About Subjectivity in Qualitative Data Interpretation

Abstract Some of the most commonly used methods of gathering data during the qualitative research of the social field are observation, documents analysis, interview, focus group, and case study. In this paper we analyze some relevant aspects of these research methods, in order to highlight their advantages and disadvantages in respect of the depth and extension of collected data, and also in respect of the reliability of the data processing. The subjectivity is always present in the qualitative research, but this is not necessary bad things, as long as the researchers are aware of the threats, and use subjectivity to fulfill the research objectives.