Marry Queen
Handout 1
Qualitative vs. Quantitative:
The Assumptions of Qualitative Designs
* Qualitative researchers are concerned primarily with process, rather than outcomes or products. * Qualitative researchers are interested in meaning how people make sense of their lives, experiences, and their structures of the world. * The qualitative researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. Data are mediated through this human instrument, rather than through inventories, questionnaires, or machines. * Qualitative research involves fieldwork. The researcher physically goes to the people, setting, site, or institution to observe or record behavior in its natural setting. * Qualitative research is descriptive in that the researcher is interested in process, meaning, and understanding gained through words or pictures. * The process of qualitative research is inductive in that the researcher builds abstractions, concepts, hypotheses, and theories from details.
Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Arguments Supporting Qualitative Inquiry
Human behavior is significantly influenced by the setting in which it occurs; thus one must study that behavior in situations. The physical setting e.g., schedules, space, pay, and reward sand the internalized notions of norms, traditions, roles, and values are crucial contextual variables. Research must be conducted in the setting where all the contextual variables are operating.
Past researchers have not been able to derive meaning from experimental research.
The research techniques themselves, in experimental research, can affect the findings. The lab, the questionnaire, and so on, can become artifacts. Subjects can become either suspicious or wary, or they can become aware of what the researchers want and
Qualitative vs. Quantitative:
The Assumptions of Qualitative Designs
* Qualitative researchers are concerned primarily with process, rather than outcomes or products. * Qualitative researchers are interested in meaning how people make sense of their lives, experiences, and their structures of the world. * The qualitative researcher is the primary instrument for data collection and analysis. Data are mediated through this human instrument, rather than through inventories, questionnaires, or machines. * Qualitative research involves fieldwork. The researcher physically goes to the people, setting, site, or institution to observe or record behavior in its natural setting. * Qualitative research is descriptive in that the researcher is interested in process, meaning, and understanding gained through words or pictures. * The process of qualitative research is inductive in that the researcher builds abstractions, concepts, hypotheses, and theories from details.
Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A qualitative approach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Arguments Supporting Qualitative Inquiry
Human behavior is significantly influenced by the setting in which it occurs; thus one must study that behavior in situations. The physical setting e.g., schedules, space, pay, and reward sand the internalized notions of norms, traditions, roles, and values are crucial contextual variables. Research must be conducted in the setting where all the contextual variables are operating.
Past researchers have not been able to derive meaning from experimental research.
The research techniques themselves, in experimental research, can affect the findings. The lab, the questionnaire, and so on, can become artifacts. Subjects can become either suspicious or wary, or they can become aware of what the researchers want and