QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH EVALUATION

Quantitative And Qualitative Research Evaluation



Quantitative And Qualitative Research Evaluation

Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research

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” (in Miles & Huberman, 1994, p. 40). 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. In particular, the use of what are called mixed-methods approaches is discussed.

Quantitative and Qualitative Research

The following section introduces the definitions and assumptions of quantitative and qualitative research. First, however, it is worth briefly discussing two types of political analysis in order to understand the origins of quantitative and qualitative methods. Political scientists distinguish between empirical analysis—obtaining and dealing with knowledge and information—and normative analysis—determining how to use that knowledge. Normative analysis relies on the development of subjective goals and values to apply what has been learned to reality. Empirical analysis, however, focuses on using common terms to explain and describe political reality and can be either quantitative or qualitative in nature.

Definition of 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. Essentially, quantitative methods have played a major role in improving on commonly used research tools within the structure of regression models that are frequently used in the field of political science.

Assumptions of Quantitative Research

The goal of quantitative research is to examine particular instances or aspects ...