ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors describe the concept of a phenomenon of study and provide an overview of the various phenomena to which many qualitative researchers have given their attention and thus foregrounded in their work. Choosing ‘who’ or ‘what’ to study is one of the most important decisions that researchers will make, since what they will investigate determines what the research question will be, which data will be collected and how analysis will be undertaken. Many qualitative researchers choose to study groups. Groups may include cultures, subcultures, cultural groups, ethnic groups, neighbourhoods, communities, states and nations. While many qualitative researchers say they are investigating the ‘influence’ or ‘impact’ of something, this is not entirely accurate in most cases. Many researchers argue that, to truly measure influence or impact, it is necessary to carry out an experimental study, in which participants are randomly selected and assigned to control and treatment groups.
