Chapter 1
Research approaches
- Qualitative
- Quantitative
- Mixed methods
Qualitative: Using words, using closed-ended questions/responses
Quantitative: Using numbers, using open-ended questions/responses
Qualitative research
An approach for exploring and understanding the meaning people ascribe to a social or human
problem. There is a focus on individual meaning and the importance of reporting the complexity
of a situation.
- Emerging questions and procedures
- Data collected in the participant’s setting
- Researcher making interpretations of the meaning of the data
Quantitative research
An approach for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among variables. These
variables can be measured so that numbered data can be analysed with statistical procedures.
Final written report has an introduction, literature and theory, methods, results and discussion.
Mixed methods research
An approach involving collecting qualitative and quantitative data and integrating the two
forms. It provides additional insights.
Components involved in an approach
- Philosophical worldviews (Post-positivist, Constructivist, Transformative, Pragmatic)
- Research methods (Question, Data collection, Data analysis, Interpretation, Validation)
- Designs (Quantitative, Qualitative, Mixed methods)
Philosophical worldviews
Philosophical ideas still influence the practice of research.
Worldview: a general philosophical orientation about the world of research that a researcher
brings to a study.
1. The post-positivist worldview
Sometimes called: the scientific method.
A deterministic philosophy in which causes determine effects/outcomes.
There are laws and theories that govern the world. A researcher begins with a theory, collects
data that supports or refutes the theory and then makes revisions and conducts tests.
- Absolute truth can never be found, thus evidence in research is always imperfect
- Research is the process of making claims and refining or abandoning some of them for
stronger claims.
- Data, evidence and rational considerations shape knowledge.
- Being objective is essential. Researchers must examine methods for bias.
,2. The constructivist worldview
Typically seen as an approach for qualitative research.
The goal is to rely as much as possible on the participants’ view of the situation being studied.
Broad, general questions are used so that participants can construct the meaning of a situation
in discussions/interactions with other persons. The researcher observes.
In contrast to post-positivism (where they start with a theory) vragenstellers generate or
develop a theory or pattern of meaning.
- Qualitative researchers use open-ended questions so that the participants can share
their views.
- Qualitative researchers seek to understand the context/setting of participants through
visiting this context and gathering information personally.
3. The transformative worldview
Includes researchers that are critical theorists, Marxists, feminists, racial/ethnic minorities,
persons with disabilities and members of the gay/bi/transsexual/queer communities.
Research needs to be intertwined with politics to confront sociale onderdrukking. It contains an
action agenda for reform that may change the lives of the participants (and their institutions)
and the researcher’s life.
- Possible issues as focus point of the study: empowerment, inequality, domination,
alienation, onderdrukking etc.
- The participants may help with the research + the research provides a voice for them
- How the lives of the marginalized (= in onderdanige positie geplaatst) groups have been
constrained.
- The research focuses on inequities based on gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual
orientation and social economic class.
4. The pragmatic worldview
The view arises out of actions, situations and consequences. In stead of focussing on methods,
researchers use all possible approaches to understand the problem and derive knowledge about
the problem.
- Mixed methods research (qualitative and quantitative)
- Researchers have a freedom of choice for methods, techniques and procedures.
- They need a purpose for their mixing (why the data need to be mixed)
- Research always occurs in social, historical, political and other contexts. The studies may
include a postmodern turn (a theoretical lens that is reflective of social justice and
political aims)
- Its opens the door to multiple methods, different worldviews and assumptions.
Research designs
Research designs are type of study within the three methods that provide a specific direction.
Sometimes called: strategies of inquiry (onderzoek).
Because of computer technology, more designs are available.
,Quantitative Qualitative Mixed methods
Experimental designs Narrative research Convergent
Non experimental designs Phenomenology Explanatory sequential
(such as surveys)
Longitudinal designs Grounded theory Exploratory sequential
Ethnographies Complex designs with
embedded core designs
Case study
Quantitative designs
Applied behavioural analysis or single-subject experiments: an experimental treatment to a single
individual/small number of individuals.
Non experimental
Causal-comparative research: researcher compares two or more groups in terms of a cause that
already happened.
Correlational design: researcher use the correlational statistic to describe/measure the degree of
association between two or more variables/scores.
Book focuses on:
Survey research
Provides a quantitative/numeric description of trends, attitudes or opinions of a population by
studying a sample of that population.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using questionnaires or interviews for data collection.
Experimental research
Seeks to determine is a specific treatment influences an outcome. Providing a treatment to one
group and withholding it from another group and then determine how both groups scored.
True experiments: random assignment of subjects to treatment conditions
Quasi-experiments (less rigorous): non randomized.
Qualitative designs
Narrative research (from humanities)
Researcher studies the lives of individuals and asks them to provide stories about their lives.
Information is often retold by the researcher into a narrative chronology.
Phenomenological research (from philosophy and psychology)
Researcher describes the lived experiences of individuals about a phenomenon (from their point
of view). Often involves interviews
Grounded theory (from sociology)
Researcher derives a general theory of a process, action or interaction grounded in the views of
participants. Multiple stages of data collection.
Ethnography (from anthropology and sociology)
Researcher studies shared patterns of behaviours, language and actions of a cultural group over
a long time. Observations and interviews.
, Case studies
Researcher develops an in-depth analysis of a case (often a program, event, process or
individuals). Collecting detailed information.
Mixed methods designs
Combining qualitative and quantitative research and data.
Qualitative: open ended. Quantitative: closed-ended.
All methods have bias and weaknesses. Mixing them neutralized the weakness.
- One database could help to explain the other
- One database could be used to check the validity of the other
- One database could lead to better instruments
Convergent mixed methods
Researcher converge/merges quantitative and qualitative data to provide a comprehensive
analysis of the problem. Both forms of data collected at roughly the same time and integrated in
the interpretation of the results.
Explanatory sequential mixed methods
Researcher first conducts quantitative research, analyses the results and then explain the results
in more detail with qualitative research. There is a sequence.
Exploratory sequential mixed methods
The reverse sequence. Researcher begins with a qualitative research and explores the views of
the participants. Then analyses the data and build a quantitative phase. The qualitative phase
may be used to find the right instruments to use in the quantitative phase.
Complex designs
These previous core designs can be used in more complex mixed strategies.
- They can be used within a case study to document cases or generate cases for further
analysis.
- They can inform a theoretical study drawn from social justice/power as an
overkoepelend perspective within a mixed data design.
- They can be used to test a program or experimental intervention.
Research methods
Quantitative methods Mixed methods Qualitative methods
Pre-determined Pre-determined and Emerging methods
Emerging methods
Instrument based questions Open and closed-ended Open-ended questions
questions
Performance data, attitude Multiple forms of data Interview data, observation
data, observational data, drawing on all possibilities data, document data, audio-
census data visual data
Statistic analysis Statistic and text analysis Text and image analysis
Statistical interpretation Across databases Themes, patterns
interpretation interpretation
