Factors Affecting Postgraduate Students’ Perceptions of Qualitative Research at the University Level

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the factors affecting postgraduate students’ perceptions about qualitative research at the university level. The study was quantitative. The sample of study consisted of 105 conveniently selected scholars (83 M.Phil. & 22 PhD) from IER at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan The self-developed questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaire was validated through expert feedback, and the reliability of the questionnaire was calculated through Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. 84. The collected data were analyzed using an independent sample t-test and a one-way ANOVA. However, significant gender differences were observed regarding two factors: problems related to respondents and lack of generalizability. Program-wise, differences emerged for sampling problems and language barriers. Sessions-wise differences were noted for sampling issues and researcher-related problems. Lastly, research design differences were significant for the quality of qualitative research and problems related to researchers. The study recommended that faculty training on planning, executing, and analyzing qualitative research might be conducted regularly. There is a need to improve students’ attitudes by emphasizing lectures, assigning qualitative tasks, and providing adequate resources and support.