qualitative research methods in psychology
THE UNIVERSITY OF ZIMBABWE
NAME ROBIN T
SURNAME NKONDE
REGISTRATION NUMBER R116279X
DEGREE PROGRAM BSc HONOURS IN PSYCHOLOGY
COURSE AND CODE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY (PSY 212)
LECTURER MR MATIKA
ASSIGNMENT QUESTION: “Qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers understand individuals, the social and cultural context within which they stay. Understanding the phenomena from the point of view of the individual and its particular social and institutional context is largely lost when textual data is quantified” (Myers, 1997). Discuss the above statement in relation to qualitative and quantitative approaches in psychological research.
In understanding the tenets behind psychological research, researchers are largely influenced by the two paradigms: qualitative and quantitative. A basic meaning of these paradigms is a way of thinking at a particular time in trying to understand, control and predict human behaviour. From these two parallel strands is born the four: ontology, epistemology, human nature and methodology. Qualitative research is subjective in nature as it assess that social phenomena and their meanings are continually being accomplished by the social actor and the data obtain is contextual whereas quantitative research is objective in nature as it search for concepts and universal laws to explain reality and generalisations are made from the data obtained. Different arguments have risen concerning the superiority of which method in psychological research but what have been noted is that the applicability of each method depends on the research problem. In some instances there is triangulation of the methodologies to enhance studies as shortfalls of one are usually compensated by the strengths of the other, for example, qualitative research is time consuming and resource expensive whereas quantitative research is usually faster and serving and does not
NAME ROBIN T
SURNAME NKONDE
REGISTRATION NUMBER R116279X
DEGREE PROGRAM BSc HONOURS IN PSYCHOLOGY
COURSE AND CODE QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN PSYCHOLOGY (PSY 212)
LECTURER MR MATIKA
ASSIGNMENT QUESTION: “Qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers understand individuals, the social and cultural context within which they stay. Understanding the phenomena from the point of view of the individual and its particular social and institutional context is largely lost when textual data is quantified” (Myers, 1997). Discuss the above statement in relation to qualitative and quantitative approaches in psychological research.
In understanding the tenets behind psychological research, researchers are largely influenced by the two paradigms: qualitative and quantitative. A basic meaning of these paradigms is a way of thinking at a particular time in trying to understand, control and predict human behaviour. From these two parallel strands is born the four: ontology, epistemology, human nature and methodology. Qualitative research is subjective in nature as it assess that social phenomena and their meanings are continually being accomplished by the social actor and the data obtain is contextual whereas quantitative research is objective in nature as it search for concepts and universal laws to explain reality and generalisations are made from the data obtained. Different arguments have risen concerning the superiority of which method in psychological research but what have been noted is that the applicability of each method depends on the research problem. In some instances there is triangulation of the methodologies to enhance studies as shortfalls of one are usually compensated by the strengths of the other, for example, qualitative research is time consuming and resource expensive whereas quantitative research is usually faster and serving and does not
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