Homework Responses Week 3

Greetings,

 

            As discussed in this week’s lesson and readings, in order to conduct quality research, three theoretical perspectives area commonly taken into consideration. These theories are the qualitative approach, the quantitative approach and the mixed methods approach. While I believe no one can say one approach is better than the other, I strongly believe each one of them have a very specific purpose. That being said, all the approaches have some similarities, but more importantly they have some big differences. Depending on what type of research a researcher is aiming toward, one approach might be more adequate than another. 

 

            The first method to be discussed is the quantitative method. As the name implies, this approach focuses on quantifiable data, meaning data that can be appreciated in the form of numbers. A key aspect of this approach is that it involves a minimum of one hypothesis, both independent and depend variables and random sampling (Dhawan, 2017). An important aspect of the quantitative method is the collection of data. A researcher can decide between experimental or descriptive data collection. Numerical or statistical data tends to be more permanent than data based on ideology. Results in this type of research are based on logic

 

            The second approach is the qualitative method. In this method, data cannot be judged merely on quantifiable characteristic, as compared to the quantitative approach. This type of research relies heavily on behavior of the study group in a given setting or environment. Data is collected by observing the group or subject under study rather than completing surveys or test that merely produced quantifiable data (Dhawan, 2017). Quantifiable research can be tricky because observations are not perceived the same by everyone. That being said, results acquired in a qualitative research are more likely to change or be perceived differently by other researchers.

 

            In this brief explanation, you can see that both methods have their own purpose and they provide researches with pro’ and con’s. The last approach discussed is the mixed method approach. Again, as the name implies this method utilizes a mixture of both methods previously discussed. The real challenge in a mixed methods approach lies in the balance between the two theoretical methods (Murshed, 2016). It important to note that the quantitative method typically requires more time and effort to complete a research because not only does surveys have to be develop, they have to be collected and quantified. The qualitative approach tends to take less time but relies in observation and interpretation of same. That being said, the replicability of the research or experiment might be less than ideal.

 

            If I was to design a research, I like to think I would choose quantitative method. I look at it as being hard work, however, the result seems more permanent and it hard to argue with number. I would like to note that I am no implying any of the other methods are less effective, it just my personal preference if I was to conduct a research project.

 

            -Dan

 

            Reference

 

Dhawan, G. (2017). Quantitative vs Qualitative Research Performance of Indian Universities, 2009-13: A comparative study. International Journal of Information Dissemination and Technology, 7(1), 74–.

 

Murshed, Z. (2016). Thinking orientation and preference for research methodology. The Journal of Consumer Marketing, 33(6), 437–446. https://doi.org/10.1108/jcm-01-2016-1694