Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data. First we will begin my defining just what qualitative and quantitative data is. Qualitative data is data that can be observed, but not measured. It also deals with descriptions of variables: color, appearance, taste, etc. It is characterized by no numerical values. Quantitative data is data that can be measured. It deals with numbers: length, weight, time, etc. “While the goals of some data collection may be exclusively qualitative or quantitative, in many cases both are desirable (O’Rourke & O’Rourke, 2000).” For qualitative observations, researchers watch and record whatever seems interesting to them. The people and animals that are observed in these research experiments are called participants and subjects. The locations of the observations are called study sites. Researchers tend to rely on gatekeepers, or informants, in their observations. There are six different types of qualitative observations: participant observations, ethnographic observations, case studies, archaeological data, focus groups, and naturalistic animal studies. “Qualitative research within development faces particular challenges as it is often conducted by researchers either not socialized in a discipline such as anthropology or sociology, which has clear guidelines for fieldwork and note taking, or so resource constrained as to be unable to follow them (Camfield & Palmer-Jones, 2013).” For quantitative direct observations, they exist in numbers and conditions so that they can be counted. The number may be an actual value, test score, or may reflect an arbitrary value. These observations are conducted by researchers counting the frequency of one or more variables and these observations ar... ... middle of paper ... ...When this takes place, it again reduces the validity of the observation. Even though there are many advantages and disadvantages to self-reporting, no other method would collect the same detailed, in-depth information from participants. References: Camfield, Laura & Palmer-Jones, Richard. Improving the quality of development research: What could archiving qualitative data for reanalysis and revisiting research sites contribute? Progress in Developmental Studies. Oct2013, Vol. 13 Issue 4, p343-338. Ellis, L., Walsh, A., & Hartley, R. D. (2010). Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. O’Rourke, Thomas W. & O’Rourke, Diane P. Bridging the qualitative-quantitative data canyon. American Journal of Health Studies. 2000, Vol.16 Issue 1, p52-54.
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Research can be quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research is objective and involves measuring the phenomena under investigation. Qualitative research is subjective, explores experiences and feelings, and involves the recording of phenomena that cannot easily be quantified (Toates, 2010, pp. 5-6). Both are empirical since they involve data collection (OU, n.d.).
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Qualitative research is an approach that attempts to situate an activity that locates the observer in the world by providing the study to occur in their natural setting and by attempting to make sense of, or interpret information (Denzin and Lincoln, 2005). A characteristic of qualitative research is to use a variety of empirical materials such as personal experience, interviews, and questionnaires. It is imperative to understand the task at hand and how to fully carry out the study when using a qualitative research approach in order to find out the information needed. One view of qualitative research is it involves examining individual’s experiences and documenting those experiences in detail (Jones, 2011). By documenting these observations the researcher is ensuring validity in his or her data and giving the correct creditability to those who participated in the study.
On the other hand, Quantitative research refers to “variance theory” where quantity describes the research in terms of statistical relationships between different variables (Maxwell, 2013). Quantitative research answers the questions “how much” or “how many?” Quantitative research is an objective, deductive process and is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables with generalized results from a larger sample population. Much more structured than qualitative research, quantitative data collection methods include various forms of surveys, personal interviews and telephone interviews, polls, and systematic observations. Methods can be considered “cookie cutter” with a predetermined starting point and a fixed sequence of
Quantitative research may be seen as the less contentious of the two because it is more closely aligned with what is viewed as the classical scientific paradigm. Quantitative research involves gathering data that is absolute, for example numerical data so that it can be examined as unbiased as possible. The main idea behind quantitative research is that it is able to separate things easily so that they can be counted. The researcher generally has a clear idea of what is being measured before they start measuring it, and their study is set up with controls. Qualitative research on the other hand is a more subjective form of research, in which the research allows themselves to introduce their own bias to help form a more complete picture. Qualitative research may be necessary in situations where it is unclear of what is exactly being looked for in a study, while quantitative research generally knows exactly what it is looking for. Questionnaires and surveys are quantitative socio-legal research, because it is the collection of numerical data, or data that can be easily being turned into a numerical form. In terms of analysing quantitative data, Excel is the b...
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