Qualitative research is used to generate new theories or hypotheses. It is a more in-depth look at what you are studying, typically using smaller numbers of participants than used in quantitative research. Qualitative research answers the "why" question and not so much the "how." It relies more on information gained from the participants rather than statistics.
Qualitative research methods are observation, interviewing, content analysis and case study techniques. In interviewing, the researcher asks questions of individuals or a group to try to gain a deeper understanding of the research question or phenomenon. In observation, the researcher does not directly question the participants, but simply places himself in the situation. In content analysis, the researcher reviews past documents and publications to try a breakdown and organize the information to answer their question. Case studies use a combination of some or all these methods to intensively study a specific person or context.
Projective techniques are an indirect or disguised, unstructured form of qualitative research developed by psychologists. They are used to infer underlying urges, intentions, motives or thoughts that the respondent will not reveal through direct questioning, either because she does not know she possesses these thoughts or she does not wish to reveal them.
Some techniques include: word association test, completion test, construction techniques and expression techniques. In word association, the participant is given a word or picture associated with the research question. The participant is asked to respond with the first word or phrase that comes to mind. The completion test is an extension of word association. The participant is given an incomplete sentence and is asked to complete it according to her own thoughts or feelings. In the construction test, the participant is given a picture and must write a story about it. In expression techniques, the participant is asked to express the thoughts or feelings of another person in a similar situation. It is believed that the participant will be more willing to express the thoughts of the other person rather than his own.