When conducting research one of the most important parts of the process is the documentation that is kept when doing such research. Along with all the testing, sampling, and data collections, researchers should be responsible to create a research report for every study completed. This documentation is kept in the records and archives of the research facility or sponsor, for journaling and publishing. These reports can later be used by consumers, students, teachers, and any other interested party that is in need of the findings. The following paper will discuss and describe the stages of research for the qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research methods.
Conceptual Consideration: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods
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Sampling is rather straight forward when it comes to each method. With Quantitative research, it is entirely about numbers, so a researcher is going to want to get as many participants as possible so that they have a good sampling pool of candidate to choose from. He or she may do this by sending out surveys to every NRA member to do a gun safety research study, or surveying and testing an entire grade level for research purposes. It really all depends on what they are looking to research. With mixed methods it can be a mixture of both, quantitative and qualitative. A research has the freedom to decide which way is best for their study. When doing qualitative research the researcher’s pool of participants is very small. It may only be 5 or sometimes even 1 or 2 participants. That also will depend on which kind of qualitative study the researcher is doing, phenomenological or …show more content…
For Qualitative research a researcher can use questions such as “what can be”, “what are the”, or comparative questions which seek to compare two or more groups on some outcome variable using such words as “differ” or “compares”. In Mixed methods the researcher will pose questions that combine or mix both qualitative and quantitative research questions in order to necessitate both types of data that is analyzed concurrently, sequentially, or iteratively (Onwuegbuzie, & Frels, 2015). Lastly with Qualitative research the researcher asks open ended questions. The questions will address ideas of what and how and comprise the main idea of what topic the researcher is looking for. For example “What do researcher look for when they are conducting research?’. “How does it make you feel to know the information you know”. Open ended questions that able the researcher to gain observations for
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Show MoreThe questions before today’s researchers are how to apply qualitative research, and when to supplant it with either quantitative research or a mixture of the two.
12). These are the most common methods that are being used. The difference between qualitative and quantitative methods concerns how the data are collected, where basically qualitative data focus on words while quantitative focus on numbers (Denscombe, 1998, p. 173-174).
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Qualitative and quantitative research have many differences. Qualitative is exploratory, interpretive, subjective, descriptive, emergent, looks to produce or reach a hypothesis by what is observed, has unknown variables, is flexible, and uses personal views. Qualitative research is confirmatory, predictive, objective, deduces and test the hypothesis, has known variables, is not flexible, but is a fixed, static designed to control variables, and tries to be bias-free. Qualitative research collects data through interviews, observation, surveys, review of artifacts, and self inqu...
The first main reason of choosing mixed methods research is that multiple methods research can minimize the gap of missing data from qualitative and quantitative methods approaches. As McLaughlin (1991) explains in his paper that in most cases, researchers use qualitative research approach to discover some findings after conducting quantitative research. Some researchers deploy quantitative method after conducting qualitative method research, prior to complete with gaps of data analysis (McLaughlin, 1991, pp.303-304).
However the difference between quantitative and qualitative research are more pronounced than just correlating to quantification. They can symbolize two discrete forms of research strategy
Johnson and Christensen (2007) describe mixed research as the third and newest research methodology paradigm. Philosophically, mixed research takes an eclectic, pragmatic, and commonsense approach, suggesting that the researcher mix quantitative and qualitative in a way that works best for the given research question that is studied in a particular context. Mixed research uses both deductive and inductive methods, obtains both quantitative and qualitative data, attempts to corroborate and complement findings and takes a balanced approach to research. Researchers used the term mixed method to refer to all procedures collecting and analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data in the context of a single study.
Quantitative research uses a deductive reasoning also known as top to bottom or (top down approach) starting with a theory, then the hypothesis, followed by observation and finally confirmation , going from the general to the more specific. Quantitative methods use numbers and statistics to show the results of the research exercise and mainly are concerned with mathematics and statistics. In quantitative research there are levels of measurement being firstly nominal which are names of things followed by ordinal sequence of things, interval where the sequence has equal distance between each item, and ratio where there is a true zero (Alston & Bowles, 2003, p. 7-9).
More often than not, any research study could be divided into two fractions, quantitative and qualitative (Bryman, 2006). It is highly advised, to leverage a mixed method approach to research (Bryman, 2006). A mixed method of study is one, which focuses on both quantitative and qualitative methods. It is established that qualitative methods are more beneficial to establish initial Null hypothesis and quantitative methods are more useful to prove or disprove the first Null hypothesis (Bryman, 2006). The mixed methods approach often combines both the theoretical and technical aspects of qualitative and quantitative approaches (Hesse-Biber, 2010). Researchers feel that this approach is a worthy fit for in-depth interviews, participant observations, and historical reviews (Bryman, 2006). Researchers often utilize a mixed approach as the empirical method to gather data. This manner not only
There are several definitions of Mixed method research, a study by Johnson et al. (2007) found that mixed methods research has been defined in 19 different ways. Prominent among those definition includes that of Creswell and Clark (2007) defines Mixed method research as research in which data collection and analysis are to integrate the findings and draw influences using both qualitative and quantitative approaches or methods in a single study or inquiry. The emphasis on the definition is “integrate “, ascertaining that, many scholars believe that mixing or integration happens at different stages of the research process. Similarly, Tashakkori and Teddlie (2010), defines mixed methods research as a type of research design in which QUAL and QUAN ( qualitative and quantitative) approaches are used in research questions, methods, data collection and analysis procedures, or in inferences. Different Challenges facing MMM which will be discussed in the next
Qualitative studies are slightly different in that they do not use large cohorts and they are not analyzing large data sets. Qualitative studies also look to answer question “why”. They use smaller numbers but go more in-depth with the small group they have. “In contrast, qualitative research involves looking at characteristics, or qualities, that cannot easily be reduced to numerical values. A qualitative researcher typically aims to examine the many nuances and complexities of a particular phenomenon” (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010, p. 94). Qualitative and Quantitative studies can be used separately or together in a mixed methodology.
Conducting multiple research approach requires time consuming because the researcher needs to collect data from both quantitative and qualitative tools. Additionally, it is required the researchers spend more time to data from respondents through interview, observation and focus group discussion. On top of that, researchers require more money to do this kind of method research. Because they need more time and more resources such as renting meeting venues, refreshment for respondents and more in analysis data from the research. In addition to that, researchers may spend money to purchase audio and visualised instruments to capture information such recorder, video and camera so on and so forth. These limitations can be seen in Connelly’s paper. Connelly cited from Creswell and Tashakkori (2007); and Yin (2006) that conduct mixed methods research is costly and requires more time to conduct the survey research. What is more, most researchers do not know clearly about the integration of the findings from qualitative and quantitative research data in order to get a better understanding of the phenomenon under research study (Connelly, 2009,
….both quantitative and qualitative research are important and useful. The goal of mixed methods research is not to replace either of these approaches but rather to draw from the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of both in single research studies and across studies.
Qualitative and quantitative research methods take different approaches to gathering and analysing information. Whether it is a qualitative or quantitative study, the research study begins with a question or series of questions. Both use rigorously designed studies to get the most accurate, detailed and complete results. Qualitative studies common methods are interviews, surveys and observation. A qualitative study aims to provide a detailed description of the study results, often using pictures and written descriptions to describe what the research revealed. A qualitative study looks at the big picture, helping researchers to narrow in on points of interest that then can be followed up on in a quantitative study. While a quantitative study has a narrower focus, it attempts to provide a detailed explanation of the study focus, along with this using numbers and statistics. And the results from a quantitative study can reveal bigger questions that call for qualitative study. Or vice versa a qualitative study may reveal at analysis that a more focus and direct approach may be needed. With both methods analysis is a key part of any study whether qualitative or quantitative.
...ve and quantitative methods to conduct a successful research. But, both qualitative and quantitative research is based on assumptions, and both when carried out accurately provide good research.