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