Purpose

• Qualitative research can be allied to government or the private sector for purposes of designing marketing campaign or evaluation. It is a client based-profession that usually involves teams of researchers in a firm. Investigative journalism, on the other hand, allies itself only to the mission of its news agency. It uses extensive records and in-depth research to dig into social issues, corruption and other important topics. Investigative journalists tend to work in teams as well and operate in specific departments of news outlets.
  
  

Public vs Client Interests

• All journalism, ideally, operates in the public's best interests. The Associated Press calls objective journalism in the interest of the public the utmost goal of all journalists. Qualitative research can be in the public interest as well, but it is more accurate to say they operate in a client's interest. Those clients can be anything from governments to corporations, and qualitative research objectives can, therefore, sometimes directly conflict with the public good -- especially when it involves image-making and public manipulation tactics.
  
  

Active vs Passive Information Gathering

• News journalists will sometimes speak with a source in a more casual setting and allow their information to dictate a story's focus. Investigative journalists actively chase down a specific angle to a story, much like a police detective. This active form of seeking out specific information is in sharp contrast to qualitative research. Qualitative research keeps dialogue open and passively allows sources to provide whatever information they wish. This allows the researchers to discover how opinions and ideas are formed -- something journalists do not necessarily need to know.
  
  

Originality of Research

• Investigative reporting must involve new and original ideas or it is simply riding on the coattails of those who came before. All investigative reports, from Watergate to corruption at City Hall, must be fully unique ideas. With qualitative research clients may ask researchers to re-examine the conclusion of a long-standing study that has already been released, or corroborate information someone has recently discovered. While qualitative research is often original, it is not a requirement.
  
  

Types of Sources

• Qualitative researchers study and interview everyday people, often within specific parameters their clients want them to research. Interviews are with willing participants who are usually paid for their participation. These researchers focus on the macro-societal scale and aim to draw conclusions applicable to large target markets represented by focus groups. Investigative journalists are mainly concerned with specific movers and shakers in government and private industry. They deal largely with documents and official records of information and are ethically unable to pay a source for information. They tend to investigate individuals with power and tell the stories of abuses and misappropriations of power among small, targeted groups of people.