Qualitative research facilitates exploring the field and generating hypotheses. It helps describe the boundaries, uncovers the language people use when talking about the subject, defines the factors that influence behavior and shows how people think about the issue. Exploratory projects driven by qualitative analysis could include How Are Female Police Officers Perceived in the Muslim Community; How Do Teenagers Talk About Drugs; Assisted Suicide: Physicians', Family and General Public Views; Textbook Choice Process in Teachers' Eyes; and Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs About Vaccines Among Parents.
Qualitative research uncovers motivations behind behavior, to answer the "why" and "what for" questions. Suitable for topics that deal with motivations -- especially those with more complexity -- qualitative methods, from focus groups to projective techniques, give insights into decision processes. Examples of such projects include How People Choose a Bed; Factors Affecting the Success of a Weight-Loss Interventions; Why Some Poorer Voters Choose Republican Candidates; What Prompts and Prevents Making a Will; and Are Macs Bought for Different Reasons Than PCs.
Research topics that attempt to tackle unconscious factors in people's behavior -- motivations, but also perceptions and beliefs -- often use qualitative methods. The explicitly stated or consciously admitted reason or opinion might not be the true or only story, and qualitative research often gives access to deeper mental processes. Projective techniques, observation and in-depth interviewing are particularly suitable here. Examples of qualitative research projects that explore unconscious or unspoken dynamics include Fear of Death as a Factor in Making a Will; Why Are Germs Always Male in Ads: Household Disinfectants as a Metaphor for the War of the Sexes; Absent Fathers as Unconscious Role Models; and Overt and Unspoken Reasons for Cologne Brand Preference.
Complex topics of great depth and mental processes that involve a lot of operations serve perfectly for qualitative research projects. From religious beliefs to sexual identity, suicide to love, choosing a home to buy to choosing a man to marry, researchers use qualitative methods to explore manifold issues, such as How Gay Men Decide to Come Out to Their Friends and Parents; The Role of Religious Beliefs in the Choice of a Career; Attitudes to Debt, Saving and Consumption in Canadian Youth; and Obama and Clinton in the Eyes of the Voters.
Any project that concentrates on or draws its conclusions from case studies is by definition a qualitative research project. Researchers in humanities and some branches of social science use case studies to explore life stories, personal experiences and individual narratives. Business students and practitioners perform case studies to analyze branding, marketing and sales strategies of companies. Projects that analyze personal narratives and case studies include Exile, Refugee, Expat: Immigration Experience of Three Generations of Women in One Jewish Family; Coca-Cola Branding in the Age of Social Media; and Caring for Relatives with Rare Diseases.