QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH Editor: Stephen Murray 1

OVERALL FRAMEWORK 2

KEEP IN MIND THAT … Qualitative research generally deals in words, images and the subjective Quantitative research generally deals in numbers, logic and the objective Quantitative research focuses on the left brain - objective, comfortable with logic, numbers, and unchanging static data and detailed, convergent reasoning rather than divergent reasoning. Qualitative research deals with the right brain - the hemisphere accountable for processing data as words, emotions, feelings, emotions, colour, and music. 3

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH Research used in range of activities from exploratory designs to means of completing explanations Qualitative research assumes that people have meaningful actions or experiences that can be interpreted Agenda Definition When to use? Types FOCUS GROUPS IN DEPTH INTERVIEW PROJECTIVE TECH. Pros&Cons 4

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH POPULARITY COMES FROM: *ECONOMICAL *FLEXIBLE *OPENS A DOOR TO “WHY, HOW” *RICHNESS OF DATA *BEST TO START WITH... 5

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH FOCUS GROUPS Characteristics: 6-12 people Lead by a trained moderator in-depth discussion on 1 particular topic or concept Relaxed, informal atmosphere 1-3 hour duration Goal: Learn and understand what people say and why? Agenda Definition When to use? Types FOCUS GROUPS IN DEPTH INTERVIEW PROJECTIVE TECH. Pros&Cons 6

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH FOCUS GROUPS 7

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN Examples Case studies on effect of vocational training in Papua Ethnographic studies on indigenous populations in Oaxaca, Mexico   Qualitative Research Types: Case studies Developmental research Historical research Ethnograph studies Case Studies: Purpose: to do an in depth study In brief: Background, current status and/or environmental factors that interact for each group (individual, institution or community)

Characteristics of Case Studies: It gives very detailed information about individuals / group / community It may give a detailed explanation of a complete life cycle or part of it Number of cases studied may be small but the number of variables studied are usually more in-depth (e.g. if compared to a survey) Developmental Research:   Conducted to research on the development of individuals / group / institution / community   TWO TYPES: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Historical Research: Used to gain information on an event, development and/or previous educational experience Process may involve studying previous situation, checking on current situation, and to predict if the same situation will occur again Conclusion on previous event is done based on collected facts and evidences to answer why and how the event and repercussions occurred Useful to solve questions that involve sensitive issues Important for systematically & objectively collecting and defining facts and evidences

Procedure for Historical Research: Define the problem Specify source of evidence Collect evidence / reference materials Primary source / original (observation or witnesses of events or authentic objects – e.g. artifacts, speech text, records etc.) Secondary source (materials or information collected from primary sources – e.g. paintings, films, news reports, documents Critique of evidences External critique: confirming if collected sources are genuine and reliable (authenticity of paintings, signatures, chemical analysis etc.) Internal critique: conducted after authenticity of source of information is confirmed – involves evaluation of collected evidences– is it important? Required?   Able to explain the researched phenomenon? Prepare the report Ethnographic Research: In-depth study of natural behaviours in a culture or social group Purpose – to understand relationships between behaviour and culture Example: In education – to understand schooling process (e.g., immigrant children) Involves widespread observations (participant & nonparticipant)

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW Characteristics: A well trained interviewer+interviewee Interviewee is exposed to set of probing questions Usually face to face Interviewer encourages the interviewee to talk more Goal: To collect as much as memory, attitudinal and behavioral data from the subject Agenda Definition When to use? Types FOCUS GROUPS IN DEPTH INTERVIEW PROJECTIVE TECH. Pros&Cons 11

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW Applications: -Interviews with professionals -Interviews with witnesses -When detailed probing is needed -Discussion of sensitive, confidential issues -When strong, social norms exist -Interviews with competitors 12

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE Definition:* These are unstructured prompts or stimulus that encourage the respondent to project their underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings onto an ambiguous situation They are all indirect techniques that attempt to disguise the purpose of the research Agenda Definition When to use? Types FOCUS GROUPS IN DEPTH INTERVIEW PROJECTIVE TECH. Pros&Cons *Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_marketing_research 13

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES Word Association Sentence Completion Tests Cartoon Tests Role Playing Third-Person Techniques Picture Interpretation /Story Telling 14

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES Types: Word Association Customers are required to show response to the concept they are told within 2-3 sec. 15

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECH. 3. Cartoon Tests 16

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECH. 5. Third Person Way of learning respondents feelings or opinions by asking them to answer for a third party : “your neighbour” “most people” “typical person” 17

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECH. 6.Picture Interpretation A technique whereby respondents are shown a picture and are asked to tell a story describing it 18

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH SURVEY SURVEY METHOD: STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE GIVEN TO A SAMPLE OF A POPULATION DESIGNED TO GAIN SPECIFIC INFORMATION 19

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH - SURVEY Survey Methods Telephone Personal Mail Electronic In-Home By appointment Random Personal Interviewing E-mail Internet Traditional Telephone Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing Mail Interview Mail Panel 20

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH - EXPERIMENTATION EXPERIMENTATION METHOD: Scientific investigation in which an investigator manipulates and controls one or more independent variables and observes the dependent variable for variation concomitant to the manipulation of the independent variables.* 21

COMPARISON OF QUALITATIVE-QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH CHARACTERISTICS QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE Research Objectives Discovery of new ideas,insights and feelings Validation of facts,estimates, relationships Type Of Research Usually exploratory Descriptive and causal Type Of Questions Open-ended,semi-structured, unstructured, probing Mostly structured 22

SUMMARY Qualitative methods focus on generating exploratory initial/progressive insights into questions and problems Depth probing of hidden attitudes, feelings or behaviour Focus Groups In depth Interviews Projective Techniques 23

SUMMARY Quantitative Research is interested in using formalised, standard structured questioning, whereby response options are pre-determined Usually to be administered to significantly large numbers of people. Descriptive Causal (Surveys) (Experimentation) 24

OVERALL FRAMEWORK Source: http://www.informedbusinessdecisions.com/RoadMapt400c.jpg 25