Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods

400 Words2 Pages
Assignment. Done By: Shaquilla M. Evans. Pass paper 2009 Question #3 Answer: Qualitative research is a method used to gather data on human performance. It is used when we are unaware of what is to be expected and how to develop an approach to fix the problem (hypothesis). It investigates on not just the questions What? Where? When? But focuses on Why? and How? Especially when making decisions. However, quantitative research deals with the empirical investigation of social phenomena, using mathematical and numerical data. This method tries to identify the cause and effect relationships and to quantify issues and appreciate how predominant it is by looking for developmental results to a larger population. The main characteristics of qualitative research are: * Process and sequence: Where they occur because researchers assume that change is always ongoing. * Context: This characteristic involves historical, social and temporal context. Especially when the researcher is in doubt of the generalization across time and place. * Researchers integrity: Where you would come across contents that are bias. This is why it is mandatory to check over collected data. * Interpretation: The researcher depend on the layout and presentation of the data because it important to have textual evidence rather than numerical data * Case study method: This method consists of one or several small cases which includes a lot of research. This study involves a lot of quantitative data but entails both qualitative and quantitative data most times. * Grounded theory: Qualitative data is collected to test hypotheses and the theory is built from grounded data. Seeing that qualitative research involves the observation of human performance or behavior, and because the human emotions shift from time to time, it becomes difficult to make proper generalization which then
Open Document