Qualitative research purpose is to

• A. To gain understanding of underlying reasons and motivations of prevalent trends in thought and opinion; may generate hypotheses for subsequent quantitative research
• B. To compute risk ratios and p-values
• C. To measure incidence and prevalence
• D. To perform statistical modeling of outcomes

Answer: (A)

Qualitative research aims to understand underlying reasons and motivations behind trends in thought and opinion, capturing how people interpret their experiences and the meanings they attach to them. It gathers rich, non-numeric data through interviews, focus groups, observations, and open-ended responses to explore concepts in depth and context. Because the goal is to illuminate why things occur and how people think about them, it can generate hypotheses for later quantitative study. This is why it’s the best choice. The other options describe quantitative aims—calculating risk ratios and p-values, measuring incidence and prevalence, or using statistical models to predict outcomes—which rely on numeric data and statistical tests rather than exploring meanings and motivations.