Benefits of Qualitative Evaluation Method, Essay Example

Qualitative research method is important in the field of human services because it gives emphasis on the great deal of complexity that surrounds human experiences and the context in which individuals act. The main importance of qualitative research design is that it allows human services professionals to tap into the complex human behavior and understand its sensitive nature. This is particularly true in the manner of acquiring exact, correct and suitable information and evaluation of the same. It enhances writing, research, thinking and reading that are scientific and critical in nature. The conceptualization of the term service has lengthened over the years. The majority of professionals, the economic activities, and all the sectors in the society are now focus on the delivery of services more than anything else. However, human services professionals are having difficulties in ascertaining and providing answers to various human needs. These difficulties are founded on the lack of adequate knowledge about the human needs that transcends to the lack of understanding of the issues. In order to bridge these gaps, there is a need for a more developed and advanced interviewing and diagnostic skills to understand the complexities of the human processes and create a plan that will enhance and improve the services to the recipients (Kapp & Anderson, 2009).

Qualitative evaluation method is the most suited method to use in order to achieve the goals in the field of human services. This is due to the capability of this approach to create a dialog between professionals and recipients that allows the former to see the needs of the recipients from a holistic view. The qualitative approach enables the human services professionals to see the big picture rather than a portion of it. This happens through the utilization of in-depth interviews between professionals and workers. The interviews, under the qualitative method, are comprised of open-ended questions. This allows the recipients to express their own thoughts on the questions giving the workers a wider spectrum of data that is utilized for interpretation. In addition, the process also allows for a more personal and free-flowing interaction. This makes it easier for the evaluators to really identify the situation and the facts of the case that they are working on. Moreover, qualitative evaluation method also gives room for flexibility. The interviewers or the human services workers can stir the questioning in whatever course seems to be suitable to gather all the necessary data needed.

Moreover, the qualitative evaluation method allows for the narrative presentation of reports and interpretation of data gathered in the course of interview process and observation. Narrative reports are more accessible than statistical data. It is also easier to interpret than tables and statistics that are only the result of estimation for the most part. Narrative reports are exact and there is only very little room for error. This is imperative because human services works require for exact data and factual information that can be validated easily. Evaluators may seem too subjective at times. Yet, the method helps the human services workers to pinpoint information and data that could have been missed otherwise.

With all the foregoing, the benefits of qualitative evaluation methods in the human services fields are surmounting. It gives opportunities for the human services professionals to understand the people they serve better and to come up with new plans and actions to provide solutions to their needs.