Compare And Contrast Qualitative Research Methods

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1.0 Introduction Data collection methods are generally classified into two, a qualitative method and a quantitative one. This can be seen as a conventional classification, somewhat of a distinction which can be helpful to writers but at certain instances may also be misleading. Many students and scholars come to realise in their studies, that they are not fully aware of the distinction arising between these two research methods. A common mistake is thinking that these two terms are identical and may be used in an interchangeable manner, but this is not the case as is later found out, many distinctions exist between the two methods. Creswell, however lays down the thought that their exists mainly three methods of research: The qualitative,…show more content…
Primarily, when utilising the quantitative research method, the main objective is to test hypotheses which is generated by the researcher. Contrary to this, the objective for qualitative research is to discover and capture meanings once the researcher becomes immersed in the data. A noteworthy difference between the two also lies in the different concepts which they both embody. In the case of quantitative methods, the concepts always take the form of distinct variables whilst on the other hand these concepts tend to come in the form of themes or generalisations. However in both cases, one must note that the objective remains to generate concepts. In the latter situation, measures taken to reach the objective are quite specific and may even be more specified according to the individual setting or researcher whilst in the contrary situation in qualitative research, the measures are systematically created before the data is collected and they are standardised where…show more content…
In the former case, one could choose to improve their understanding of a subject by using a qualitative method to gather information not obtained by quantitative methods or vice-versa. Whilst in examining findings it is possible to generate hypotheses from quantitative work that will also be tested from a qualitative approach, and in the event that there are unexpected findings from a quantitative method, the other method may be used to have a vivid image of the results. Moreover, this conjoined approach uses both methods to confirm or refute results found. The aim behind such approach is to invest more confidence within the result. Furthermore, Creswell also defines the latter approach as one

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