The different sources of qualitative data can be from textual, audio, visual and through observations Here I will identify various researchers who used a couple of these methods for studying friendship. The first approach towards studying children’s friendship was by Bigelow and La Gaipa, cited in Brownlow. Their opening question of what to expect of a best friend versus other friends to children between the ages of six and fourteen was to be responded back...
The different sources of qualitative data can be from textual, audio, visual and through observations Here I will identify various researchers who used a couple of these methods for studying friendship. The first approach towards studying children’s friendship was by Bigelow and La Gaipa, cited in Brownlow. Their opening question of what to expect of a best friend versus other friends to children between the ages of six and fourteen was to be responded back in an essay format. The later concern here being the lack of ability for the younger age groups to express themselves accurately in this way. This method produced a personal written account that was then later analysed using an approach called content analysis. So what started as a qualitative result as an essay, ended up forming into a quantitative data set that showed a frequency of pre-set characteristics of a best friend put together by Bigelow and La Gaipa. With the data gathered they suggested three stages that showed the progression of children’s expectations of friendship as they get older. Using this measurement, it allowed them to compare and find patterns in the nature and development of children’s friendship however they failed to give the participants a voice of their individual experiences and underestimates the breadth of their perception.