Metode Penelitian Kualitatif

Metode atau metodologi penelitian kualitatif adalah penelitian tindakan kelas yang dipilih dengan alasan-alasan sebagai berikut :
Pertama, penelitian kualitatif merupakan pendekatan penelitian yang menonjolkan penggalian obyek dan subyek permasalahan secara mendalam. Alasan ini didasarkan pada pendapat Denzim and Lincoln (1994:66) yang mengatakan :

Equally, all qualitative research tradition give as much attention to the inner as well as the outer states of human activity, Jacob (1987), for instance, notes the “subjective perceptions,” “emotions,” “reflective interpretations,” and “mental standards,” that can be include within the “characteristics” of qualitative research.

Kedua, searah dengan alasan di atas, penelitian kualitatif merupakan pendekatan penelitian untuk mengungkap fenomena sosial yang berlangsung sebagai suatu proses atau kondisi-kondisi tertentu serta hasil dari proses tersebut. Alasan ini didasarkan pada pemikiran Merriam (dalam Creswel, 1994:145) sebagai berikut :

1. Qualitative researchers is the concerned primarily with process, rather than outcomes or product.
2. Qualitative researchers are interested in meaning – how people make sense of their lives, experiences, and their structures of the world.
3. The qualitative researchers is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. Data are mediated through this human instrument, rather than through inventories, questionnaires, or machines.
4. Qualitative researchers involve fieldwork. The researcher sprucely goes to the people, setting, site, or institution to observe or record behavior in its natural setting.
5. Qualitative research is descriptive in that the researcher is interested in process, meaning, and understanding gained through world or picture.
6. The process of qualitative research is inductive in that the researcher builds abstractions, concepts, hypotheses, and theorities from detail.