satisfy. As a result of this complexity, there is the need for alternate ways to answer research questions. Qualitative research (as a paradigm of thought and as groups of methods and approaches) seeks to provide this alternate approach. Christian social science researchers must develop a diverse understanding of research methodologies and approaches to best apply the proper method in the practice of social science research.

Course Assignment

Textbook readings and lecture presentations.

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations , the candidate will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions (7)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the candidate will complete each of the 7 discussions in two parts. First, the candidate should post a new thread of at least 200 words in response to the provided topic. Then, the candidate should write a reply of at least 100 words to 2 classmates. (CLO: A, C, D, E, G, H)

Reading Summary Assignment

The candidate will have the opportunity to practice his or her APA writing and formatting skills through composing clear and concise chapter summaries for their assigned reading that week. The summaries should follow the format provided in the course and should clearly reflect APA style and writing. (CLO: A, D, G)

Research Plan Overview Assignments (3)

Throughout the course, the candidate will build a preliminary research plan that will be submitted in 3 different stages. Once completed, this plan will be the template for the final research prospectus. (CLO: C, F, G)

Five Approaches Table Assignment

The candidate will complete a chart that will allow him or her to define, explain, and discuss 5 major qualitative research methods. (CLO: D, G, H).

Article Critique Assignments (2)

The candidate will read and critique an article based on the information provided in chapters 4 and 5 and the appendices of the textbook. The critique should be a double-spaced review of the study’s purpose, theory, methods, and major findings. Both critiques should also follow APA style and should match the formatting guidelines (template) provided. (CLO: B, D, F, G, H)

Field Notes Interviews Assignment

The candidate will practice collecting data in the field through conducting 2 interviews with individuals who have earned a doctorate degree in the field of counseling, psychology, pastoral counseling, education or a related field. Each interview should be kept at about a 1-hour time limit and should be audio recorded for official transcription, which will be submitted. An interview template is provided in the course with a detailed list of questions.

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Qualitative research design (and planning)

When many people think of ‘research design’, they think of choosing methods or a methodology. But the design for a qualitative project should also consider existing research, epistemology, how you are going to recruit, and analyse the data from the methods you choose.

Daniel Turner

When many people think of ‘research design’, they think of choosing methods or a methodology. But the design for a qualitative project should also consider existing research, epistemology, how you are going to recruit, and analyse the data from the methods you choose. This guide will take you step by step though all the different parts you should consider.

First of all, you didn’t decide to do qualitative research before considering the question right? That’s the wrong way round. The research question, what you want to find out, should always choose the methodology, not the other way around. However, sometimes an assignment tells you to use qualitative methods – that’s a good exception!

Your methods and research design also need to be practical for the resource limitations of the project. What’s your budget, and how much time do you have to complete it? Can you afford to fly across the world to interview people in every continent? Do you have years to do a situated ethnography? It’s OK to have an initial aspirational plan that you would do with unlimited time and money, but make sure your final design is something you can achieve. Set aside time for things to go wrong (recruitment always takes longer than you think) and also for time to analyse and write up findings. A lot of people plan to keep doing data collection going until a week before the project is due, and then panic when they realise how little time is left. I get a lot of emails from people who say ‘I have one day to finish my analysis’ which is just never enough time.

1. Epistemology

You first need to think and write about your epistemology: this is how you understand knowledge, research, science and what can be understood about the world. Are you a positivist, structural realist or post-positivist? All of these things are important to understand, and in most qualitative research it is necessary to situate your identity as a researcher within one (or more) of these philosophical turns. From this should stem the research questions you have, how you can answer them, the methods you choose, and your interpretation and application of data, be it qualitative or otherwise. Thus it is a key kernel of what will grow into your research design, and how it all flows from your theoretical underpinnings.

Part of this might be a reflexivity and positionality statement , which lays out your  background and potential biases. It’s also something ethics boards, journals and funders are increasingly looking for.

2. Literature review (and secondary data scoping)

Before you even begin to design a qualitative study, you need to do at least a basic literature review. This should aim to find out:

How much is already known about this topic?

Has this been done before?

You might find that something similar has been done, possibly in a different population group, or with a different focus. But you might have a good reason to suspect that something would be different in a different population, or with an in-depth qualitative approach there might be something more complicated underneath that you could investigate to explain other findings.

A good literature review should start by looking at both qualitative and quantitative research, because a large quantitative study might be really good context for a follow-on qualitative study that can explain trends or questions and unexpected findings in the research.

Fortunately qualitative software is a great tool for doing literature reviews! You can bring in PDF files of your textbook chapters or journal articles, and not only create a bibliography, but also code important themes and discoveries across them. It makes it easy to compare across papers, and when you come to write up, you can quickly find all the quotes from the literature you will want to quote (and be able to see where they come from). There’s a whole video tutorial on using software for systematic and literature reviews here.

Now, you might be thinking you are going to collect your own data, but secondary data analysis is also a good option to consider. There are lots of choices, including social media, qualitative data archives, documents and sources of data from to colleagues. So have a quick search for other data sources that you can analyse first, it might be these will do most of the work for you, or you can complement them with some smaller primary qualitative research. Our post on using secondary qualitative data can help you find some sources, and notes some issues to be aware of.

3. Sampling and recruitment

Once you have a good idea of what is out there, and what your unique question will be, NOW you can start thinking about methods. But really, you should consider recruitment and sampling first. That is – who do I need to talk to so I can answer these questions? How can I approach these people? Will they be willing to talk to me, or will I have to get access through gatekeepers? Will I be able to meet these people face to face - especially if they live abroad, or are senior people?

Often sampling (which is choosing which people and how many) and recruitment (actually getting them to take part) is overlooked, but it can really make or break good research, and thinking about your potential respondents is important before choosing an appropriate method. If you want to talk to a bunch of murderers held in different prisons, a focus group is going to be difficult (and potentially dangerous) to pull off! We’ve got blog post articles on both sampling and recruitment that will give you a lot more information.

It’s also this process that ethics/instiutional review boards (aka IRBs or ethics committees) will be particularity interested in. You’ll usually need to go through a process like this before your university will allow you to start collecting data. Part of the research design process should be planning for this and creating consent forms that explain your project and what you will do with the data.

Now you know what to ask which people, you can think about how. This is usually when qualitative methods are chosen – the conditions above are right, and a qualitative study is suitable! And there are many to choose from, interviews, focus groups, ethnography, diaries, and we have blog posts on all of these (and more) that will help you choose the right tools to investigate your research question . But there are many more methods beyond these basic ones, so try and consider one of these 10 alternative creative methods! They can be fun, and also more revealing than the standard focus group / interview combo.

You can also do ‘mixed methods’. This technically means using more than one type of method, even if they are all qualitative. However, the term is often used to mean combining qualitative and quantitative methods. This can be very powerful because it gives you the combination of a statistically significant finding which might apply to a large population, and a detailed deep understanding of the reasons behind that finding from the qualitative data. However, combining these different types of answers in a meaningful way is a serious challenge, and if you are planning any type of mixed methods study, you will want to consider how to triangulate the results .

5. Analysis

Qualitative analysis takes a long time. It obviously depends greatly on the type and amount of data, but you should schedule weeks and probably months for this task. You should also consider if you are going to transcribe your data from audio recordings. This can take weeks itself if you are doing it yourself, or you might consider sending to a professional to transcribe. Even automated transcription can look like it will save a lot of time, but always has errors, and you need to read through these carefully and fix mis-hearings. You should also set aside time before analysing your data to read it slowly and carefully so you have a good idea what is across the whole data set.

You also need to think about what type of analysis you are going to do. Approaches like grounded theory or IPA are often seen as just an analytic technique, but they affect the data collection approach and methodology too. With grounded theory, you should probably be collecting and analysing data as you go, rather than waiting till the end. It’s a prime example of how why you should consider all aspects of the research process (even the analysis) before you start.

Qualitative analysis is also not a linear process. This means that many researchers will try multiple types of analysis, look at the data in different ways, and hit dead ends when an approach doesn’t work. So having a very tight deadline for analysis can not only be stressful, but not leave enough time for the flexibility and moments of insight which can make qualitative research so rewarding.

Of course, qualitative analysis software (like Quirkos) can help with the analysis process, it doesn’t take any of the mental work or creative process away, but can help keep things in order and make it easier to find things when writing up. We have many blog post articles on different ways that CAQDAS software can help analysis , but this one on why it’s a good idea to think about what software you will use before you start collecting data is a great fit with putting together a qualitative research plan.

6. Writing up

This is another classic stage that people don’t leave enough time for, writing up can be a very time consuming and laborious process, but can be speeded up immensely by a good research plan. If you’ve done a good literature review, this will help write the introduction and first few chapters. If you’ve got a good practical plan because you had everything in place for your IRB, had realistic expectations for recruitment and gave yourself plenty of time for analysis, you will have all the components to need to plug together and write up. If you’ve used qualitative analysis software, this can also greatly speed up the writing process, because it makes it so quick to find and collate quotes on different themes.

Regardless of whether you are writing a journal article, monograph or thesis, there are some basic tips to improve the quality of written academic material, which this blog post goes into more detail . But the basic take-home message is: consider your audience. Who is reading the paper, for what purpose, what do they know already, and what do they want to know. The final point is always ‘what makes this research unique’ or ‘what does it add to the literature’? Again, a good research design and planning process makes it easy to explain why you’ve chosen a research question, and show that no-one else has done it before.

Conclusions!

Hopefully, this blog post has made a good case for considering holistic research design when planning a qualitative project, but what should this look like? Generally it will be a working document, either on paper or a word-processor document, with at least the key headings above, and some basic information under each section. This can get filled in as you go through the process, and although your institution may have a template or guideline for a similar document, most of the key points above should still be considered.

Finally, if you are applying for funding at any time, be it for a masters/PhD studentship, placement, grant, scholarship or award, you will almost certainly need to share some kind of research plan or proposal, and considering all the aspects of design here will make that a lot easier.

If you are considering what qualitative analysis tool to consider in your research design, and to help with your qualitative research, why not give Quirkos a try? It’s visual and intuitive, inexpensive and easy to learn, and has helped thousands of researchers across the world with their qualitative research. You can download a free trial here , or get a quick guide and overview from some of our free tutorial videos .

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• Open access
• Published: 18 September 2024

Physical activity from the perspective of older adults: a convergent mixed-method study

• Anna Nilstomt   ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0000-9061-7669 1 ,
• Johanna Gustavsson 2 , 3 ,
• Linda Beckman 4 , 5 ,
• Charlotte Bäccman 1 ,
• Finn Nilson 2 , 3 ,
• Stefan Wagnsson 6 &
• Erik Wästlund 1  

BMC Geriatrics volume  24 , Article number:  768 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

Older adults are insufficiently physically active, despite its importance for healthy aging. To develop appropriate physical activity interventions, it is necessary to understand their physical activity. This study applies a theoretical perspective, the COM-B model, and a mixed-method design to examine what influences older adults’ physical activity levels with three questions: (1) What individual and external factors predict older adults’ physical activity levels? (2) What do older adults perceive as influencing their levels of physical activity? (3) To what extent do the quantitative results on older adults’ physical activity levels agree and disagree with the qualitative findings on older adults’ physical activity levels?

A convergent mixed-method design was used with questionnaire ( n  = 334) and interview ( n  = 14) data from adults 65 years and older. Regression analyses were used for quantitative measurements: physical activity, age, subjective socioeconomic status, health status, capability, opportunity, motivation, and depression. Content analysis was applied to the qualitative data. The two forms of data were then integrated to provide greater insights than would be obtained by either dataset separately.

The regression analyses showed that previous physical activity, current motivation, health status, and age significantly predicted older adults’ physical activity levels. The content analysis revealed that participants addressed all subcomponents of the COM-B model, indicating its pertinence in understanding how older adults discuss their current physical activity levels. The integrated findings showed convergent and divergent results. Overall results indicated that previous physical activity engagement, present motivation, capability, and opportunity influenced older adults’ physical activity levels.

Conclusions

This study is the first to use this mixed-methods design to examine factors influencing physical activity levels among older adults living in rental apartments with community hosts. The integrated result reveals convergence for findings on motivation and physical capability but divergence on psychological capability, opportunity, and previous physical activity. The findings underscore a complex interplay of factors influencing older adults’ physical activity levels and indicate relevance for the COM-B model. The results can guide future research on theoretically informed interventions to promote physical activity and healthy aging. Future research should clarify the role of opportunity for older adults’ physical activity.

Peer Review reports

Physical activity (PA) is vital for healthy aging as it promotes mobility and independence [ 1 ] and reduces declines in health and functioning [ 2 ]. The World Health Organization (3, p. vii) defines PA as “any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure”, which implies various activities, such as leisure-time activities like walking and gardening, transportation by bike, household chores, occupational tasks if the person still works, or planned exercise.

Adults aged 65 years or over are recommended to engage in at least 150 min of aerobic activities per week, perform muscle-strengthening exercises twice a week, and practice their balance three days a week [ 3 ], or at a minimum be as active as their abilities and conditions allow [ 3 , 4 ]. Previous research has shown that older adults have a more flexible attitude towards PA, ranging from any activity moving the body and mind to strictly planned activities outside the home [ 5 ]. In Sweden, fewer than 60 percent of older adults aged 65–84 meet the aerobic recommendations [ 6 ], meaning many older adults are insufficiently active. Also, the oldest adults are less likely to engage in PA than those of younger ages [ 7 ], which raises the question of what influences older adults’ PA and how it can be promoted in society? The answer to these questions could improve healthy aging and support the Agenda 2030 sustainable development goal of good health and well-being [ 8 ].

Previous research has identified several individual and external factors that influence older adults´ levels of PA, for example, being physically active earlier in life [ 9 ], wanting to continue with PA [ 10 ], and perceiving their health status as good [ 11 , 12 ]. Also, participating in group activities [ 5 ], having a supportive social network [ 13 ], access to facilities, and favorable weather conditions seem to promote older adults’ level of PA [ 13 ]. Factors that seem to decrease the likelihood of PA engagement among older adults are, for example, physical deterioration of the body [ 14 ], pain, fatigue, fear of falling [ 15 ], low self-confidence [ 14 ], low subjective socioeconomic status (SES) [ 16 , 17 ] and depressive symptoms [ 18 ]. However, to gain a deeper understanding of older adults’ PA engagement, applying a theoretical perspective, such as the COM-B model, is valuable [ 19 ] and increases the chances of designing effective interventions [ 20 ]. Thus, the different individual and external factors linked to older adults’ PA levels can be understood through the COM-B model [ 19 ].

The COM-B model refers to three components – capability, opportunity, and motivation – that must be present to generate a specific behavior, such as PA [ 19 , 21 ]. Capability and motivation relate to intrinsic factors, whilst opportunity relates to external factors. More specifically, capability concerns the individual’s physical and psychological capacity to engage in a behavior, for example, skills, knowledge, and thought processes; opportunity can be social or physical possibilities that allow a behavior to occur; and motivation is a mental process that can be either reflective or emotional and that energizes the targeted behavior as well as including goal-setting, decision-making, habits, and emotional responses [ 21 ]. Each component can directly impact behavior, and opportunity and capability can also indirectly impact behavior through motivation. The behavior can also impact capability, opportunity, and motivation [ 21 ].

The COM-B model is commonly related to PA [ 22 , 23 , 24 ] but has only to a limited degree been used for understanding older adults’ levels of PA. A review by Meredith et al. [ 25 ], which included qualitative studies on older adults, mapped the results to the COM-B model to better understand what influences older adults’ PA engagement. This secondary analysis revealed that all the COM-B components interacted and affected older adults’ PA engagement and that opportunity was the most frequently identified component [ 25 ]. Although reviews can be valuable for summarizing research results, they rely solely on secondary data instead of primary data, which may limit understanding nuances and the ability to establish relationships in the data [ 23 ]. Therefore, it is important to conduct more studies on the levels of PA in older adults, using the COM-B model. These studies should preferably use a mixed-methods approach since the convergence of two forms of data brings greater insights than would be obtained by either type of data separately [ 26 ]. Qualitative methods can provide deeper insights and a more nuanced view of a phenomenon, while quantitative methods enable statistical generalizability [ 27 ].

By understanding what influences older adults’ PA in relation to the COM-B model and two datasets, we can better understand the phenomenon of PA in this population. The COM-B model is useful for analyzing behavior as it is part of the theoretical framework for behavior change interventions [ 19 ]. Thus, we can acquire valuable knowledge that can be used to create and improve interventions that support older adults’ PA engagement. Ultimately, this can contribute to healthier aging.

This study aimed to examine what influences older adults’ levels of PA and how it could be understood in terms of the COM-B model and by means of a convergent mixed-method design. It is a design where quantitative and qualitative data are collected approximately simultaneously and analyzed separately before integration [ 26 ]. In this study, the two datasets were equally emphasized [ 26 ]. This study used quantitative observational data from a cross-sectional study to understand older adults’ PA levels through the COM-B model. The qualitative data from interviews explored PA among older adults. The reason for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data was to converge the two forms of data to bring greater insights into the research problem than would be obtained by either type of data separately. Qualitative methods can provide deeper insights and a more nuanced view of a phenomenon, while quantitative methods enable statistical generalizability to a greater degree [ 27 ]. A pragmatic approach was applied, as this allows using both quantitative and qualitative research methods to collect the data needed to address the study’s research questions [ 26 ]. The National Research Ethics Committee approved the study before recruitment.

The aim was operationalized into three research questions:

What individual and external factors predict older adults’ PA levels?

What do older adults perceive as influencing their levels of PA?

To what extent do the quantitative results on older adults’ PA levels agree and disagree with the qualitative findings on older adults’ PA levels?

Study setting

The recruited participants were 65 years or older and lived in rental apartments owned by the municipality. The apartments are specifically designed to provide independent living facilities for older adults and include a so-called ‘Trygghetsvärd’ (community host) who functions as a social support. Aside from arranging social activities like café meetings and walking groups, the community hosts clean the common areas and assist with simple tasks in the residents’ homes, such as changing light bulbs. The fact that the participants lived in rented apartments means that they differ from the Swedish average. In Sweden, owning a house is the most common housing arrangement, followed by renting an apartment and then owning an apartment [ 28 ]. The difference between the study group and the general population should be considered when interpreting the results.

The quantitative method

A cross-sectional study addressed the first research question: What individual and external factors predict older adults’ PA levels?

Participants

The sample consisted of 334 community-dwelling older adults (71.3% women) in a middle-sized town in Sweden. The majority of participants (65.2%) lived alone. Age was measured as a five-year categorical variable ranging from 65–70 years to 95–100 years. The mode age category was 76–80 years. Almost half of all participants (49.4%) could be classified as sufficiently active, 17.4 percent as moderately active, and 33.3 percent as insufficiently active, according to the Godin-Shepard leisure-time exercise questionnaire [ 29 ]. The participants reported a low degree of depressive symptoms ( M  = 3.98, SD  = 3.84, Range = 0–19). However, 24.4 percent of the sample reported six or more symptoms of depression, which, according to the cut-off score of the Geriatric Depression Scale [ 30 ], might indicate depression.

Procedure and response rate

A pilot survey was tested among a sample of self-recruited older adults ( n  = 6) from the local residential areas. This resulted in a shortened survey that was distributed to a total of 700 older adults in February 2022. Participants returned the survey either by pre-paid postage or through a sealed envelope that the community hosts mailed. One reminder was sent to their postbox and notes were posted on one occasion at the apartment complexes’ entrance to boost the response rate. Upon request from the older adults, the community hosts were available to assist with the questionnaires. This approach aimed to minimize dropouts caused, for example, by visual impairments. The community hosts assisted a total of three older adults. In total, 334 older adults provided informed consent to participate, resulting in a response rate of 48 percent.

Instruments

The Godin-Shepard leisure-time exercise questionnaire (GSLTEQ), adjusted by Godin [ 29 ], assessed the individual’s weekly PA. The participants self-reported on three items their frequencies of at least 15 min of mild, moderate, and strenuous PA per week on an eight-point scale ranging from 0 to 7 days . The standard procedure described by Godin [ 29 ] was used to calculate the total PA score and classify individuals as either sufficiently, moderately, or insufficiently active. The total PA scale index ranges from 0–119, where a higher score indicates an increased PA level. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.65, and the inter-item correlation was 0.39 in this study.

An adjusted version of the COM-B instrument, constructed by Bäccman, Bergkvist, and Wästlund [ 31 ], was used to assess the COM-B model [ 21 ]. It contained 12 items designed to measure capability (four items, such as “I know why it is important to be physically active”), opportunity (four items; for example, “I have access to facilities and equipment required to be physically active”), and motivation (four items, such as “I really want to be physically active”). Each item was answered on a five-point scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The mean for each index, capability, opportunity, and motivation was used for the analysis. In this study, Cronbach’s alphas for the capability, opportunity, and motivation index were 0.80, 0.78, and 0.92, respectively.

Health-related quality of life was assessed by EQ-5D-3L [ 32 ]. The participants classified their health on five dimensions (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression) and three severity levels ( no, moderate, or severe problems ). The health levels were transformed into an index value by applying the Swedish value set by Burström et al. [ 33 ]. The index values ranged between 0.3402 and 0.9694, where the former represents the lowest self-rated health-related quality of life and the latter the highest. In this study, the Cronbach’s alpha was 0.60, with an inter-item correlation of 0.24.

Symptoms of depression were assessed with the Swedish version of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) developed by Gottfries, Noltorp, and Nørgaard [ 30 ]. The scale is a screening instrument consisting of 20 items to be answered with a yes or no . Five items were reversed before summing a total score that ranged from 0–20, with a higher score indicating more symptoms of depression. A score of six or more indicates that depression might be suspected, whereas a score of five or lower suggests that depression is unlikely [ 30 ]. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.86 in this study.

The individual’s perception of their subjective socioeconomic status (subjective SES) was assessed with a single item, asking the participants to rank their socioeconomic status compared to other older adults in the society on a 10-point scale ranging from lowest to highest [ 34 ].

Previous PA experiences were assessed with a single item, asking the person to “Rate the average degree to which you have been physically active (exercised/worked out) in your life up until today.” The answers were given on a five-point scale ranging from a very high degree of physical activity to a very low degree of physical activity .

The questionnaire also included demographic information (age, gender, and cohabitation). Age was measured as a categorical variable with an interval of five years (e.g., 65–70). The lowest age category was 65–70 years and the highest was 106 years and older .

Data analysis

The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regression. The data did not indicate any outliers. Only two cases had an age of 96 years or above. Therefore, the two age categories 91–95 and 96–100 were merged into an age category of 91–100.

A hierarchical regression analysis was applied using bootstrapping to obviate skewed data. First, a hierarchical regression with three steps was completed, using forced entry within each step. The reason for this procedure was to test the COM-B model initially before adding characteristics. In the first step, opportunity and capability were included, as these variables are theorized to generate behavior and contribute to motivation. In the second step, motivation was added. The additional individual factors (previous PA, EQ-5D-3L, subjective SES, age, and GDS) were included in the third step. After that, a trimmed regression model with forced entry was completed, containing only the significant variables retained from the hierarchical regression. For both regression models, GSLTEQ was the dependent variable. The significance level was kept at an alpha level of 0.05 and cases were excluded listwise. Statistical analysis was completed with SPSS version 28.

The qualitative method

Semi-structured interviews addressed the second research question: What do older adults perceive as influencing their PA levels?

The sample ( N  = 14) is a subset of the quantitative sample. Among the participants in the qualitative sample, seven were women, 12 lived alone, and nine reported age 80 or younger. The mode age category was 86–90 years. Among the participants, four were classified as sufficiently active, four were deemed moderately active, and six were classified as insufficiently active.

Researcher description

The first and second authors conducted the interviews ( n  = 10 and n  = 4, respectively). The initial coding was done by the first, second, and third authors ( n  = 8, n  = 2, n  = 4, respectively). The coding was calibrated through discussions among the coders, and when uncertainty remained, all the authors were consulted. After that, the first author iteratively refined the coding for all 14 interviews. Our preunderstanding was managed by self-reflection through notes. The research team has experience in quantitative and qualitative studies regarding older adults and behavior change, and its members are from psychology, nursing, public health, sports science, and physical therapy.

Procedure and data collection

The older adults who had participated in the quantitative data collection and had agreed to be contacted for future research were approached. The participants were selected based on their gender (male, female), age (65 to 80 years, 80 years and older), and level of PA (insufficient, moderate, sufficient) derived from their survey answers for sample diversity. A four-cycle purposive sequential sampling procedure was used to contact 35 potential participants, 14 of whom consented in writing to be interviewed. Hence, the included sample is based on the maximum number of consented participants. There was no researcher-participant interaction before the data collection.

One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted in March and April 2023. The interviews took place either in the participant’s home or in a secluded area at the community hosts’ office, without the presence of non-participants. The participants chose the option that was most comfortable for them. The participants were informed about the purpose of the study, their right to refrain from answering questions, and that their participation was voluntary.

An interview guide with open-ended questions, organized into four themes, was developed, and follow-up questions were tailored during each interview based on the participant’s response. The themes included the participants’ definition of PA, their experience with PA today and previously, and their thoughts on maintaining PA. While the core of the interview guide remained consistent, the questions were nuanced and refined throughout the interview process in response to participants’ answers. The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The average duration for the interviews was 70 min. The range of interview length was 31–105 min.

To ensure trustworthiness, we spent lengthy time with the specific population, made notes throughout the research process, and applied investigators’ triangulation by being multiple interviewers and coders discussing the results within the research team.

Entire transcripts were analyzed using qualitative content analysis, a method for systematically interpreting text content through coding and identifying patterns [ 35 ]. The method described by Graneheim and Lundman [ 36 ] was applied to the transcripts with the adjustment of not condensing the meaning units. The text was initially read as a whole, then coded and sorted into categories using abductive reasoning. Through this process, the COM-B model was identified as a relevant framework for categorizing the codes based on the entire sample’s quotes. The analysis was completed in NVivo 14.

The mixed-method

The quantitative results were merged with the qualitative findings to address the third research question: To what extent do the quantitative results on older adults’ PA levels agree and disagree with the qualitative findings on older adults’ PA levels?

Before integrating the two datasets through methodological triangulation, each part was independently completed according to its methodological quality standards to ensure trustworthiness [ 26 ]. After identifying quantitative and qualitative findings, the research team compared the results, discussing convergence and divergence in content by reviewing constructs, scale items, and verbal statements. We also reflected upon discrepancies in findings. Those reflections can be located in the discussion section of this paper. A joint table was created to array the results. The table includes only the statistically significant predictors and the main categories identified in each dataset.

The quantitative results

To investigate the first research question – What individual or external factors predict older adults’ PA levels? – a hierarchical regression model was used, with capability, opportunity, motivation, previous PA, EQ-5D-3L, subjective SES, age, and GDS as predictors, and GSLTEQ as the dependent variable. Descriptive statistics (sample size, mean, standard deviation, median, and range) of the variables are shown in Table  1 .

The hierarchical regression model was significant, R 2  = 0.38, F [8, 294] = 24.52, p  < 0.001, although only the variables motivation, EQ-5D-3L, age, and previous PA were significant (see Table 2 ). The participants’ previous PA had a higher semipartial correlation value ( sr  = 0.30, p  < 0.001) than EQ-5D-3L ( sr  = 0.17, p  < 0.001), motivation ( sr  = 0.12, p  = 0.008) and age ( sr  = -0.12, p  = 0.01).

Therefore, a trimmed regression model that only included the significant variables was completed (see Table 3 ). This model remained significant and continued to explain a total variance of 39 percent, F [4, 305] = 49.32, p  < 0.001. The previous PA still had the higher semipartial correlation value ( sr  = 0.29, p  < 0.001) compared to motivation ( sr  = 0.19, p  < 0.001), EQ-5D-3L ( sr  = 0.18, p  < 0.001) and age ( sr  = -0.13, p  = 0.004).

The qualitative results

We used content analysis to explore the second research question: What do older adults perceive as influencing their levels of PA? The analysis confirmed that all the COM-B subcomponents—physical capability, psychological capability, physical opportunity, social opportunity, reflective motivation, and automatic motivation—were relevant to older adults' PA levels based on the entire sample’s quotes (see Table  4 ).

Physical capability

Physical capability concerns how a long life may take a toll on a person’s body and cause mobility issues and focused on strength and stamina . The participants described different illnesses and ailments, restrictions in mobility, and a general decreased fitness as reasons for reduced strength and stamina. Common ailments were stiffness, tiredness, and pain, frequently leading to avoidance of actions like running or even walking. Restrictions in mobility caused a range of issues, from being unable to stand up by oneself to not being able to walk at all or only walking with a walker: “/…/ Right now, I do nothing because my back hurts so bad, it's not possible … you see … I can barely get out of the kitchen " (Participant 6). In a seemingly downward spiral, decreased general fitness was related to reduced cardio-fitness, strength, and balance. A decreased strength and increased stiffness made lifting items difficult, and stiffness combined with poor balance prevented most physical activities such as biking, dancing, or going to the gym.

Psychological capability

Psychological capability describes a person’s mental functioning and understanding; three subcategories were identified: attention , knowledge , and acceptance . The first concerns decreased attention in traffic or not noticing body signals (such as low blood sugar levels). The second, mainly referred to a lack of knowledge, not knowing how to get to an activity (for example, being unfamiliar with the bus system), or not knowing what appropriate or available activities would be for their health conditions.

But I want to do something: move my body. In every newspaper and on TV, they say that you should move, but how and where? Who should I turn to? Because I can’t go to a gym since I can't stand up right there. (Participant 7)

The third subcategory, acceptance, was a permissive approach that some participants adopted when faced with lost abilities. This strategy seemed to boost their well-being.

Physical opportunities

Physical opportunities concern the external living conditions related to time and inanimate aspects of an environmental system. Aspects that benefited PA levels included time, financial means, activities to choose between, and access to music, equipment, nature, and facilities. The COVID-19 pandemic, unpleasant weather conditions, and physical surroundings sometimes prevented mobility. For example, the stairs into busses hindered rides or the pavement levels prevented getting on and off a bus everywhere. Dark and slippery roads, as well as long distances, were additional barriers: “/…/ When I walk, it’s to go and play bingo, but then I have to stop several times, and I only wish there were more benches along the pathway for me to sit down for a little while …” (Participant 5).

Social opportunities

Social opportunities relate to people and cultural elements of an environmental system. These concerned interpersonal influences, belonging to a community, and the presence of others who encouraged, pushed, or guided the participants facilitated engagement in PA: “I have actually done [some physical activity]. And if I had someone close by who … liked the training, we could motivate each other, and then it would surely be even more [activity]” (Participant 4). Others’ opinions and actions directed older adults’ behavior. When one partner did not engage in PA, the other often reduced or stopped their activities too. Reasons were feelings of guilt or lack of time due to an increased need for them to do the household chores.

Automatic motivation

Automatic motivation concerns emotions and impulses that energize behavior. Three subcategories were identified: impulses and inhibitions, emotions , and motives . The first, impulses and inhibition, concerned relatively unreflective internal forces that propel or restrain actions. Habits of regular exercise or walks were automatic behaviors that facilitated PA. At the same time, a struggle to stop exercising before pain or exhaustion prevented future PA. The second subcategory, emotions, concerns positive and negative feelings for PA. Positive feelings like fun, play, and enjoyment facilitated PA, whereas negative emotions like sadness, fear, and guilt limited activity levels. The fear that restricted behavior was mainly about hurting oneself and losing body functions and abilities.

Like I said, I try to be active ... within my limits. I no longer expose myself to anything extreme, although I feel I should. /…/ This stiffness I have, I wish I didn’t, but to a certain degree, you have to accept it as well when you have passed the age of 80, I think. Perhaps not endangering the body too much. (Participant 2). 

The third subcategory, motives, involved wants and needs that elicited PA and facilitated it as far as mobility issues did not pose a hindrance. The desire to do activities other than PA increased older adults’ motives to be physically active.

Everything comes down to one’s will ... if I don’t want something, I don't want it ... you can’t force someone, it’s quite simple when you come to an understanding ... so ... but sometimes I think about the fact that ... I’ll be 72 years old now, I don’t have damn long left on Earth, and the time I have left I actually want to be a little active. I have no desire to use an electric wheelchair or become a vegetable. (Participant 8)

Reflective motivation

Reflective motivation involves conscious thinking that can ignite behavior, and two subcategories were identified: beliefs, and goals and plans . Beliefs concerned ideas about PA, age and age-appropriate manners, and the self. If one believed participating in PA was valuable and worthwhile, it facilitated their engagement. Statements of PA were often accompanied by imperative thoughts, such as ‘must’ or ‘should.’ Regarding beliefs about age, those participants who identified themselves as old tended to perceive PA as too late to engage in, which often restricted their range of activities. Ideas about the self as an active or inactive person influenced the level of PA, where the former facilitated and the latter hindered. “I don't move my body because I have no interest in it” (Participant 5). The subcategory, goals and plans, involved cognitive representations of desired outcomes and intentions for PA. PA helped participants achieve health and independence by reducing illnesses and ailments, lowering restrictions in mobility, improving general fitness, or boosting well-being.

Yes. No, [the goal of these activities] it’s to keep the body going to remain able to cope as I age. I mean, the muscles disappear, the older they get. Of course, you want to try to remain strong and live a long life. I think it’s super-important to exercise because you stay healthier. If you exercise, you have more stamina, and you have fun while exercising. So no, I think it is very important. (Participant 4)

Other goals were to save money and experience nature. A more or less conscious objective with the PA concerned structure and meaning of the days. For example, getting outside the home allowed the participants to explore and be stimulated. Intentions to be active facilitate an active lifestyle and committing to oneself or others further prompted PA. “/… /I take care of dogs and sometimes when I go out, the weather is miserable, but since I’ve promised her, I’ll go out anyway … /…/even if it’s not very tempting to go out when it rains” (Participant 2).

The mixed-method results

The quantitative results were integrated with the qualitative findings to address the third research question: To what extent do the quantitative results on older adults’ PA levels agree and disagree with the qualitative findings on older adults’ PA levels? This revealed both convergence and divergence (see Table  5 ).

This mixed-method study utilized quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the factors influencing older adults’ PA levels. This allowed a greater insight than would be obtained by either dataset separately, as quantitative methods enable statistical generalizability to a greater degree and qualitative methods can provide deeper insights and a more nuanced view of a phenomenon [ 27 ]. The quantitative analysis of standardized questionnaires was used to identify individual and external factors predicting older adults’ PA levels, and the qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews was used to gain a better understanding of nuances of what older adults perceive as influencing their PA levels. The mixed-method analysis assessed to what extent the quantitative results on older adults’ PA levels agree and disagree with the qualitative findings on older adults’ PA levels. The discussion will follow the two research questions, answered by quantitative and qualitative methods. After that, an integrated discussion will address the third research question.

Predictors of PA levels in older adults

The findings revealed that the best predictor for older adults’ PA levels was their previous PA engagement, followed by their current motivation, health status, and age, which aligns with prior research [ 7 , 9 , 11 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 37 ]. Non-significant variables in the regression analysis were capability, opportunity, subjective SES, and depressive symptoms. Capability changed to a non-significant predictor when health status and age were included, indicating that body-related capacity matters for older adults’ PA levels, which Jancey et al. [ 14 ] also postulated. This indicates that physical- rather than psychological capability matters for older adults’ PA levels. Our results contradict previous research by not identifying opportunity as a significant predictor [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. This may be due to multicollinearity and other factors that matter more to older adults’ PA levels. Additionally, the availability of walking groups in their residential areas may have impacted participants’ perceptions of opportunities, influencing the results. Another possibility is range restriction in the participants’ questionnaire answers in this study or that other research studies have used different items to measure the COM-B variables.

Despite previous negative associations between subjective SES with physical inactivity [ 16 ] and mobility issues [ 17 ], subjective SES was not a significant predictor in our study. The reason could be the homogeneity in the sample, with all participants living in rented apartments reporting fairly similar subjective SES.

Many older adults suffer from depression and in Sweden approximately 10 percent of individuals aged 65–74 use antidepressants, increasing to nearly 20 percent for those aged 85–94 [ 38 ]. The prevalence of depression in our sample (potentially 24.4%) is higher than that of Sweden; however, it is lower than the global equivalent (28.4%) [ 39 ]. Depressive symptoms were not a significant predictor of PA levels, although previous research has shown that depressive symptoms may hinder PA engagement [ 18 ]. The discrepancy in findings may be due to different study designs and sample sizes. Our quantitative study included 334 participants in a single measurement, whereas Lindwall et al. [ 18 ] employed a repeated measurement design with a sample of almost 18,000 participants. In summary, early engagement in PA seems to be a precursor for maintaining an active lifestyle later in life. Still, other factors like the current motivation and age-related health status are also important.

What do older adults perceive as influencing their PA levels?

All subcomponents of the COM-B model were identified as relevant to help understand what influences PA levels among older adults, which validates the results from previous reviews [ 22 , 25 ]. As with all models, the COM-B model is a simplified representation of reality, and the subjectivity in data interpretation might account for differences in findings among researchers. Meredith et al. [ 25 ], who reviewed qualitative studies on older adults’ PA participation and mapped their findings to the COM-B model, perceived fear as an individual vulnerability related to capability. However, we interpreted it as an emotion related to automatic motivation. Nonetheless, our findings and Meredith et al. [ 25 ] suggest that fear of falling or losing physical abilities can limit PA.

It is well known that older adults can face challenges in PA due to reduced strength and stamina, especially if the social and physical environments do not support their health condition. Our results show that all the COM-B model’s subcomponents are relevant and have complex interactions. This has also been acknowledged by Meredith et al. [ 25 ], who reported that a greater portion of their findings was related to social and physical opportunities. Other researchers, who did not only include older adults in their samples, have emphasized physical opportunity while downplaying physical capability and social opportunity [ 22 , 24 ]. This suggests that social environment and physical capabilities become more significant later in life and implicates the importance of analyzing age groups separately, as differences can become camouflaged when combined. In summary, the subcomponents of the COM-B model help explain older adults’ engagement or withstanding of PA. The importance of age-disaggregated analysis is also revealed when comparing our results on older adults to those of other researchers that include samples with not only older adults.

Integrative discussion

The quantitative and qualitative results were both convergent and divergent (see Table  5 ). In the quantitative results, opportunity was not a significant predictor, but it was identified as an influential category in the qualitative findings. This discrepancy may be due to how opportunity was measured in the quantitative analysis. The qualitative analysis revealed additional nuances of opportunity that were not assessed in the survey. For example, the qualitative analysis suggested that PA levels are influenced by the existence of PA facilities as well as the physical surroundings that govern how a person can access the facility. Therefore, participants may have responded in the survey that facilities for exercising existed without considering if the physical surroundings allowed them to access them. Similarly, the quantitative survey did not include any item on how the ability of a partner to engage in PA affected the participant's opportunity to be active, which was reported as influential in the qualitative analysis. Nonetheless, this divergence calls for more research regarding the role of opportunity for older adults’ PA levels. Regarding capability, the quantitative analysis only reveals physical capability as core to older adults’ PA levels, while both physical- and psychological capability are identified in the qualitative analysis. Motivation was recognized as central in both analyses. The qualitative findings nuanced the quantitative results by indicating both reflective and automatic motivation as relevant. This life-span perspective concerns a distinction between the two analyses, as previous PA was a statistically significant predictor in the quantitative results but did not surface as a category in the qualitative findings. During the interviews, some participants talked about being active in the past, but they did not associate it with their current PA levels. This divergence between the datasets may be related to the qualitative data collection’s focus on individual experiences, while the quantitative approach emphasizes patterns in large groups.

Comparing the quantitative and qualitative data can improve our understanding of what influences PA in older adults. Our findings show that, as people age, their behavior and cognition change, as does their motivation to engage in PA. Pleasurable, meaningful, and social activities reinforce older adults’ PA positively. However, as shown in this study, aging deteriorates a person’s body and can restrict their current PA levels. In these situations, the surrounding opportunities and the individuals’ knowledge of safely engaging in PA matters. Also, people’s previous experience of PA influences their present behavior. In other words, our study indicates that many factors influence older adults’ PA levels in a complex manner. The COM-B model and its subcomponents seem like a relevant model for understanding older adults’ PA levels. In summary, these findings suggest that applying a life-span perspective and considering the COM-B model's subcomponents can help explain why older adults engage in PA or not.

Implications and practical significance

Stakeholders may promote healthy aging and contribute to the 2030 Agenda’s sustainable developmental goal of health and well-being [ 8 ] by utilizing knowledge of factors influencing PA levels in older adults. It is important to recognize that aging can look very different from one person to another, and that this heterogeneity tends to increase with age, peaking at approximately 70 years for various health characteristics [ 40 ]. Our findings reveal both hetero- and homogeneity among the participants. For example, in the qualitative analysis, they all reported reduced strength and stamina, but the reasons varied from biological to behavioral. The individual differences must be considered, but common features allow for PA promotions for healthy aging.

Firstly, this result implies the importance of prioritizing PA at early life stages, as this positively affects PA levels in older adults. However, this alone will not suffice to increase PA levels in the aging population, as their past cannot be changed. Hence, interventions to target PA in older adults are necessary.

Secondly, interventions to increase PA among older adults should review all subcomponents of the COM-B model. This knowledge is valuable since the COM-B model is the hub of The Behavior Change Wheel (BCW) and can be used to develop and evaluate interventions [ 19 ]. According to the BCW, interventions should be developed systematically, and the first stage is understanding the behavior through the COM-B lens [ 19 ]. This can be considered to have been achieved by the present study and the previous study of Meredith et al. [ 25 ]. In the second stage of intervention development; stakeholders can consult the BCW [ 19 ] while using the results from this study to create interventions that are specific to their settings to promote PA among older adults. For example, our research indicates that in addition to providing PA facilities, successful PA intervention may also require attention to the physical surroundings or the person’s knowledge of how to use the facility.

Limitations, strengths, and future research

The mixed-method design is a strength, as two data sets allow a thorough assessment of what influences older adults’ PA levels. For example, the quantitative analysis identified previous PA as an important influencer to older adults’ PA, which is not emphasized in our qualitative analysis nor by Meredith et al. [ 25 ]. Our results regarding the COM-B model validate Meredith et al. [ 25 ] findings. It can, therefore, be concluded that the COM-B model is useful for understanding older adults’ PA. This is valuable information since the COM-B related results can conveniently be transformed into interventions due to its connection with the framework of (BCW) [ 19 ]. Another strength of this study is that our analysis sheds light on the importance of age-disaggregated research when our findings, related to an older population, are compared to prior studies [ 22 , 24 ] that not only include older adults. Future research should preferably age disaggregate their analysis by the recommended five-year age brackets [ 41 ].

A limitation concerns the findings' generalizability or transferability since the drop-out rate was rather large in the quantitative sample from which the qualitative sample was recruited. Additionally, not everyone invited to the qualitative study consented to participate, meaning that those who chose to participate in this mixed-method study may differ from non-participants. However, the sample size in both datasets was relatively sizable, which boosts the statistical power of the quantitative analysis and nuances in the verbal statements in the qualitative analysis. The living conditions of the older adults, included in our study, may differ slightly from other samples used in prior research, challenging result comparisons. Future studies are recommended to include a more diverse population of older adults. Additionally, our sampling resulted in different mode ages in the two samples, which is a limitation as it may mirror different realities among older adults, thereby potentially influencing the result integration. Another weakness within the quantitative dataset concerns the precision of measurement, multicollinearity, and range restriction for the included variables in the regression analysis. A potential limitation of the qualitative study was the lack of member checks. However, to compensate for this, the participants were invited to contact the researchers with adjustments or additional comments on their interviews. To further ensure credibility and trustworthiness, all interviews were conducted within two months. Additionally, multiple interviewers and coders from different disciplines (i.e., investigator triangulation) helped minimize research bias, enhancing the qualitative analysis. Some talkative participants occasionally strayed off-topic, which may have influenced the data collection and the qualitative findings.

The qualitative analysis indicated the importance of PA as a pleasurable activity and previous research has associated subjective well-being [ 42 ] and morale [ 43 ] with older adults’ PA. However, the quantitative analysis did not include these emotional aspects as variables. We suggest that future studies review and clarify the value of positive and negative emotions for older adults’ PA levels. Additionally, longitudinal experimental study designs are needed to clarify the role of physical- and social opportunities for older adults’ PA.

To our knowledge, this study is the first to use a convergent mixed-method design to examine factors influencing PA levels in older adults aged 65 and above who rent apartments from the municipality with access to community hosts, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. It seems that many factors influence older adults’ PA levels in a complex manner, with the integrated result showing convergence regarding motivation and physical capability but divergence in psychological capability, opportunity, and previous PA engagement. The findings also indicate relevance to the COM-B model as a framework for understanding older adults’ PA levels. Overall, we suggest that it is important to consider all the COM-B model’s subcomponents when designing a PA program for older adults and to apply a life-span perspective, as previous PA engagement seems to influence the current level of PA in older adults. However, it is also central to consider their current motivation, capability, and opportunities to understand what influences their PA levels. More research is needed to clarify the role of emotions and opportunities for older adults’ PA levels since the findings are inconsistent. Furthermore, the value of age-disaggregated data is revealed when our findings from samples of only older adults are compared to previous research that does not only include older people.

From a public health perspective, prioritizing PA early in life appears important, as this can positively impact older adults’ PA engagement. Based on our findings, we would make the following recommendations for promoting PA among older adults. Since the findings can be related to the intervention framework of BCW, stakeholders are encouraged to use these results while also seeking further guidance from the BCW to design interventions to improve PA levels and promote healthier aging among older adults. For instance, our findings suggest that it is important to consider the targeted population's physical abilities and offer appropriate options for their health condition when designing an intervention. Also, to alleviate the fear of injury that can hinder motivation for PA, it is central to address older adults’ concerns and provide them with the necessary knowledge to engage in PA safely. The findings also indicate the importance of PA to be fun, playful, and meaningful. This knowledge can be used to frame and present PA options to participants to motivate PA engagement. Challenging age stereotypes and emphasizing that it is never too late to start exercising appears also important. Additionally, to ensure the success of PA interventions, it is also important to consider the physical surroundings and social settings at macro and meso levels. For example, long walking distances with no resting spots or a partner's physical ability may prevent PA engagement. Addressing such issues can help individuals to partake in activities without limitations.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Abbreviations

• Physical activity

Subjective socioeconomic status

The Behavior Change Wheel

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Community hosts for their assistance during the quantitative and qualitative data collection.

Open access funding provided by Karlstad University. Our work was supported by Grant No. 20210102 from the Kamprad Family Foundation for Entrepreneurship, Research & Charity.

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Service Research Center (CTF), Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

Anna Nilstomt, Charlotte Bäccman & Erik Wästlund

Department of Political, Historical, Religious and Cultural Studies, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

Johanna Gustavsson & Finn Nilson

Center for Societal Risk Research, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

Department of Public Health, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

Linda Beckman

Department of Health Services Research, Management & Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

Department of Educational Studies, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden

Stefan Wagnsson

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Contributions

AN made substantial contributions to the design of the work, the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data, and has drafted and revised the work. JG made substantial contributions to the design of the work, the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data, and has drafted and revised the work. LB made substantial contributions to the design of the work, the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data, and has drafted and revised the work. CB made substantial contributions to the design of the work, the analysis and interpretation of data and has drafted and revised the work. FN made substantial contributions to the design of the work and the analysis and interpretation of data and has drafted and revised the work. SW made substantial contributions to the design of the work and the data acquisition and has drafted and revised the work. EW made substantial contributions to the design of the work, the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data, and has drafted and revised the work. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Authors’ information

AN is a licensed psychologist and a PhD student researching the maintenance of behavior with a focus on PA among older adults. JG is a senior researcher in public health with expertise in injury prevention for older adults and is also a licensed nurse. LB is a senior researcher in public health with expertise in young and older people’s mental health. CB is a senior researcher in psychology with expertise in health and well-being, behavior change, and digitalization. FN is a professor in risk management and a licensed physical therapist. SW is a senior researcher in sport science with expertise in PA and motivation. EW is a senior researcher in psychology with expertise in decision-making, behavior change, and digitalization.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anna Nilstomt .

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The participants gave their informed consent before participating in the study. For the quantitative study, participants provided consent by filling out the questionnaire. For the qualitative study, participants provided written consent. The Swedish Ethical Authority approved this study (No. 2020–00950 and No. 2021–05133).

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Not applicable.

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Nilstomt, A., Gustavsson, J., Beckman, L. et al. Physical activity from the perspective of older adults: a convergent mixed-method study. BMC Geriatr 24 , 768 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-024-05362-x

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Received : 05 April 2024

Accepted : 06 September 2024

Published : 18 September 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12877-024-05362-x

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