QUALITATIVE or QUANTITATIVE A DILEMMA OFTEN FACED BY NOVICE RESEARCHERS " Research = a blind date with knowledge " (Mimi Murray) (original) (raw)
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Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research
Marsyangdi Journal , 2020
This paper intends to compare and contrast qualitative and quantitative research in brief. Based on library sources, the paper is prepared for the Bachelor and Master level research students plus interested one. The article initiated with the concept of research and its major purposes, and then associates the general information about qualitative, quantitative and mixed method research. Finally, it illustrates the relative and discrepancy between qualitative and quantitative research with a few concluding note.
The Interlinkages between Qualitative and Quantitative Research: A Review
IRJET, 2022
Research design methods, such as qualitative, quantitative as well as mixed methods were introduced and subsequently each method was discussed in detail with the help of literature review as well as some personal and live examples to substantiate the findings of various literature. From various literature as well as from the own experiences, it is concluded that both qualitative research design method and quantitative research design method are equally important. It is not fair to criticize one method as the researcher is inclined towards the other method. It is practically evidenced that usage of both methods in the research, the researcher can substantiate the case better. However, duration part while using mixed methods to be kept in mind as it will take more time compared to the qualitative and quantitative methods. Hurrying and aborting in the middle due to time constraint ultimately result in poor research. It would be better if the world view towards these methods changes from criticizing mode to effective utilization mode, which will help research community in focusing and bring up better research outcomes rather than wasting time in arguing which method is scientifically acceptable and which method is biased. While I agree that the ontological, epistemological, axiological, and methodological assumptions for qualitative research method and quantitative research method, researchers should know fully about these methods and keep them as effective tools to utilize them in mixed mode, wherever it is appropriate and required to arrive at adequate research findings.
Title: Discuss the differences between Qualitative and Quantitative research
Research plays a very important role in making sense of the world around us and developing knowledge basis and systems. As such, understanding research methods and paradigms is very important to scholars and researchers if they are to come up with credible and comprehensive research. This paper discusses the differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods and also looks at how the two methods can be similar and how they can be used together. Qualitative research is a scientific and systematic method used to gather data that it not quantifiable (Yin 2018). This type of research, as Marshall (2016)) explains, "refers to the meanings, concepts definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and description of things". Therefore, as a research method, qualitative research is also used to unearth new trends in thought processes and actions, how people feel about specific circumstances and to get to the heart of issues and how they affect people (Wolcott 2016). Marshall (2016) emphasizes that qualitative research is primarily exploratory research and is used to obtain information such as intentions and motives that helps explain an occurrence. Thus, qualitative research methods help to understand new occurrences or trends and then helps to explain why such things are happening or occurring. Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics (Lichtman 2017). According to Wolcott (2016) quantitative research is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables and generalize results from a larger sample population. Thus, quantitative Research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research to make sense or deductions on how things have unfolded. Therefore, where qualitative data seeks to understand a phenomenon, quantitative methods seek to quantify them and identify variables that can be measured. Qualitative research uses data collecting methods that often require the direct participation of the researcher to gather data and information crucial to the study. Morgan (2017) notes that
Research on Humanities and Social Sciences, 2021
How do we decide whether to use a quantitative or qualitative methodology for our study? Quantitative and qualitative research (are they a dichotomy or different ends on a continuum?). How do we analyse and write the results of a study for the research article or our thesis? Further questions can be asked such as; is the paradigm same as research design? How can we spot a paradigm in our research article? Although the questions are answered quietly explicitly, the discussion on the paradigm and research design remains technical. This can be evidenced by the confusion that people still face in differentiating between a paradigm, methodology, approach and design when doing research. The confusion is further worsened by the quantitative versus qualitative research dichotomies. This article addresses quantitative and qualitative research while discussing scientific research paradigms from educational measurement and evaluation perspective.
Qualitative v/s. Quantitative Research- A Summarized Review
Journal of Evidence Based Medicine and Healthcare, 2019
BACKGROUND Qualitative research is a process of naturalistic inquiry that seeks an in-depth understanding of social phenomena within their natural setting. It focuses on the "why" rather than the "what" of social phenomena and relies on the direct experiences of human beings as meaning-making agents in their everyday lives. Rather than by logical and statistical procedures, qualitative researchers use multiple systems of inquiry for the study of human phenomena including biography, case study, historical analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology. Quantitative methodology is the dominant research framework in the social sciences. It refers to a set of strategies, techniques and assumptions used to study psychological, social and economic processes through the exploration of numeric patterns. Quantitative research gathers a range of numeric data. Some of the numeric data is intrinsically quantitative (e.g. personal income), while in other cases the numeric structure is imposed (e.g. 'On a scale from 1 to 10, how depressed did you feel last week?'). The collection of quantitative information allows researchers to conduct simple to extremely sophisticated statistical analyses that aggregate the data. Quantitative research includes methodologies such as questionnaires, structured observations or experiments and stands in contrast to qualitative research. Qualitative research involves the collection and analysis of narratives and/or open-ended observations through methodologies such as interviews, focus groups or ethnographies. The purpose of quantitative research is to generate knowledge and create understanding about the social world. Quantitative research is used by social scientists, including communication researchers, to observe phenomena or occurrences affecting individuals. Social scientists are concerned with the study of people. Quantitative research is a way to learn about a particular group of people, known as a sample population. Using scientific inquiry, quantitative research relies on data that are observed or measured to examine questions about the sample population. 1-2