Qualitative research places an emphasis on description, understanding and meaning. This approach has the capability to elicit honesty, depth and richness from the answers given by individuals. Qualitative research is regarded as superior to quantitative methods when researching sensitive situations, such as personal experiences of domestic violence and abuse or illegal activities such as drug use.
According to Denzin and Lincoln, interviewing is the most popular form of qualitative research in the social sciences. Other forms include case studies, focus groups and ethnography. Observation studies are not used as often now because of concerns around ethical issues
Qualitative research has been criticized for being subjective because it uses the accounts people give rather than objective numerical data. Numerous ways of increasing its reliability and validity have been debated by academics and researchers.