Critically Discuss the Difference Between Qualitative and Quantitative Work
Critically discuss the difference between qualitative and quantitative work.
Your answer should include some indication of the benefits and disadvantages of both approaches and indicate the circumstances in which you might use either approach. Your answer should include at least two examples.
There has been the reason for many debates among educational researchers since mid 19th century. During the 1970s and 80s the critique against quantitative research which had dominated the field for several decades got so extensive that some authors have called this period an era of 'paradigm wars' (Gage 1989, Hammersley 1992b quoted in Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry in Educational Research by Katrin Niglas, 1999). The terms quantitative and qualitative research are usually seen to signify more than different ways of gathering data, they are taken to denote divergent assumptions about the nature and purpose of research in the social sciences (Bryman 1988, quoted in Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry in Educational Research by Katrin Niglas, 1999).This paper will discuss and analyse the distinction between quantitative and qualitative approaches of research.
Researchers have different views about the nature of research. Positivists believe that they are studying an objective world and so searching for fundamental laws of behaviour while phenomenologists believe that the world is socially constructed and that at best we can identify trends and influences on behaviour. These opposing philosophies, in turn, influence the research design and methods that are used. Positivists tend to use more quantitative methods and phenomenologists more qualitative methods. (Qualitative and Quantitative research)
Quantitative methods are concerned with studying the frequency of events and opinions occurring in the social world and identifying the causal relations between events. Given this identification of causal relations, the general idea, at least when taking a positivist
Your answer should include some indication of the benefits and disadvantages of both approaches and indicate the circumstances in which you might use either approach. Your answer should include at least two examples.
There has been the reason for many debates among educational researchers since mid 19th century. During the 1970s and 80s the critique against quantitative research which had dominated the field for several decades got so extensive that some authors have called this period an era of 'paradigm wars' (Gage 1989, Hammersley 1992b quoted in Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry in Educational Research by Katrin Niglas, 1999). The terms quantitative and qualitative research are usually seen to signify more than different ways of gathering data, they are taken to denote divergent assumptions about the nature and purpose of research in the social sciences (Bryman 1988, quoted in Quantitative and Qualitative Inquiry in Educational Research by Katrin Niglas, 1999).This paper will discuss and analyse the distinction between quantitative and qualitative approaches of research.
Researchers have different views about the nature of research. Positivists believe that they are studying an objective world and so searching for fundamental laws of behaviour while phenomenologists believe that the world is socially constructed and that at best we can identify trends and influences on behaviour. These opposing philosophies, in turn, influence the research design and methods that are used. Positivists tend to use more quantitative methods and phenomenologists more qualitative methods. (Qualitative and Quantitative research)
Quantitative methods are concerned with studying the frequency of events and opinions occurring in the social world and identifying the causal relations between events. Given this identification of causal relations, the general idea, at least when taking a positivist