At the start of your

research project….
 After you have decided upon your
research question, you need to
decide what approach you are going
to take:
 Quantitative?
 Qualitative?
 Ask yourself are you seeking to
prove or disprove a theory? Or are
you trying to generalise your
findings to a population?
 If so this will be a deductive
approach, a quantitative approach
 Or are you hoping to elicit some
understandings on what people
think or feel about an issue? Is the
topic an area that there is little
information and so you must
undertake an initial, exploratory
study?
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 If so, this will be induction, a

Hypotheses

Data Collection

Findings

Hypotheses Confirmed or Rejected

Revision of Theory

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 Induction

[General research question]

Observation

Theory Formulation

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 Quantitative and
Qualitative Methods

Quantitative: Qualitative:
 Deductive  Inductive

 Tests  Produces
hypotheses theories
 Positivism  Phenomenology

 Objectivism  Constructionism

 Employs  Does not employ

 Detached  Involved researcher

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 Quantitative and
Qualitative Methods

 Quantitative:  Qualitative:
Measures objective Constructs social
facts meaning
Focuses on Focus on interactive
variables processes
Value free Values are present
Reliability is key
Authenticity is key
Independent of
context Context constrained
Many cases Few cases
Statistical analysis Thematic analysis

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 Main Steps in
Quantitative Research:
1. Theory
2. Hypothesis
3. Research design
4. Devise measures of concepts
5. Select research site(s)
6. Select research
subjects/respondents
7. Administer research instruments/
collect data
8. Process data
9. Analyse data
10. Write up findings and conclusions

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 Main Steps in
Qualitative Research:
1. General research question
2. Select relevant site(s) and subjects
3. Collection of relevant data
4. Interpretation of data
5. Conceptual and theoretical work
6. Tighter specification of the research
question
7. Collection of further data
8. Conceptual and theoretical work
9. Write up findings

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 Examples of
Quantitative Research
Methods:
 Experiments
 Social surveys
 Cross-sectional
 Comparative (cross-national)
 Longitudinal
 Content Analysis
 Secondary Statistical Analysis
 Official Statistics
 Demography
 Epidemiology
 Field stimulations
 Structured Interviews and Observation.

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 Examples of
Qualitative Research:

 In-depth Interviews
 Focus Groups
 Ethnography/Field Research
 Historical-Comparative Research
 Discourse Analysis
 Narrative Analysis
 Media Analysis

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 Worth noting
 Quantitative and qualitative research are
often cast as opposing fields.
 But sometimes they blur - qualitative
research may employ quantification in
their work or may be positivist in their
approach. Some quantitative may employ
phenomenology.
 Both can be also be combined in a
project
 Qualitative can facilitate quantitative
research
 (1) can provide hypotheses
 (2) fill in the gaps, help interpret
relationships
 Quantitative can facilitate qualitative
through locating interviewees and help
with generalising findings
 Together they can give you a micro and
macro level versions and so you can
examine the relationships between the
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two levels.
 They can complement each other.