Quantitative and Qualitative Statistics

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INSIDE OUT OUTSIDE IN Keep it Simple One of the greatest sources of wisdom is found in the simple things. One of the simplest things that I have ever experienced was children’s cartoons on a Saturday morning. If you were ever a fan of that genre you may recall The Flintstones? The Flintstones was a Hanna-Barbera Production that originally aired on ABC-TV in prime time from 1960-1966. It was the first animated series on network television (http://i-flintstones.tripod.com). During one of the episodes there was a conflict between two of the main characters. A third main character arrives at the scene of the heated discussion and posses this simple question, “What’s all the hubbub bub?” It was only after that question was posed did the two arguing characters take time to realize that they were not opposed to one another, just saw the best solution to solving the dilemma differently. In the end, both solutions proved necessary. There is a debate amongst social scientist (researchers) as to the merits and superiority of either quantitative or qualitative research over the other. The following will examine logic and philosophies underlying these methodologies and why one would tend to chose a particular method. However, “in the end” I find myself in agreement with William Trochim (2003). “My sense is that there are some fundamental differences, but that they lie primarily at the level of assumptions about research (epistemological and ontological assumptions) rather than at the level of the data.” And what is data? Factual information, especially information organized for analysis or used to reason or make decisions and values derived from scientific experiments (The American Heritage Dictionary, 2000). Yet battle lines have been drawn but those who are on the outside looking in against those who are on the inside looking out. Outside Looking In or Quantitative
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