Quantitative and Qualitative Reasearch

• • quantitative refers to numbers
  • qualitative refers to words
• • epistemology refers to trust-worthy knowledge and what is possible to know
  • ontology refers to what is reality
• 2 approaches to conducting research:

  • inductive:
  • 1: start with observation
  • 2: find patterns and themes
  • 3: conclude with theory to find meaning of the patterns
  • deductive:
  • 1: propose a theory
  • 2: generate a hypothesis
  • 3: measurement
  • 4: confirmation/falsification of the hypothesis
• Quantitative Research:

  • theory = what is known/thought to be known as the status quo
  • patient selection needs to be able to be generalised to the wider population, so needs to include maximum variation
  • manipulation of variables, environment to make research as objective as possible without any subjective activity in order to control the research process
  • measurement
  • controlled observation
  • deductive
  • empiricism/positivist: a scientific method - what can be known is what can be observable and measured
• • positivism comes from an ontology of naïve realism, which is the ontological position believing you can know an external reality without any interpretation from the individual
  • whereas in critical realism there is an external world that cant be accessed directly because its influenced by social and cultural contexts, partially accessible and never perfectly understood
• Positivism:

  • Only “factual” knowledge gained through observation (the senses), including measurement, is trustworthy
  • The role of the researcher is limited to data collection and interpretation in an objective way
  • The researches beliefs shouldn't come into play
• Empiricism:

  • knowledge is based on experience
  • knowledge is tentative and probabilistic, subject to continued revision and falsification
• Empiricism and Positivism both reject:

  • Introspective and intuitive knowledge are rejected, as are metaphysics and theology
• Qualitative Research:

  • doesnt start off with a theory
  • emphasis on the narrative of participants and their experience
  • researcher identifys what is going on/created in the research, impacts of the research and how its reported
  • participation selection is purposive, so theres no generalisability
  • no manipulation of participation in an objective reality that isnt relevant to their reality, research done in the natural setting
  • isnt controlled like qualitative research
  • measurement is more interpretation, less restrictive, narrative, interactive, flexible
  • inductive
  • sometimes generates theories
• Relativism:

  • ontological belief that there are multiple constructive realities, compared to a single true reality as believed in positivism
  • reality is fluid rather than fixed
  • so this fits well with qualitative approaches
  • constructed realities
• • quantitative research refers to numbers, which can be reduced and statistically analysed with judgement in accordance to a pre-defined truth
  • qualitative research refers to words, where power is given to the object of investigation, not the subject, and is more dehumanised, where one person is right or wrong about their judgement