qualitative vs quantitative
... It has diverse goals including the development of theories to explained phenomena (Gall et al 1996) Two main factors and theories that are commonly used within research are Quantitative and Qualitative research methods; these methods are used in all forms of research and to explain all kinds of phenomena. ... I will also give examples of each method, the strengths and weaknesses of each method and aim to offer some difference points of view on the quantities and qualitative research method debate. Qualitative and quantitative research methods are used all the time and have been successfully used to explain a lot of the phenomena we know today; however there is an on going debate as to which one is better and in what area to use the different methods. ... Back in 1957 Cronbach realised that there were differences two different “disciplines of scientific psychology” (Christian hughs-2003) Qualitative and quantitative research methods can be put onto a continuum where they blend into each other, so there are grey areas in between. ... QUALITATIVE QUANITITATIVE As you can see the debate goes on, however if we look at each method individually we can see the difference between them and the theories behind them. Qualitative research is subjective and is generally used and developed in the social sciences. ... The reason researchers choose this method as opposed to quantitative research is the fact that us as humans can talk and have feelings which research believe can’t be measured with graphs, charts or numbers, as written by (Myers. ... ) “The motivation for doing qualitative research comes from the observation that, if there is one thing which distinguishes humans from the natural world, it is our ability to talk! Qualitative research methods are designed to help researchers understand people and the social and cultural context within which they live.” Within the qualitative research method there are philosophical perspectives or underlying assumptions about the research we do. According to Guba and Lincoln(1994) there are four underlying paradigms for qualitative research and they are positivism,post-positivism,criticall theory and constructivism however Orlikowski and Baroudi(1991) and Chua(1986) believe there are three ,positivist, interpretive and critical am going to look at the three latter philosophical perspectives.