U6D1-U5S1-2 - State the Research Question, Methodology & Select a Research Design and Justify your Research. - See Outline Attached.

QUANTITATIVE VERSUS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

There has been a rift in the world of scholarly research for many years. The struggle is between proponents of the quantitative and qualitative research methods, two research approaches with very different techniques and goals. Can this schism between quantitative and qualitative techniques ever be bridged? How can we know which technique is most appropriate for our research efforts?

The quantitative mode of research uses statistical tests to analyze research data. We find rigid rules for the use of tests and interpretation of test results. This orientation developed from many decades of successful use of the scientific method. For researchers using the quantitative technique, data is primary and context is secondary. That is, researchers gather data that can be counted, but the context in which the data is observed is not very important to the process. The data is analyzed and rational conclusions are drawn from the interpretation of the resulting numbers.

The qualitative mode of research uses context and a non-judgmental approach to attempt to understand the phenomena in question from the subject's point of view. This technique is derived from the histographs of social anthropologists at the beginning of the twentieth century. A sociologist studies a subject culture for several years, living among the people of the studied society in an attempt to truly understand their world view.

The greatest distinctions between these two fundamentally different research techniques are the genesis of theory and the role that theory plays in the mechanics of research. In the quantitative technique, the research effort begins with a theory: a statement that tries to explain observed phenomena. The theory is then operationalized (that is, stated in terms that can be statistically tested) through hypothesis. Data is gathered, statistical tests are completed, and the results are interpreted. The results either support the hypothesis or they do not.

How does a quantitative theory evolve? It develops from the researcher's professional experience in the field and the scholarly literature on the particular topic of interest. At the beginning of the research effort, the researcher reviews all pertinent previous work. The theory is formed from this immersion in the professional literature.

The role of the theory is quite different in the qualitative approach. The researcher has no theory at the beginning of the process. Research questions are asked based on the researcher's interests. Data is collected by prolonged engagement: the researcher observes and takes notes for an extended period of time. The data in this type of research is contained in the notes that the researcher records throughout the process. The theory will emerge from the data in these notes. Hence, qualitative theory is called emergent theory. This type of theory is also called grounded theory because it is grounded in the data collected. In addition to using histographs, qualitative data can be gathered using case studies and focus groups.

What will the future hold for researchers and the methods we use? We are now seeing a trend where the two methods are sometimes used together. The term mixed method is appearing with greater frequency in professional journals. Some researchers want the robustness and specificity of the quantitative mode

plus a relative context for the reader. Other researchers have used the qualitative approach to generate theory, then tested the theory with empirical methods. Perhaps the schism between these modes will be bridged in the future and researchers will be free to fit the appropriate tool to the particular situation. Time will tell.

L i c e n s e d u n d e r a C r e a t i v e C o m m o n s A t t r i b u t i o n 3 . 0 L i c e n s e .