Discussion II

This is only a discussion forum…not a paper, but refer to the two articles to relate it.

Now that you all are experts on the matters, having just completed three class projects, discuss in general the pros and cons of qualitative research designs (e.g., field research, ethnographies, etc.) and unobtrusive research designs. What can these methodologies provide that more traditional methods (e.g., quantitative) cannot? Use some of the studies that you have recently examined in your class projects as illustrations. After weighing all of this, why, as mentioned in class lecture, are these designs featured in a vast minority (e.g., only 3-5% of published articles in the field use qualitative/ethnographic designs) -- i.e., what can these methodologies not provide?