Psychology Qualitative research collects information that is not in numerical form. For example, diary accounts, open-ended questionnaires, unstructured interviews and unstructured observations. Qualitative data is usually descriptive data and is harder to analyze than quantitative data. Qualitative research is useful for studies at the individual level and to find out the ways in which people think or feel. (Example case studies) Analysis of qualitative data is difficult and requires accurate description of participant responses, also data and great care must be taken when doing so, for example; looking for symptoms of mental illness.
Internal inconsistencies in the study reveal that the validity of some of the findings is questionable. The paper concludes by suggesting the necessity for combining - or sequentially chaining - different methods in research of this kind. Introduction Qualitative studies in psychology can be fascinating and insightful but they may leave readers with a quantitative disposition worrying about the generality of their findings. Quantitative studies, on the other hand, whilst providing data from larger and more representative samples, seem more mechanical and arid to qualitative researchers. But both methods have advantages and disadvantages (see e.g.,
What does Paul Feyerabend’s notion of “Epistemological Anarchism” mean? Evaluate this in relation to his critique of Kuhn’s Paradigms. While Emphasizing the subjective side of science, Kuhn claimed that operating within science means existing within the restrictive confines of the dominant paradigm, which attempts to limit particular questions that can be asked, how these are asked, and how their answers are formulated into viable scientific facts that are accepted by fellow scientists. This paradigm, in turn may actually obstruct the progress of science by nature of being untranslatable to other paradigms and impede rational argument. Kuhn states that a scientist’s switch between one paradigm to the next is similar to a “gestalt switch” where neural programming is required rather than argument and persuasion.
It is used in case studies, when opinions of different persons need to be gathered (Huber & Warring, 2010). Experimentation Experimentation is the method in which evidence of the data is gathered through various sources. It includes the nature of research question This method is used when decisions need to be taken. It is used to gather evidences about the research questions (Groz, & Hierons, 2004). Encoding In this method, researcher translates the information gathered from diversified people into own understandable language.
Also, these two factors can have impacts on the behaviour and rationality of the decision maker. Simon also believed that the limitations of human rationality exists in the form of discrepancy between the capacity of processing information of human and the complexity of the world. He characterised bounded rationality as: “[…] limits of human capability to calculate, the sever deficiencies
Defining “Science” In order to label a certain theory or philosophy as “scientific”, certain criteria must be met to deem it so. To call a subject a science based solely on the fact that it involves observation would be absurd, however there are those who believe in “sciences” that lie entirely on this principle of observation. In order to distinguish the difference between a pseudo-science and science, there must be specific guidelines that determine the difference between the two. The difficulty in determining whether a discipline is a science or non-science is known as the problem of demarcation, and in solving this problem of demarcation lies the framework for labeling a study a science – the criterion of demarcation, as made famous by Karl Popper. This demarcating of science is a definite way to distinguish the difference between true science and pseudo-science.
In other words, they answer the question What drives behaviour? It is important to remember that the following are theories, none of which have been conclusively shown to be valid. Nonetheless, they are helpful in providing a contextual framework for dealing with individuals Process theory is a commonly used form of scientific research study in which events or occurrences are said to be the result of certain input states leading to a certain outcome (output) state, following a set process. Another theory that attempts to explain human behavior is Content theory. Process theory holds that if an outcome is to be duplicated, so too must the process which originally created it, and that there are certain constant necessary conditions for the outcome to be reached.
Quantitative research is usually used after qualitative data has been gathered and uses that information to construct its own research gathering techniques. The goal of quantitative data is to classify data or to create statistical models for explaining observations (Experiment Resources, 2012). Generally qualitative studies will use researchers as the main tool for gathering data. Researchers in qualitative studies will use interviews and other verbal communication tools to gather data; quantitative research differs from this in that it collects data from questionnaires and surveys to compile information. The distinction is made that in an interview the people involved can clarify and describe answers while, in a survey or questionnaire the participant is constrained to the descriptions provided which will be the same for each person.
Extraneous Variables are undesirable variables that influence the relationship between the variables that an experimenter is examining. They exist in all studies and can affect the measurement of study variables and the relationships among these variables. Because of this, they are of primary concern in quantitative studies because they can interfere with obtaining a clear understanding of the relational or causal dynamics within these studies (Burns & Grove, 2011). Another way to think of it is they are variables that could possibly influence the outcome of an experiment, though they are not the variables of actually of interest. A major goal in research design is to decrease or control the influence of extraneous variables as much as possible.
Qualitative researches are more for exploratory purposes, the researches allow the data to take them on different directions. Because these are more open to different interpretations, qualitative researches may lead to accusation of bias or personal subjectivity. In quantitative researches the reasoning is logistic and deductive whereas in qualitative researches the research is