Quantitative and Qualitative Research Flashcards
Categorically what are the differences between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Philosophy
- Object/Purpose
- Approach
- Role of researcher
- Data Collection
- Data Collected
- Samples
- Outcome
What are the philosophical differences between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Positivist
- One reality
- If the aim of the research is to establish the facts of some phenomenon, there is scope for the project of be situated in a positivist framework
- Positivist
- Qualitative
- Constructivist, interpretevist etc
- World is co-constructed and made up of many different realities
- Constructivist, interpretevist etc
What are the differences in objective/purposes between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Descriptive/explanatory
- Qualitative
- Exploratory/descriptive understanding
What are the differences in approach between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Deductive (theory-measure-test-theory)
- Qualitative
- Inductive (observation-interpretation-theory)
What are the differences in the role of the researcher between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Uninvolved
- Qualitative
- Immersed/involved
What are the differences in data collection between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Structured
- Qualitative
- Unstructured, pattern making
What are the differences in the data collected between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Numbers/statistics
- Qualitative
- Words, images, objects/artifcats
What are the differences in samples between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Large/Probabilistic
- Qualitative
- Small/probabilistic to purposive
What are the differences in outcomes between quantitative and qualitative research?
- Quantitative
- Generalisable
- Qualitative
- Idiographic
In quantitative research what happens to concepts and how is this done?
- Concepts → Variables → Indicators
- Via operationalisations
What is operationalisation?
- The process of identifying scales that correspond to variance in a concept that ill be involved in a research process
- The process of identifying the actual measurement scales to assess the variables of interest
What are concepts in quantitative research?
- A generalised idea about a class of objects that has been given a name
- An abstraction of reality that is the basic unit for theory
development
What are variables in quantitative research?
- Differing values of a concept
- Requires measurement defined as “the process of describing some property of a phenomenon of interest, usually by assigning numbers in a reliable and valid way”
What are indicators in quantitative research?
Quantitative information that can be collected through a number of scales, constructs, indices, composites and through instruments
What are correspondence rules?
Indicate the way in which a certain value on a scale corresponds to some true value of a concept
What are constructs in quantitative research?
Concepts that are measured with multiple variables
What is true of qualitative research?
Lacks intersubjective certifiability: the ability of different individuals following the same procedure to produce the same results or come to the same conclusions
How are business objectives addressed through qualitative research?
- Techniques that allow the researcher to provide elaborate
interpretations of phenomena without depending on numerical measurement - The focus is on discovering inner meanings and new insights
What are the orientations of qualitative research?
- Phenomenology
- Ethnography
- Grounded Theory
- Case Studies
What is the phenomenological orientation to qualitative research?
- Human experience is inherently subjective and determined by the context in which people live
- Focuses on the lived experiences from the perspectives of those doing the living
- Fits within a framework of constructivism
- Researcher is careful to avoid asking direct questions or directing the research encounter to any discernible degree: he facilitates the participants descriptions or explanations
- Hermeneutic - related
What is the entographical orientation to qualitative research?
- Way of studying cultures through methods that involve becoming highly active within that culture and community
- Participant-observation
- Researcher becomes immersed within the culture they are studying
- Useful for studying children, organisational cultures
What are hermeneutics?
- The theory of interpretation and the study of the processes of interpretation
- An approach to understanding phenomenology that relies on analysis of texts in which a person tells a story about him or herself
- Hermeneutic unit - a text passage from a respondents sorry that is linked with a key theme from within the story or provided by the researcher
What is the grounded theory orientation to qualitative research?
- An inductive investigation in which the researched draws meaning from information obtained
- Does not begin from theory but instead develops one
- Particularly applicable in highly dynamic situations involving rapid and significant change
What is the case study orientation to qualitative research?
In depth studies of the phenomenon investigated
What is laddering?
Particular approach to probing, asking respondents to compare differences between brands at different levels that produces distinctions at the attribute level, the benefit level and the value or motivation level
What are techniques to qualitative research?
- Focus groups
- Depth interviews
- Free association
What are the categories in assessing research?
- Truth value
- Applicabilty
- Consistency
- Neutrality
In assessing research, what is truth value and how is it applied?
- How can one establish confidence in the ‘truth’ of the findings of a particular inquiry for the subjects (respondents) with which and the context in which the inquiry was carried out?
- Quantitative - Internal validity
- Qualitative - Credibility
In assessing research, what is applicability and how is it applied?
- How can one determine the degree to which the findings of a particular inquiry may have applicability in other contexts or with other subjects
- Quantitative - External Validity
- Qualitative - Transferability
In assessing research, what is consistency and how is it applied?
- How can one determine whether the findings of an inquiry would be consistently repeated if the inquiry were replicated with the same subjects in the same context?
- Quantitative - Reliability
- Qualitative - Dependability
In assessing research, what is neutrality and how is it applied?
- How can one establish the degree to which the findings of an inquiry are a function solely of subjects and conditions of the inquiry and not of the biases, motivations, interests, perspectives, and so on of the inquirer?
- Quantitative - Objectivity
- Qualitative - Confirmability
How is truth value assessed in quantitative research?
- Internal validity
- Inquiry can be affected by masking or competing factors which lead to confounding
- To guard against this, we need to control and/or randomise
- Hopefully this will create internal validity and make the findings contamination proof
What is confounding?
The error produced when the researcher does not recognise additional factors
What is face validity in regard to our research proposal and what does this have to do with confounding?
Low job satisfaction causes low retention, this misses variables which causes confounding
How is applicability assessed in quantitative research?
- External Validity
- Inquiry can be affected by situational variations which lead to atypicality
- To guard against this, we need to require probability sampling
- Hopefully this will create internal validity and make the findings context proof
What are atypical findings?
Not representative
How is consistency assessed in quantitative research?
- Reliability
- Inquiry can be affected by instrumental drift or decay which lead to instability
- To guard against this, we need to replicate
- Hopefully this will create reliability and make the findings inconsistency-proof
What is instrumental drift/decay?
Instrumental drift or decay refers to changes in measurements that cannot be explained
How is neutrality assessed in quantitative research?
- Objectivity
- Inquiry can be affected by investigator predilections which lead to bias
- To guard against this, we need to insulate the investigator
- Hopefully this will create objectivity and make the findings investigator-proof
How is truth value assessed in qualitative research?
- Credibility
- Inquiry can be affected by factor patterning which lead to non-interpretability
- To take account of which we need to use techniques during and after research
- Hopefully this will create credibility and make the findings plausible
What is factor patterning?
Biasing one pattern over others
What are the techniques to assess truth value during qualitative research?
- Prolonged engagement
- Persistent oberscation
- Peer debriefing
- Triangulation
- Referential adequacy measures
- Member checks
- 2nd check, verify data
What are the techniques to assess truth value after qualitative research?
- Structural corroboration
- Referential adequacy
- Member checks
How is applicability assessed in qualitative research?
- Transferability
- Inquiry can be affected by situational uniqueness which lead to non-comparability
- To take account of which we need to:
- During research
- Collect thick descriptive data (collect situation in it’s
entirety) - Do theoretical/purposive sampling (e.g. snowball)
- Collect thick descriptive data (collect situation in it’s
- After research
- Develop thick description
- During research
- Hopefully this will transferability and make the findings context relevant
How is consistency assessed in qualitative research?
- Dependability
- Inquiry can be affected by instrumental changes which lead to instability
- To take account of which we need to:
- During research
- Overlap methods
- Stepwise replication
- Leave audit trail
- After research
- Dependability audit
- During research
- Hopefully this will create dependability and make the findings stable
How is neutrality assessed in qualitative research?
- Confirmability
- Inquiry can be affected by investigator predilections which lead to bias
- To take account of which we need to:
- During research
- Triangulation
- Reflexivity
- After research
- Confirmability audit
- During research
- Hopefully this will create confirmability and make the findings investigator free
What is abduction and what is it opposed to?
- Uncovering and relying on the best of a set of explanations for understanding one’s results
- Induction and deduction
What are the different design types in the mixed approach?
- Convergent
- Embedded
- Explanatory
- Exploratory
What is a convergent design type?
- Concurrent quantitative and qualitative approaches
- Merging the data during the interpretation or analysis
What is an embedded design type?
- Concurrent or sequential
- Embed one type of data within a larger design using the other type of data
What is an explanatory design type?
- Sequential, quantitative followed by a qualitative
- Connect the data between two phases
What is an exploratory design type?
- Sequential, qualitative followed by a quantiative
- Connect the data between the two phases
What is entography?
- Methodology
- Researcher must be both inside and outiside the culture enough to properly document it
What is action research?
- Methodology
- Used to bring about change, improvement or development
What is grounded theory?
- Methodology
- Useful when researching a phenomenon about which little is known
What is phenomenology?
- Methodology
- The study of lived experience from the first person point of view
What is semiotics?
- Methodology
- Study of signs, their forms, content and expression
- Media, brands etc
What are projective techniques?
- Method
- Explore peoples instinctive reponses to stimuli e.g. advertising campaigns
- Concerned mostly with attitudes
- Sentence completion
What is the philosophy of the mixed approach?
Pragmatism
What is rationalistic vs naturalistic?
Quantitate vs qualitative
In assessing qualitative research what is truth value?
Credibility
In assessing qualitative research what is applicability?
Transferability
In assessing qualitative research what is consistency?
Dependability
In assessing qualitative research what is neutrality?
Confirmability
