Strengths And Weaknesses Of Mixed Methods

mentioned that the mixed method provides an opportunity to bridge the conflict between different philosophical perspectives such as constructivism, pragmatism, postpositivism and transformative perspectives (2011). They stated that this would help in creating dialectal standpoints that help in advancing both objective and subjective knowledge. They illustrated the practical diverse approach of pragmatism where it could highlight the importance of the research question by focusing on the objective and subjective aspects of the research problem. On the other hand, the orienting framework of transformative

Nonetheless, this essay starts by considering the nature of research as well as the dimensions that guide the choices one makes about research methods. It concludes by placing special attention on the issues of reliability, validity and interobserver agreement in qualitative and quantitative research. 1. The nature of research Research is not merely a process of collecting information, but research is spiral, meaning that it starts with the statement of a problem, which leads to research question, which ultimately leads to a solution of the problem (Brynard et al, 2014:4). Furthermore, some have understood research as the transferring of facts from one place to another, but the nature of research extend to describing the goal, formulating a theoretical statement, considering the availability of relevant information as well as gathering data (Brynard et al, 2014:4-5).

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. Research means different things to different people and may be motivated by what you want to gain from the research. Academic research differs from journalism where the latter may produce only one stance of the argument to gain the certain interest and strength. Academic and Social research is more systematic and seeks different angels, evidence and view points.

Construct validity revises if you operationalized well the ideas of cause and effect when there is a causal relationship in the study. Internal validity is use to determine if the relationship is causal when you can make a claim that the program or treatment in the study caused the outcomes of the study. Conclusion validity is use to determine if there is a relationship between the cause and effect. All four types of validity are important in r... ... middle of paper ... ...in research is valuable and needed. Researchers must dedicate time and effort in understanding the key concepts of research to have reliability and validity.

The scope of research methodology as given by Kothari (2004) is, “When we talk of research methodology, we not only talk of research methods but also consider the logic behind the methods we use in the context of our research study. We should explain why we are using a particular method or technique and why we are not using others so that research results are capable of being evaluated either by the researcher himself or by

The objectives of this essay are to discuss key elements of qualitative and quantitative research designs, including the distinction between them. The distinction between these two research designs will also be compared with scientific and non-scientific approaches. Empirical examples illustrating the usefulness of the two designs are also given. This essay will focus on the key characteristics on aspects of data being used and its collection techniques, how it’s used and analysed as discussed by Popper (1989), Ragin (2000), Flyvbjerg (20010, Janesick (2000), De Vaus (2001), Denzin (2000) and Greenstein, Roberts and Sitas (2003). Discussion Although the key elements of these two types of research design are essentially identical, there are some notable differences in terms of how data is collected and analysed.

Last but not the least, the examination of how theory research and practice interact within the context and potentially is indeed interesting and helpful. This is a training of systematically understanding researches thereby gaining some ideas of how a good research should be structured and kept consistent. With regards to the limitation of space, the discussions are surely not sufficient enough to get clear every points. For an example, the details of how to perform the suggested mixed-methods way of research. In future, efforts should be made by me to provide better theory-grounded profound arguments.

It is also important to determine whether it starts from some existing theories or hypotheses. The research is conducted to prove whether or not these assumptions are true. 1.2.2 Research methods and reasons of chosen them for research purpose After establishing the research problem and what results are wanted, it will define how it will find the answers. Research is a form of collection and interpretation of information that will form the basis of finding answers to questions. The research uses theories and methods that h... ... middle of paper ... ...search process (Kumar, 2011).

Qualitative and Quantitative are two differentiated paradigms of research, which operate under the assumption that measured outcomes, must be proven valid and reliable. However, the distinguishing element between each paradigm resolves to the role of the researcher. Although they can be explicated by the source of the data collected, qualitative being a semantic text and quantitative being in numerical form, in the qualitative paradigm, the role of the researcher is to be an active participant within the study, lending the subjectivity of interpretation to the final measured outcome (Denzien & Lincoln, 2000). However, the quantitative approach finds the role of the researcher as an outside, objective observer, where the possibility for researcher bias is reduced, and the final measured outcome is not subject to researcher interpretations (Patton, 1996). Qualitative Research Qualitative research is a multi-dimensional method that utilizes an imperative and naturalistic approach.

Thus, when attempts are made to classify different kinds of research studies to different design types, they are classified by the kind of research questions they are able to answer. Research designs can be mapped out to the types of research questions (research problem) using four dimensions: 1) empirical versus non-empirical dimension, 2) using primary versus using secondary data, 3) the nature of the data (numerical versus textual data) and 4) the degree of control (structured (laboratory) conditions versus natural field settings) The first dimension, which is relevant to our study, is that of empirical versus non-empirical studies. Empirical studies involve observing and measuring reality, thereby confirming knowledge through direct experience. Non-empirical (theoretical) studies involve developing and exploring theories that account for given data. The second dimension is that of the nature of data used in the study.