Quantitative v. Qualitative Research Methods

John Creswell is an American academic researcher known for his ideas that combining qualitative and quantitative research methods, also known as mixed methods, can lead to better and more complete research. According to Creswell, quantitative research can help paint a broad, general surface picture of a topic while qualitative research provides in-depth details to make the picture rich in detail. I agree with his statements because each type of research can reveal different details leading to a better overall perspective.  

Quantitative research helps answer how many / how much while “collecting and analyzing numerical data to describe, predict, or control variables of interest” (Mcleod). Qualitative research is about collecting, analyzing, and interpreting “non-numerical data, such as text, video, photographs, or audio recordings” (Mcleod).

One drawback to quantitative research is that it relies on numbers and data sets which require human interpretation to make conclusions. Numbers have no meaning on their own. Quantitative research statistics is also conducted by humans who have biases, and who may ask questions in certain ways that elicit certain responses from those they are studying. Despite these drawbacks, this research can lead to accurate & often scientific information that can be tested again and confirmed through further tests and studies. Qualitative research allows a researcher to delve deep into a topic and find deeper and untapped meanings.

References

Mcleod, S. (2022, November 3). Qualitative vs quantitative research: Methods & data analysis. Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/qualitative-quantitative.html#Quantitative-Methods

SAGE Publications, Inc. (2013). Telling a complete story with qualitative and mixed research methods. [Video]. Sage Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781506358390