RESEARCH DESIGN:
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE
BUSN 364 – Week 6
Özge Can
Research Activities:
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Read article: “Bilim Ortamı Olmadan Bilim Olmaz”
by Dogan Kuban
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Available at Course webpage – Reading Materials
Read article: “Science in America: Decline and Fall”
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Available at Course webpage – Reading Materials
Triangulation
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Triangulation: We learn more by observing from multiple
perspectives than by looking from only a single one
Improves the accuracy of the research
Triangulation
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Triangulation of measures: Taking multiple measures of
the same phenomena
Triangulation of observers: Multiple observers/
researchers bring a fuller picture of a phenomenon
Triangulation of theory: Using multiple theories to plan
a study or interpret data. Each has certain assumpitons
and concepts
Triangulation of method: Mixes the qualitative and
quantitative research approaches and data. The research
becomes richer and more comprehensive.
Triangulation: Examples
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Research Topic: The amount of violence in popular
American films
Measures: The frequency (number of killings, punches),
intensity (volume and length of time screaming, amound of
pain in face and body), level of explicit graphic display
(showing a corpse wtih blood flowing, close-ups of injury) in
films
 Observers: Have five different people independently watch,
evaluate and record forms and degrees of violence in a set
of 10 highly popular American films
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Triangulation: Examples
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Theory: Compare how feminist theory, functional theory and
symbolic interaction theory explain the forms, causes and
societal results of violence that is in popular films
Method:
 Conduct a content analysis of 10 popular films
 As an experiment, measure the responses of experimental
subjects to violence in each film
 Survey attitudes toward film violence among the public
 Make a field observation on audience behavior during and
immediately after watching the films
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Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research
Qualitative
Research
Research Aspect
Quantitative
Research
Discover ideas;
Used in exploratory
research with general
research topics
Common Purpose
Hypothesis testing;
Specific research questions
Observe and interpret
Focus
Measure and test
Unstructures, flexible
Data Collection Approach
Structured, standard
Researcher highly involved
Results are subjective
Researcher
Researcher uninvolved
Results are objective
Few cases, natural settings
Samples
Many cases, attaining
generalizability
Exploratory and descriptive
research
Most often used for:
Descriptive and explanatory
research
Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research
Qualitative and Quantitative Research
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Differences between qualitative and
quantitative research approaches in terms of:
1) Nature of data
2) Assumptions of social life
3) What are we trying to accomplish in a study
4) Type of “logic” and research path
5) Researcher characteristics
6) Type of question
1) Nature of Data
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
Soft data:
 Words, sentences,
photos, symbols
Hard data:
 Numbers
Data collection methods:
 Field research, interview,
natural observation,
historical comparative
research
Data collection methods:
 Experiment, survey,
existing statistics
(secondary data), content
analysis
2) Assumptions of Social Life
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
Interpretive perspective:
Positivist perspective:
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Use a language of
“cases and contexts” and
of cultural meaning
Emphasis on conducting
detailed examinations of
specific cases in the
natural flow of social life
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Use a language of
variables and
hypotheses
Emphasis on precisely
measuring variables and
testing hypotheses
3) What We Want to Accomplish?
Qualitative Research
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We describe details of a
mechanism or process for
a limites set of cases
We often generate new
hypotheses (and theories)
=> induction
Quantitative Research
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We focus on an outcome
or effect that is found
across many cases
We try to verify or falsify
a relationship (hypothesis
testing) we already have
in mind => deduction
4) Type of “Logic” and Path of the
Research
Qualitative Research
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Implicit knowledge from
practical activities,
specific experiences,
individual “judgment
calls”
Nonlinear path: research
proceeds a cyclical,
iterative, back-and-forth
pattern
Quantitative Research
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Organizing,
standardizing, codifying
knowledge and practices
into explicit rules, formal
procedures techniques
Linear path: research
procees in a clear,
logical, step-by-step
straight line
5) The Researcher
Qualitative Research
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Emphasis on researcher’s:
openness and integrity
Validation: Self-discipline
and trustworthiness.
Researcher takes maximum
advantage of personal
insights, and life pescpectives
Intimate, first-hand
knowledge of a setting
Quantitative Research
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Emphasis on researcher’s:
neutrality and objectivity
Validation: Replication,
explicit standard
procedures, numerical
measurement, anayzing the
data with statistics (similar
to natural sciences)
Objective knowledge
6) Questions Asked
Qualitative Research
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Mostly starts with a vague
or loosely defined topic.
Specific topic emerges
slowly during the study; it
may change with new
data
High flexibility: questions
become clear only after
we become immersed in
the data
Quantitative Research
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A topic is narrowed into a
focused question in the
very beginning before we
design the study and
collect data
Research questions refer
to relationships among a
small number of variables
Research Question
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Both approaches work well with some topics:
E.g. Poverty.
 You
can study poverty by examining official statistics,
conducting a survey, doing ethnographic field research or
completing a historical comparative analysis
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But some topics are best suited for qualitative and
others best suited for quantitative research
Research Question
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Typical qualitative questions:
 How
did a certain condition or social situation originate?
 How do people, events, and conditions sustain over time?
 By what processes does the situation change, develop or
end?
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Typical quantitative questions:
 Associations, relations
 “Is age at marriage associated with divorce?”
Ways to Select a Research Topic:
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Personal experience, everyday life and personal
values
State of knowledge in the field
Social premiums; curiosity based on media
Solving a problem
How to Narrow the Topic into a
Research Question:
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Examine the literature
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Talk over ideas with others
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Ask people who are knowledgeable about the topic;
seek out others’ opinions
Apply a specific context
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Published articles are excellent sources of ideas for
research questions. They provide lots of suggestions
Focus on a specific time period, society, catgeory,
subgroup or geographic unit
Define the aim or desired outcome of the study
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Is it an exploratory, descriptive or explanatory stdudy?
Good and Bad Research Questions
Quantitative Design: Variables
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Variable: Empirical measure of a concept that can
take multiple values
Attributes: Categories or levels of a variable
For Example:
gender is a variable; male is an attribute
marital status is a variable; married is an attribute
Quantitative Design: Variables
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Independent Variable: Variable that produces an
effect or result on the dependent variable in a causal
hypothesis
Dependent Variable: The effect or result variable that
is caused by the independent variable
Intervening (Mediating) Variable: Comes logically or
temporally after independent variable and before
dependent variable; helps to show the link or
mechanism between them
Quantitative Design: Hypotheses
Causal Hypothesis: Statement of a causal explanation
or proposition that at least one dependent and one
independent variable and yet to be empirically tested
Characteristics of causal hypotheses:
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At least 2 variables (dependent and independent)
Expresses a cause-effect relationship
Can be expressed as a prediction
Logical link between hypothesis and theory
Falsifiable
Quantitative Design: Hypotheses
Logic of Disconforming (“Falsification”): Testing for no
relationship provides more cautious support for possible
existence of a relationship. Negative, disconforming
evidence is more significant.
*We never prove a hypothesis; but we can disprove it!
Null Hypothesis: states that there is no significant effect
of the independent variable on the dependent.
Alternative Hypothesis: paired with the null hypothesis
stating that there is a significant effect
Potential Errors in Causal Explanation
Potential Errors in Causal Explanation
Potential Errors in Causal Explanation
Potential Errors in Causal Explanation
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Reductionism: An error in explanation in which
empirical data about associations among small-scale
units of analysis are greatly overgenralized
Example: Did World War I really occur because a
Serbian shot an archduke in the Austria-Hungarian
Empire in 1914?
Potential Errors in Causal Explanation
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Spuriousness: An apparent causal relationship is
illusionary due to the effect of an unseen, hidden
causal factor
Example:
Exam Content:
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Textbook – Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6
Major topics that we have covered:
 Science and scientific method (week 3)
 How does science differ from other ways of
knowing (week 3)
 Theory; elements of theory (concepts and relations),
direction of theorizing (deduction and induction),
causal explanations (week 4)
Exam Content:
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(con’td):
 Three major approaches to science: Positivist,
intepretive and critical (week 4)
 Five dimensions of research; major types of
research (week 5)
 The difference between quantitative and
qualitative research approaches; research question
and topic; hypotheses (week 6)
Exam Format:
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Multiple choices (%50)
Short essay questions based on 2-3 research
cases (%50)
Exam Date:
April 3, 2013 –Wednesday
O 001- O 002
Example Questions
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Which concept has the HIGHEST level of abstraction;
i.e., it is the most abstract?
A) racial injustice
B) years of education attained
C) the size of a city’s population
D) a murder
Example Questions
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A researcher needs all of the following to make a
casual statement, EXCEPT:
A) temporal order.
B) elimination of alternative explanation.
C) association.
D) mathematical proof.
Example Questions
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Which of the following is NOT an example of
quantitative research?
A) surveys
B) content analysis
C) historical-comparative research
D) experiments
Example Questions
According to interpretative social science, human
beings are:
A) beings with great potential who are trapped by illusion
and exploitation.
B) self-interested and rational beings who are largely
shaped by outside forces.
C) slaves full of unrealized potential who are waiting for
emancipation.
D) meaning-creating beings who attempt to make sense of
the world around them.
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Example Questions
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Which of the following is a characteristic of
quantitative research design?
A) Researchers begin by developing hypotheses then they test
them using empirical data.
B) Researchers ignore past research studies on their topic so
that their work can be original.
C) Researchers never attempt to replicate their findings in a
diverse social setting.
D) Researchers develop measurement tools during the data
collection phase.
Example Questions
What is the independent variable in the following
hypothesis? “Persons who experience economic
deprivation during socialization will place a higher
priority on economic self-interest later in life than will
people who did not experience economic deprivation
during socialization.”
A) later life
B) persons
C) priority of economic self-interest
D) economic deprivation
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Example Questions
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A recent article on the topic of gun control legislation
argued that those who said they oppose gun control
laws do so because they have a negative attitude
towards laws controlling guns. The problem with the
article is
A) ecological fallacy.
B) tautology.
C) teleology.
D) spurious statement.