Rapport building in qualitative research

Abstract

Qualitative researches aim to gather an in-depth understanding of a central phenomenon. In order to have an in-depth understanding researchers go to the location of the study and have a direct contact with participants. It is important for qualitative researchers to get as close as possible to the participant’s perspective (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000). They gain insights from participants that are complete strangers and study on an issue that is unfamiliar to the researchers. As the main source of data, research participants play a vital role in qualitative studies. Data collection in qualitative studies involves a lot of researchers – participant’s interaction and communication. Hence good communication is important in qualitative studies (Bartkowiak, 2012). It will create a relationship or state of having trust and mutual responsiveness with others (Churches & Terry, 2007). Productive communication starts with trust and understanding. Without understanding and trust, people can be sceptical and suspicious (Molden, 2011). Thus it may risk the information that the researcher collected. Participants might create stories or keep the significant information and probably will behave unnaturally. This could jeopardize and invalidate the research data.