Qualitative and quantitative methods

P1 - 3 a. Qualitative and quantitative methods

RESEARCH METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Method is a procedure for obtaining knowledge based on empirical observations and logical reasoning. Methodology is the logic of scientific investigation. Methodology means description, explanation, and justification of methods and not the methods themselves. Philosophy on which the research is based. Methodology is concerned with both the detailed research methods through which data are collected and the more general philosophies upon which the collection and analysis of data are based. Issues of this type are referred to as epistemology. Sjoberg and Nett in their book on A Methodology for Social Research have mentioned that fashions, fads, and foibles may affect the choice of the topic of many researchers.

Poster of Swachh Bharat - independent variable, washing hands - dependent variable

Qualitative - what, how - exploratory - no hypothesis generally as not trying to predict - inductive

Quantitative - how, what, does - descriptive, experimental research - uses hypothesis - deductive

Quantitative | qualitative

• Problem is specific and precise | general and loosely structured
• Hypotheses before | during or after
• Concepts are operationalized | sensitized
• Design is prescriptive | not prescriptive
• Sampling is planned before data collection | during data collection
• Sampling is representative | not representative
• All scales | nominal scales mostly
• Data processing uses inductive generalization | analytical generalization
• Findings are highly integrated | not integrated

Praveen Kishore Notebook - Pages 96 to 110 Also to read in brief - Vikash Ranjan Book - Differences in Designing - Page 58

Neha Bhosle - Rank 15, UPSC CSE 2019

Questions - clear, unambiguous, relevant, short, non-negative - primary, secondary, tertiary - open or close-ended - direct or indirect - nominal, ordinal, and interval

Questionnaire does not account for cultural differences Participant vs. structured observation

Advantages of structured observation:

• It can be "used" by anyone.
• It is a reliable data collection method.
• Relationships can be examined.
• Phenomena is examined in a natural setting.

Disadvantages of structured observation:

• You have to be "in the place" that you are studying.
• Often times description is not enough and inferences have to be made.

There are five dimensions of social science research:

• Sociological - social nature of research as typical of human activity
• Ontological - the object of research is the social reality
• Teleological - research is goal-oriented and purposive
• Epistemological - the aim is not merely to understand social phenomena but to provide a valid and reliable understanding of reality
• Methodological - the ways in which various ideals can be achieved

Methodology refers to the broad theoretical and philosophical frame into which the procedural rules fit. It a broad frame of the research process. Method refers to technical rules that define the procedure for collection and analysis of data.

Gunnar Myrdal's Advice on Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Researches - The ideal community study should start out from a careful statistical analysis of vital, social, and economic data concerning the individuals and families making up the community being studied. The less measurable data on attitudes, cultural traits, behavior patterns in which social stratification is expressed, and the 'feeling' of social status or toward social status on the part of members of the various groups, should then be observed, and the results integrated into the framework of statistical knowledge.

Ramkrishna Mukherjee's View on Quantitative and Qualitative Research - Quality-Quantity is not a dichotomy. There is no 'either/or' between them. Quality refers to only 'distances' in variations, which are not known to us and, therefore, cannot be measured. Our job is to find out what these 'distances' are and how to measure them. This distance is the variation between entities we are concerned with: It may be individuals; it may be anything.

Comparative method: Durkheim - same society different sections in France, different societies at a point of time Germany and Spain, comparison over a period of time - Suicide - This comparison among two religions in the same region i.e., in the same economy, amounts to an experimental situation, discovered by the social scientist, though not created by him in the laboratory. Therefore, Durkheim calls for such use of comparative method an indirect experiment.

Single case as an experiment - If we can find an example of a social institution in its simplest and purest form we can understand the ‘essence’ of that institution. Thus, Durkheim studied the social institution of religion among the Australian tribes and traced the essential characteristics of religion in their existing practices. In such cases, the single study acquires an experimental character. It clarifies the ‘essentials’ without bothering about dilutions.

Triangulation: