Qualitative Quantitative and Mixed Research

Qualitative Quantitative and Mixed Research

Introduction

For decades, there has been a raging debate among scholars regarding the differences between and advantages of qualitative and quantitative methods. In fact, this has probably been one of the largest and longest methodological debates in all of social science research. Perhaps it can be briefly summarized by the following two famous and opposing quotations: Donald Campbell says, “All research ultimately has a qualitative grounding”; and Fred Kerlinger says, “There's no such thing as qualitative data. Everything is either 1 or 0”. Although it is not necessarily critical to determine which—if either—of these approaches can be described as the better one, it is imperative to have a thorough understanding of these methods in order to be able to conduct sound political science research. After all, for a study to be of value to scholars and other individuals interested in the topic, it is necessary for one to choose the correct research approach, ask suitable questions, use appropriate research methods and statistical analyses, correctly deduce or induce inferences, and have suitable general goals driving the research.

The questions under consideration and the answers obtained by any particular study will depend on whether the study uses quantitative or qualitative approaches. The purpose of this chapter is to differentiate between these two types of research. First, the literature available on this topic is briefly summarized, focusing specifically on how qualitative and quantitative research is defined, as well as the different assumptions on which these types of research are based. Next, a summary of the similarities and differences in each stage of the research process is provided. Then, the different methods that these two types of approaches use are discussed. In particular, the use of what are called mixed-methods approaches is discussed. The chapter ends with a brief summary and conclusion of the information that has been presented. Finally, suggested books and articles for further reading are provided, including some material for individuals interested in conducting advanced statistical studies (Creswell, 2009).

Quantitative Research

As a first step, it is necessary to define these two methods of research and examine their goals. Quantitative research can be defined as a process of inquiry examining an identified problem that is based on testing a theory measured by numbers and analyzed with statistical techniques. Thus, quantitative research involves the analysis of numerical data. A more technical definition is provided by Brady and Collier (2004), who define mainstream quantitative methods as “an approach to methodology strongly oriented toward regression analysis, econometric refinements on regression, and the search for statistical alternatives to regression models in contexts where specific regression assumptions are not met”. The econometric refinements and statistical alternatives referred to by the authors are beyond the scope of this chapter but include logit and probit models, time-series analysis, and a variety of techniques to circumvent problems that can occur in regression analysis, such as heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. Essentially, quantitative methods have played a major role in improving on commonly used research tools within the ...