Qualitative Techniques Used in Elections

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It is a democratic right for people in a certain country to participate in the elections of that particular country both in large and in small numbers. However, after the voting has taken place, the government, and other governmental institutions are left with the responsibility of counting the votes and finally announcing the results of the election. In most cases, the government and these governmental ages utilize qualitative techniques to conduct regional elections and to ensure that the results are free from any bias as well as that they are transparent. Qualitative techniques used in regional elections comprise of techniques and approaches employed by the government and other institutions to allow people, enterprises, and organization as well as its institutions to examine various aspects of the society. The widely examined aspects include persons experience and traits through the use of particular research methods such as observations, illustration methods, interviews, questionnaires and focus groups. In most cases, qualitative techniques are employed as the tools that help to elucidate social interactions and relationships among different individuals and objects of the society. Often, qualitative methods are used to provide an in-depth and detailed understanding of the issues affecting the majority of the study population and their context they live in their natural habitat. The 6thruth is that qualitative techniques widely use qualitative data obtained from the field in the form interviews and past studies to make a conclusion (Corbin, 2014). This assignment will seek to explore and discuss various qualitative techniques that are utilized in regional elections.

This research paper will establish different techniques and ways through which experts utilize these tools to collect data on varied issues of public interest to make them better or improve the situation. As a result, the paper will focus on analyzing secondary sources of data and information in the form of books, journals as well as review past studies by other scholars in the same field.  However, qualitative techniques are used in different dimensions when it comes to regional elections mainly because it involves researching as well as understanding why voters participate in the voting process, whether they experience any problems during the process and noting their feelings as well as views regarding the voting system. In the past, qualitative techniques have been used to uncover and provide and overall summary evaluation of the regional election concerning the voter's experiences, their trust and confidence and the entire voting process. Ragin (1989) stated that regional elections widely utilize techniques that allow for consideration of a particular group of individuals’ state of affairs in different environmental and political contexts. Some of the widely used qualitative techniques in any regional elections include:

Observation

Observation is one of the widely used qualitative techniques used in the regional election to record all the activities and body language as well as noting the final details that are clearly shown during the process. Observation involves the systematic recording of occurrences, events, and behaviors of different individuals who are involved in a study as they happen and occur in their natural environment as well as a social setting that is used for the research. It is worth noting that observation does not involve talking, interviewing or interfering with the population of study at all costs. In addition, observation is unique compared to other qualitative techniques mainly because the researcher or the scholar is supposed to record and gather information and data through watching events and behaviors as well as body languages of the subjects under the study. To get accurate results, the population under the study needs to be concealed of the activity, in this case, regional elections so that the voters do not behave differently in their natural habitats (Seawright, 2008). As a matter of fact, individuals behave differently only if they notice that they are being observed. There are two types of observations that include the direct observation that involves watching subjects interact and mingle in their natural environments while in indirect observation, the scholar watches the results of the subjects' interactions.

Observation is widely used when the scholar is in need of understanding the activities in the process. In the case of a regional election, the observer who is the researcher needs to understand all the election processes ranging from the voter's rights, the legal and social requirements for one to qualify as a voter as well as the voting process itself. Depending on individuals, the interactions may range from complex and structured behavior to the holistic description of events and occurrences. Moreover, the focus is at the center of planning and designing for observation.  The researcher needs to put into consideration particular items that the researcher wants to collect information and data about. Also, observation can be combined with other qualitative techniques to give accurate and precise results that can be used to make conclusions.  

In most cases, researchers who advocate and use observation often record their findings in recording sheet which he compares with a checklist that he or she prepares in advance to determine whether they have achieved their goals and objectives. Observation is also very crucial, particularly during summative and formative phases of analysis as well as evaluation of any process. Besides, the researcher needs to carefully develop a list of steps and tools that are necessary for the achievement and completion of the goals of the analysis. The steps to be used in this process should be arranged in chronological order to ensure that they give relevant information regarding the goals and objectives of the study (Rihoux, 2009).  Missing one step of the process can result in alteration of the data obtained from the field which would, in turn, affect the results obtained as well as the conclusion made. The scholar has to go to the field with a set target of which he or she wants to obtain and achieve at the end of his or her exercise and later he or she has to judge and measure the data and information obtained against sets standards and predetermined goals and expectations. A strictly guided protocol in this activity is necessary considering that they assure that the researchers collect data and information through the use of appropriate skills and by applying universally accepted criteria and measuring standards. Notably, observation technique is popular among most scholars because they are flexible, diverse and highly applicable in almost every kind of research that a scholar may be interested in, unlike other qualitative techniques.