Quantitative and Qualitative Data

11 Key excerpts on "Quantitative and Qualitative Data"

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  eBook - ePub

  Industrial Relations Research and Analysis

  • Walter Amedzro St-Hilaire(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • WSPC

    (Publisher)

  PART III

  THE USE AND MANAGEMENT OF Quantitative and Qualitative Data

  Passage contains an image

  CHAPTER 7

  THE ACQUISITION OF Quantitative and Qualitative Data IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

  In a research, the use of data is not limited to the record of observations related to the concepts involved in the research question. Indeed, once the research question has been formulated, the researcher, at various stages of progress in his research, turns to various sources of data to obtain the inspiration he needs to continue the process (literature review, interviews with experts, etc.), or to collect the information on which its analysis will be based (participating observations, interviews, phenomenon measurements, performance measures, etc.). This data is quantitative or qualitative.

  Quantitative data is data whose accuracy is essential for the research that uses it. Indeed, the use of these data testifies to the interest in objective characterization, as well as to rigorous and systematic quantification or for comparisons of the dimensions of a variable. The linking of the concepts translated into operative variables (explanatory independent variables and dependent variables to explain) and the identification of the possible links of causality between them depend on the quality and the rigor of the information conveyed by these data. For their part, qualitative data facilitate the exploration and collection of subjective opinions. They make it possible to describe a phenomenon in detail and to understand the subtleties that quantitative data cannot capture.

  Whether quantitative or qualitative, the quality of the data collected as part of a research is decisive for the usefulness and scientific relevance of the study. They must therefore be appropriate and allow to account, faithfully and as completely as possible, the concepts involved in the research hypotheses. The researcher must, on the one hand, identify the key moments in the research in which he must obtain information, the type of information he needs, and the means that are best suited to obtain data of this nature. On the other hand, it must be able to apply these means adequately, that is to say, so that their application does not affect the quality and relevance of information. For this, it respects a set of principles, makes sure to master the requirements and particularities of the techniques it implements and carefully selects its sources of information.

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  Practical Research Methods in Education

  An Early Researcher's Critical Guide

  • Mike Lambert, Mike Lambert(Authors)
  • 2019(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  It is still common for researchers working in the education field to regard ‘quantitative-qualitative’ as a methodological divide, in which they have to choose a side. This chapter rejects this view, taking as its starting point the notion that researchers should view them merely as different types of data and that they therefore need to understand how both are collected, analysed and interpreted. As using the quantitative option can seem particularly problematic, here are three reasons why readers who are nervous of numbers should consider familiarizing themselves with quantitative data processes:

  • Having some understanding of quantitative data will improve your ability to assess investigations which use quantitative approaches, particularly if you are new to research.

  • Being able to incorporate quantitative data into your own research could strengthen its impact, particularly if you are interested in influencing aspects of education practice or policy. Although they often use them carelessly and unreflectively, policymakers like numbers.

  • Having an improved understanding of quantitative data and research will put you in a better position to evaluate or conduct mixed-methods investigations.

  What is quantitative research? What are quantitative data?

  The application of quantitative methods in social-science research derives from interest in the 19th century in experimental investigation in the natural sciences. This sought to understand the processes of cause and effect through manipulation and controlled testing. However, it became clear that many of the issues explored in social sciences, such as education, do not lend themselves well to experimental approaches, so researchers began from the 1950s to apply them to what became known as ‘quasi-experimental’ and ‘non-experimental’ situations – these approaches are considered in more detail later in the chapter.

  Provocatively, Berliner (2002:19) has described what social scientists, and particularly educational researchers, do as the ‘hardest to do science […] because humans in schools are embedded in complex and changing networks of social interaction’. It is engaging with this social complexity that makes the application of experimental research to education so challenging (Hadfield and Jopling, 2018), and it is partly as a consequence of the need to address this complexity and the limitations of the persistent quantitative-qualitative divide, manifested in the so-called ‘paradigm wars’, that mixed-methods research design (Tashakkori and Teddlie, 1998) gained ground in the 1990s.

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  Social Research Methods

  Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods Approaches

  • Sigmund Grønmo(Author)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  In quantitative studies, the analysis and interpretation are usually conducted after the data collection is completed. The collection of quantitative data is not only highly structured. It is also carried out in a routine manner. The researcher usually only participates to a very small extent in the data collection process. In the quality of life study, the researchers did not participate in any part of the interviewing. Although it can also be an advantage in quantitative studies for the researcher to have as good a knowledge as possible of the primary sources, such studies are often so extensive that it is impossible for the researcher to obtain an overview of more than a limited portion of the primary data. This is especially true of the quality of life study, which includes interviews with nearly 37,000 people in 33 different countries. However, since the data recording is structured and the data are quantified, it is possible to process and analyse these large data sets using statistical techniques. Structuring, quantification and statistical calculations help to reach precise conclusions, as well as to keep track of large amounts of data. In other words, precision and overview are prominent features of quantitative analyses. Being able to process large amounts of data can also provide a basis for examining and evaluating relationships that apply to relatively wide-ranging social conditions. On the other hand, there is a risk that the analysis results in limited insight into the conditions studied. It is possible that not only the data collection, but also the analyses and the interpretations may become too routine. The utilization of the data can become a matter of purely technical skills. This could cause the entire study to be characterized by a lack of imagination, creativity and originality.

  Presentation of the results of the analysis

  A fourth difference between qualitative and quantitative analyses relates to the presentation of the results. The different characteristics of the two types of data affect not only the processing of the data, but also the presentation of the findings resulting from the analysis. The most common form of presentation of qualitative data involves using quotations from observation notes, interview transcripts or documents for illustrative purposes. This is how the results of the election campaign study, the nursing study and the newspaper study were presented. General points, arguments, concepts or categories are exemplified, elaborated and explained by selecting relevant quotes from the data, putting them together and presenting them in the most appropriate manner. In combination, the quotes presented help to describe the phenomena being analysed. With this selection and compilation of quotes, the researcher usually strives to achieve as comprehensive a description as possible. Since the quotes largely reproduce the primary source’s own expressions and formulations, the description can be both detailed and nuanced at the same time. Thus, it can also be quite complex. There is a danger that the presentation will not only become unclear, but also too detailed. It can also be characterized by a lack of perspective, in that it may be difficult to distinguish between significant and insignificant aspects of the descriptions. On the other hand, a strict prioritization and selectiveness regarding the presentation of quotes may be problematic because the selection may be too strongly influenced by the researcher’s personal opinions and sociocultural background. Generally, the less analytical the description is, the greater these problems will be.

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  Doing Research in Social Work and Social Care

  The Journey from Student to Practitioner Researcher

  • Catherine Flynn, Fiona McDermott(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  8 Counting and Measuring1 Questionnaires, Scales and Secondary Analyses In this chapter you will learn About key features of some of the common quantitative data collection methods used in social work and social care research When and how to apply specific quantitative data collection measures in your research What data mining is and how to do it. Introduction This is the second of three chapters focused on understanding why, when and how to use particular data collection methods in social work and social care research. In the previous chapter, we outlined some common data gathering techniques involving speaking and listening, such as the use of interviews, focus groups and forums. In this chapter, we will examine some of the quantitative data collection methods often used in research in our professional fields. Let’s begin by noting the differences in the kinds of data that may be collected in social work and social care research. Qualitative data are non-numerical in nature (words), and describe a quality or a type, while quantitative data are numerical and measure a quantity or an amount. The choice of which type of data to collect is directly determined by the research question(s) posed (as discussed in Chapter 4). Even though methods are epistemologically free, choices are inevitably influenced by the researcher’s epistemological position as outlined in Chapter 2. Getting started with quantitative data Quantitative data are more often associated with addressing research questions originating in a positivist paradigm. These questions often aim to discover the nature of an objective reality through the use of the scientific method ; that is, a way of asking and answering questions which require the use of empirical observations and experiments, the development of hypotheses, and the use of quantitative measures which rely on deductive reasoning. This could include information that quantifies participants’ perceptions, experiences or attributes

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  Psychology

  • Graham C. Davey, Graham C. Davey(Authors)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)
• Findings published in scientific journals will reach a wider audience and peer review of submitted papers ensures that high quality is maintained. However, even published papers might be flawed and caution must be exercised when the results are being followed up.
• Publishing work in books is another means of dissemination but has the disadvantage of the results appearing dated because of the lengthy prepublication period.
• Broad exposure can come from talking to the media. However, the media are prone to oversimplification and may distort the findings to create a more dramatic story.

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

LEARNING OBJECTIVE 2.3

Demonstrate understanding of some of the quantitative methods used by psychologists.

Psychologists use a wide variety of methods in order to study behaviour scientifically. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses, as outlined in the discussion below. In many cases, a psychological phenomenon will most fully be understood by tackling it with a variety of methods, a process known as ‘converging operations’.

Most psychologists use ‘quantitative’ methods, investigating behaviour with procedures modelled on those used by the natural sciences. Typically they will use experiments and observational methods to obtain numerical data that are subjected to statistical analyses. A sizeable minority of psychologists use ‘qualitative’ methods, rejecting these quantitative methodologies in favour of more interpretative techniques such as in-depth interviewing and textual analysis.

What constitutes ‘good’ research? Reliability, validity, and importance

Good research has three attributes: reliability, validity, and importance. Reliability simply refers to how reproducible the results are. If you did the study more than once, would you get similar results each time? Validity