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