2019 Volume 3 Article ID: 2019-004
Active, learner-centered teaching strategies, such as problem-based learning, have been adopted widely in undergraduate health professions education. In this context, the majority of the educational research has focused on conducting quantitative analyses to measure the learning effectiveness. However, there is less qualitative study exploring how students and their educators engage and learn within the educational process. Qualitative research is conducted with a focus on obtaining a better understanding of what, how and why happens in a given context from an emic perspective. In other words, qualitative methods look for the ‘processes’ of phenomenon. When examining a learning process, it is important for researchers to understand dynamic and complex phenomenon that is constructed through interactions between learners and/or learners and educators in addition to individuals’ feelings, perceptions, beliefs and values. In this paper, we discuss the key characteristics of qualitative research based on three educational studies that qualitatively analyzed data elicited by interviews and observation in educational sites.
