Class 19

• The quantitative/qualitative divide is often discussed in the context of analytical methods in urban studies.
• Hood (2006) argues that certain statements about qualitative methods are completely or partially false.
• Different skills and training required.
• ‘Trained incapacities’ may prevent integrating both methods.
• Multiple methods likely take more time and money.
• Spreading resources too thinly can dilute the effectiveness of the research.
• Qualitative research often exhibits features associated with a natural science model, such as empiricist themes, a specific problem focus, hypothesis- and theory-testing, and realism.
• Many quantitative researchers are interested in issues of meaning, for example, those who study attitudes using surveys.
• Qualitative research often involves the study of behaviour.
• Much quantitative research, such as survey research, is largely inductive.
• Many hypotheses and theories may only emerge after the data have been gathered.
• Some qualitative researchers engage in a limited amount of quantification.
• Some quantitative researchers gather or analyze qualitative data to better understand their subject matter or to generate ideas, for example, Bell’s (2007) study of western Canadian separatism.
• Qualitative interviewing may take people away from their natural settings.
• Participant observation may introduce some artificiality and reactivity.
• The embedded methods argument suggests that the use of a particular research method implies acceptance of certain epistemological and ontological positions, for example, use of participant observations necessarily means that the researcher takes an interpretivist position that is inconsistent with the natural science model.
• Multi-strategy research is becoming more common, with methods seen as simply a technique of data collection.
• The paradigm argument suggests that the quantitative and qualitative approaches are based on separate paradigms that are epistemologically and ontologically incommensurable.
• A technical argument suggests that quantitative and qualitative methods are simply techniques that can be used without necessarily adopting a particular epistemological (or ontological) position.
• The tendency in qualitative research to present findings without evidence indicating how typical they are can be addressed by quantitative comparisons.
• In multi-strategy research, the different methods may be geared to addressing different kinds of research questions.
• Multi-strategy research must be competently designed and conducted, and must be appropriate for the research questions asked.
• An epistemological argument maintains that quantitative and qualitative research are based on incompatible epistemological principles.
• Qualitative research may help to interpret the relationship between variables by looking for an intervening variable.
• The nature of qualitative research can be examined using quantitative methods, such as meta-ethnography.
• Limited quantification is used to counter anecdotalism.
• Artificiality is not only an issue in quantitative work.
• Reliability measures for coding can occur in thematic analysis, which is an implicit quantification that determines the identification and prominence of certain themes rather than others.
• The nature of quantitative research can be examined using qualitative methods.
• Macro and micro orientations can be differently useful based on the research question.
• Approaches to multi-strategy research include a two-step approach to planning multi-strategy research: the priority decision and the sequence decision.
• Quasi-quantification is the use of terms like 'many', 'often', 'rarely', etc.