Bandar,

Qualitative reseach methods can be just as effective, however you have to make sure the questions are well structured if your are trying to prove a hypotheses or determine certain findings. It is also important to code the variables by the frequency or similarities of the responses. Think about themes such as contraceptive use, multiparity, breast feeding, STDs, perspectives related to child bearing ect.  Then write your questions around those variables or themes.  In terms of the questions do not do too many becuase depending upon the population they won't supply much question.  In my research I did both a quantative and qualitative because I wanted to capture more structured data and provide respondents with a free flow to use to articulate  to a broader community and get information which I didn't think to include.  For example, peer-to-peer relationships was area I was able to capture from the qualitative findings.

I hope this helps.

Michele

Adding to Michele's good explanation, there are several types of qualitative methods and they have different needs in terms of what type of data you need. You might need to create categories out of responses, make a deeper theory-based content analysis, map contents from the answers, it all depends in what type of qualitative method you think it fits to your research question. 

I have a very similar position as Michele, I prefer much more the mixed designs as they provide a more practical approach, you can still work with representative sample quantities and have a stronger power of generalization for your findings. Of course other methods have different advantages, you just have to see which one would be the best for your research question. 

It depends what do you mean by "assessing knowledge" about reproductive health. Their can be three levels of orientations or knowledge

That is something we normally access through questionnaires (Quantitative). Qualitatively that can be done by outlining the possibilities of qualitative responses into categories of cognitive, affective and evaluative orientations. 

Kind regards, 

Usmna

Bandar,

If you specifically want to use qualitative methods not quantitative methods,  then one of the best will be focus groups. Reproductive health is a sensitive issue, therefore you have to do several focus groups e.g. separately  for men, women, boys, girls etc. depending on the local context. 

Regards

Nasih

I agree to above all and want to add about informant interviews. Conducting some individual interviews helps to develop focus group questions. I would suggest some key interviews in the beginning and then focus groups. Once some themes emerge from focus groups then you can further decide if you want to do separate focus groups based on age, gender etc.. Good luck

Regards

Shillpa

Hello, let me add that it is assumed you want to "evaluate the knowledge about reproductive health"  among specific lay groups or populations.  If so, you can certainly conduct qualitative interviews??  But  maybe you want to asses current knowledge based on the literature? Or medical specialties? Thus, the research would involve written materials either alone or alongside more specific, target interviews

Hello, I would like to add a comment to Ms. Castanuela's answer. I think that one could have different approaches when you have for example  2 target populations. You could use individual interviews with experts or key informants and focus group with lay groups. Individual interviews can be somewhat uncomfortbale for lay people. When possible   having a trained peer researchers conduct a focus group may be interesting.

In addition to what has been  said:  you can use qualitative method to assess knowledge and attitude of different groups by one to one interview, a  focus group discussion of 6 to 8 people from different area of the health system can be useful. I usually used ATLAS.ti to analyze scripts obtained from focus group discussions. However, combination of both qualitative and quantitative data is mostly preferred.

Yes, maybe, but I  have been involved in studies using individual interviews with "lay people" some, on very sensitive topics; as have many many researchers. People will participate even when uncomfortable and there are many techniques/skills for this type of work.  Otherwise where would we, researchers, be, if we could not conduct individual interviews with lay people because they may be uncomfortable????. 

As we know qualitative research can be done by knowing the views of the diverse group of the population and their views and attitude about the issue. Reproductive health is a key component of any community. It constitutes a wide spectrum of health with unique dimensions, hence reproductive health holistic approach is needed to understand the reproductive behavior, various phases of life from prenatal to cancer and other geriatric problems.Hence, for each sub issue of reproductive health antenatal & Lactating mothers, Child Health, adolescent and elderly ladies can be selected for focus group discussion with the agenda.

Dear Bandar,

In your case I suppose you are interested in to know what extent reproductive issues are known among the population or some subgroup of people, i.e. you want to measure the percentage of people with good/poor knowledge about selected reproductive health issues. In this situation it is better to use quantitative methods such as survey by utilizing a questionnaire. Qualitative methods are justified in situations where little is known about topic. Qualitative research is characterized by its aims, which relate to understanding some aspect. Its methods generate words, and aim is not to measure something.

Sari

It is possible, there is little or no knowledge at all about reproductive health in the community under investigation, so the questions have to be of a qualitative nature.  For a quantitative approach, the questions are based on what is know.n. 

For e.g. how can the researcher ask what kind of birth control is used, if he/she does not know and there is no information  regarding whether or not the respondents know 1) what IS bc and 2) what types of bc there are  3) which of the types of bc are available in the community, 4) how easily it is for each person to access bc 5) what are some of the barriers to accessing bc. 

Since the question Bandar Noory asks regards using qualitative approach to assess (not measure) knowledge, I am guessing this is the case, and he is starting from scratch, so to speak.

Qualitative methodology can be used in actual patient interviews with a structured series of questions or focus group setting.  The key to the qualitative methodology is since it is not a multiple choice format it enables the subject to discuss their perspective freely on a subject.  What the researcher must do is analyze any recurrent themes. For example, you could conduct a focus group or ask for feeback on a subject such as multiparity or contraceptive use.  The feedback or responses will enable you analyze common themes and threads relate to your problem statement or hypothesis.