Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia · 2005 · 350 citations · 0 references
Social SciencesSociologyAsian StudiesCommunication Research MethodsEthnographyQualitative Research MethodsSocial ScienceQualitative Research Writing
Qualitative methods are widely used in Indonesian social sciences, yet they are often misunderstood as merely supplementary to quantitative approaches. The study aims to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative methods. The authors conduct a literature review to examine these issues. The study concludes that qualitative methods have productive potential for developing social theories and methodologies in Indonesia and can position Indonesian social sciences on equal footing with Western counterparts.
Qualitative method has been widely be adopted in research practices in Indonesian tradition of social sciences including sociology. However, it seems there is misunderstanding on the method that is seen as additional to the quantitative one. This literature study intend to discuss related issues to the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative method. We do conclude here, that the method has productive potential for fostering the develomment of social theories as well as methodology in the context of Indonesian world. Hence, it is possible to bring Indonesian social sciences especially sociology into equal position of future dialog with the counterparts from the Western communities.