Qualitative vs' Quantitative Method

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Qualitative vs. Quantitative Method
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WHAT is qualitative research?

• Qualitative emphasis on processes meanings
  that are not rigorously examined, or measured in
  terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or
  frequency
• The socially constructed nature of reality
• The intimate relationship between the researcher
  and what is studied
• Seek answers to questions that stress how social
  experience is created and given meaning.

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Qualitative Researchers
Qualitative researchers study things in their
natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or
interpret, phenomenon in terms of the meanings
people bring to them..it involves the studied use
and collection of a variety of empirical
materials, that describe routine and problematic
moments and meanings in individuals
lives Denzin Lincoln,(1998). The Landscape
of Qualitative Research
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WHO does qualitative research?

• Researchers in the social or behavioural sciences
• Practitioners in fields concerned with human
  behaviour and functioning
• This style of research can be used to study
  organisations, groups, and individuals

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WHY do qualitative research?

• Philosophy
• The nature of the research problem
• Some areas naturally lend themselves more to
  qualitative types of research
• E.g. research that attempts to uncover the nature
  of a persons experiences with a phenomenon
• Illness, religious conversion, addiction
• Qualitative methods can give the intricate
  details of phenomena that are difficult to convey
  with quantitative methods

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Learning Link to Research

• Kolb (1979) linked theory to practice and
  characterised this link by an attempt at
  explaining observations. One could loosely infer
  from his cycle that from explanations,
  predictions and expectations could result. These
  actions have links to a research approach.

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Kolb Cycle
Concrete Experience (Feeling)
Active Experimentation (Doing)
Reflective Observation (Watching)
Abstract Conceptualisation (Thinking)
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Reasoning

• Answers to questions surrounding theories
  hypotheses in research can enable us to
  distinguish research methods, broadly into those
  that are deductive inductive. Additionally, if
  we relate this to Kolbs learning cycle, the
  deductive approaches correspond to those traits
  on the left hand side of the cycle the
  inductive approaches to those on the right hand
  side

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Kolb Cycle Reasoning
Concrete Experience (Feeling)
Active Experimentation (Doing)
Reflective Observation (Watching)
Deductive
Inductive
Abstract Conceptualisation (Thinking)
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Inductive Reasoning

• Inductivism seeks to construct explanations and
  theories about observations from an empirical
  world. The theory is the outcome of induction.
  The result is Qualitative Research.
• Inductivism can be viewed in two ways
• ?The models used here are essentially
• (a) Stimulus --------gt Experience/Interpret----gt
  Response
• (b) Interpretation and Meaning ------------gt
  Action
• ?Inductivism is seen to be the reverse of
  deductivism.

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Positivist Postpositivist

• In the positivist version it is contended that
  there is a reality out there to be studied,
  captured, and understood
• Postpositivists argue that reality can never be
  fully apprehended, only approximated
• Positivist methods are but one way of telling a
  story about society or the societal world

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Approaches to Qualitative Research

• action research grounded theory
• case study hermeneutics
• clinical research interpretive interactionism
• content analysis life history study
• conversational analysis oral history
• descriptive research panel research
• discourse analysis participant observation
• educational ethnography participative research
• ethnography phenomenology
• ethnomethodology symbolic interactionism
• field study transformative research
• focus group research (Adapted from Tesch ,1990)

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WHAT is your research about?

• Asking difficult questions?
• What is the nature of the phenomena, or entities,
  or social reality which you wish to
  investigate?
• What might represent knowledge or evidence of the
  entities or social reality which you wish to
  investigate?
• What topic, or broad substantive area is your
  research concerned with?

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WHAT is your research about?

• Asking difficult questions?
• What is the intellectual puzzle? What do you wish
  to explain? What are your research questions?
• What is the purpose of your research? What are
  you doing it for?

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1. What is the nature of the phenomena, or
entities, or social reality, which you wish to
investigate?

• What is your ontological position or perspective?
• Alternative ontological perspectives tell
  different stories
• Different ways of conceptualising social entities
  are connected to different philosophies of social
  science
• Different versions of ontology may be logically
  competing rather than complementary

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2. What might represent knowledge or evidence of
the entities or social reality which you wish
to investigate?

• Questions about what we regard as knowledge or
  evidence of things in the social world are
  epistemological questions
• Your epistemology is your theory of knowledge,
  and should therefore concern the principles and
  rules by which you decide whether and how social
  phenomena can be demonstrated

• Your answers to questions of ontology and
  epistemology should be consistent
• Your epistemology should help you to generate
  knowledge/explanations about the ontological
  components of the social world (e.g. social
  processes, social actions, discourses, meanings)

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3. What topic, or broad substantive area is your
research concerned with?

• The answer must follow on from considerations of
  your ontological and epistemological position
• E.g. a study of racist attitudes amongst school
  children would suggest an ontological position
  which says that individuals held attitudes and
  that those attitudes are meaningful components of
  the social world
• A study which focuses on institutional racism
  within schools might suggest an ontological
  position which sees institutions, collectivities
  or structures, rather than (or as well as)
  individuals, as meaningful components of the
  social world

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4. What is the intellectual puzzle? What do you
wish to explain? What are your research questions?

• In answering this question you should be
  addressing yourself to the intellectual and
  theoretical contributions of your work
• Once you are thinking in terms of puzzles and
  explanations, it will be a relatively easy task
  to formulate a set of research questions, and
  these will form the backbone of your research
  design
• A research question is a question which the
  research is designed to address. Taken together,
  your research questions should express the
  essence of your inquiry

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5. What is the purpose of your research? What are
you doing it for?

• Academic arguments about increasing or
  challenging intellectual and theoretical
  understanding
• The achievement of social and/or political change
• Personal advancement

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Tuesday 01/11 Interviewing

• Lecture Notes Readings on website
• Interviews Transcription notation
• Preparatory document on website
• THINK ABOUT YOUR TOPIC FOR INTERVIEW NOW!