Validation of qualitative methodology applied to a multidimensional instrument with an open question

The Brazilian population has experienced an ageing process, thus characterizing an increase in the number of elderly people. Instruments have been developed in order to measure the quality of life of elderly individuals. Hence, a questionnaire consisting of various validated instruments and an open question was applied to a group of elderly citizens in the city of Botucatu, SP, Brazil. The analysis of the open question, assessed by qualitative methods, generated eleven categories concerning the elderly people's opinions as regards quality of life and a cluster analysis of such answers was carried out, producing three groups of elderly individuals. Therefore, this work aimed at validating the categories obtained by the open question with the closed questions of the instrument by means of associations and application of chi-square tests at a level of significance of 5%. It was observed that qualitative analysis identifies phenomena regardless of category saturation. The quantitative method, on the other hand, shows the power of each category in a set, that is, as a whole.