Qualitative Research Approach

Each research approach has its strengths and weaknesses depending on what the research topic is, therefore choosing the appropriate research strategy for the research topic will ensure that the conclusions of the paper will be credible enough to be accepted by the readers. The topic of my research paper will be about some of the different security mechanisms that exist to improve airport security and prevent terrorists from using airplanes as a terrorist weapon. For my research paper I have decided to incorporate a qualitative research approach and a quantitative research approach to my research strategy.
A qualitative research approach is a type of approach that mainly relies on observations and human interpretations to reach a conclusion
(American Public University, 2016). From the qualitative research approach derives other types of qualitative approaches that focus or specialize in researching certain aspects of the topic that can help support and create a conclusion. The types of qualitative research approaches and methods that I found that could be helpful for my topic are field research, unstructured interviewing, analyzing case studies, and content analysis (Trochim, 2006).
Field research consist in going into the field of the research topic and make observations and take notes about the observations that are made (Trochim, 2006).
When conducting field research it is important to make the observations in its natural environment without being an active participant or interfere with the natural environment (Trochim, 2006). Since I will be researching about some of the security mechanisms that are being employed at airports, I could conduct some field research by going to my local airport and observe how these security mechanisms work in real life. Some of the merits of this approach is that it will allow me to understand better some of the security procedures being implemented at airports and it will help me analyze what needs improvement and what seems to be working. However, one of the drawbacks of this approach is that it might be very difficult to make natural field observations in a security sensitive place such as an airport where security is always high and making observations could look suspicious for security officers, therefore it would be necessary to ask for permission first and this could inflict with the natural setting of the airport since the airport staff would be aware that someone is making observations and taking notes. Another drawback of this approach for my research is that it would be impossible to observe some areas since they are restricted and only airport staff or passengers can enter these
areas.
Unstructured interviewing is another qualitative approach that would be useful during my research process.
This method consist of performing interviews with an open mind and not follow an established protocol (Trochim, 2006). This method would allow me to conduct interviews to those in charge of operating and supervising the different security mechanisms that exists at airports as well as to passengers who went through the security checkpoints. The data or feedback that I would collect from the interviews would help enhance and support the data that I will obtain from case studies and content analysis. As mentioned in the latter, I will obtain case studies and analyze qualitative and quantitative contents by conducting extensive research within the databases found in the APUS library.
The quantitative research approach consist in using mathematics to interpret data and thus create a conclusion from those interpretations (American Public University, 2016). This research approach requires the researcher to gather lots of data so that the conclusions can be somewhat credible. I plan on using a quantitative research approach to supplement my findings from using the qualitative
approach.
For example, I could use the quantitative approach to determine the effectiveness of some of the security mechanisms that exists at airports. I could gather the number of incidents in which security mechanisms have been effectively breached by criminals and I could gather the number of incidents in which the security mechanism have worked effectively to stop the crime in progress. I could then analyze both numbers of incidents and arrive with a conclusion to determine the effectiveness of some of the security mechanisms. One of the drawbacks of using a quantitative approach is that it might take a long time to gather the data that is needed to come with a conclusion and the results of the conclusion may not always be accurate since many factors are not taken in consideration during the quantitative approach. Each research approach has its own merits and drawbacks. Limiting ourselves to only use one approach could impact negatively how well the conclusions are supported. If the circumstances permit, it is best to take the good things from each approach and try to incorporate them to the research. In my case, I plan on incorporating both qualitative and quantitative approaches in my research strategy.