Centre for Policy on Ageing



Qualitative research — what does it have to offer to the gerontologist?
Author(s)	Ann Kuckelman Cobb, Sarah Forbes
Journal title	Journals of Gerontology: Series A, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 57A, no 4, April 2002
Pages	pp M197-M202
Keywords	Ageing process ; Methodology ; Qualitative Studies ; Quantitative studies.
Annotation	The growing challenge of promoting health and managing illness in an ever-changing health care system requires a wide variety of research approaches. Qualitative methods have a long tradition in disciplines such as sociology and anthropology, and are being used with greater frequency as interdisciplinary health-related disciplines attempt to understand and explain complex problems. This article defines and describes the main features of qualitative research, and examines ways in which this methodology is relevant and useful to gerontological studies. A concise comparison of quantitative and qualitative methods is made, suggesting when qualitative approaches are useful. A review of the three most common approaches - ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology - is provided. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-020725204 A
Classmark	BG: 3D: 3DP: 3DQ
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.