Vietnam National University-HCM

University of Social Sciences & Humanities

Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature

THE QUALITATIVE
QUANTITATIVE DEBATE

Le Hoang Dung, PhD

I. BASIC vs. APPLIED RESEARCH

Basic research

Applied research

Primary aim: to improve Designed from the start

knowledge generally,
to apply its findings to a
without any particular
particular situation
applied purpose in mind
at the outset.

Mostly Students are expected to

engage with an applied research or
problem solving research project.
BA-Research Methods

II. TWO MAJOR RESEARCH PHILOSOPHIES

POSITIVISTIC
(can also be referred to
Quantitative, Objectivist,
Scientific, Experimentalist or
Traditionalist

PHENOMENOLOGICAL
(can also be referred to as
Qualitative, Subjectivist,
Humanistic or Interpretative

The research philosophy can impact on the

methodology adopted for the research project.

The term methodology refers to the overall approaches & perspectives

to the research process as a whole and is concerned
with the following main issues:
Why you collected certain data
What data you collected
Where you collected it
How you collected it
How you analysed it
(Collis & Hussey, 2003, p.55).
(A research method refers only to the various specific tools
or ways data can
be collected
and analysed, e.g. a questionnaire;
BA-Research
Methods
interview checklist; data analysis software etc.).

RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES
Positivistic
Surveys
Experimental Studies
Longitudinal Studies
Cross-sectional
Studies

Phenomenological
Case Studies
Action Research
Ethnography
(participant observation)
Participative Enquiry
Feminist Perspectives
Grounded Theory

Nature of research: another classification

Exploratory Descriptive

Analytical Predictive

- Undertaken when
few or no previous
studies exist
- Aim: to look for
patterns, hypotheses
or ideas that can be
tested and will form
the basis for further
research

- Often extends the

descriptive
approach to
suggest or explain
why or how sth. is
happening

- Typical techniques:
observation case
studies & reviews of
previous
related studies & data.

- Used to identify and

classify the elements or
characteristics of
the subject,
- E.g. number of days
lost because of industrial
action.
- Typical techniques:
quantitative (used to
collect, analyze &
summarize data)

- E.g. underlying
causes of industrial
action.
- Important
Feature: locate and
identify the
different factors
(or variables)
involved

- Aim: to speculate
intelligently on
future possibilities,
based on close
analysis of
available evidence
of cause & effect
- E.g. predicting
when and where
future industrial
action might take
place

Examples
What is your research topic?
What research approach/method will
you apply? Why?

III. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Nature: exploratory
used when we dont know what to expect, to define the
problem or develop an approach to the problem.
used to go deeper into issues of interest and explore
nuances related to the problem at hand
seeks to determine the causes of human behaviors

E.g.
life choices which result in shortened lives and unhappy
marriages
complex behaviors related to wars and other conflicts.
Qualitative research is all about getting to the root of the
problem and trying to determine what causes these kinds
of destructive behaviors.

 Tools: focus groups, in-depth interviews and

questionnaires.
The data collected using these methods are
then analyzed and studied in an attempt to
determine why people act the way they do.
The reports generated by qualitative
research may touch on abstract concepts
like metaphors, symbols and other
descriptive language.
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The Assumptions of Qualitative

Designs

Qualitative researchers are

concerned primarily with process, rather than

outcomes or products.
interested in meaning how people make sense of
their lives, experiences, and their structures of the
world.

The qualitative researcher is the primary

instrument for data collection and analysis.
Data are mediated through this human
instrument, rather than through inventories,
questionnaires, or machines.

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 Qualitative research
involves fieldwork (The researcher physically goes to
the people, setting, site, or institution to observe or
record behavior in its natural setting)
is descriptive (The researcher is interested in
process, meaning, and understanding gained through
words or pictures)

The process of qualitative research is inductive

(The researcher builds abstractions, concepts,
hypotheses, and theories from details)
(Merriam (1988) & Creswell (1994)

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Reasons AGAINST the use of qualitative

research
Too subjective & susceptible to human error
and bias in data collection & interpretation
Non-probability sampling
Smaller sample size involved (compared to
quantitative methods)
Nonprojectability of the results to a broader,
target population

Reasons FOR the use of qualitative

research

IV. QUANTITATIVE
conclusive in its purpose as it tries to quantify
the problem and understand how prevalent it
is by looking for projectable results to a larger
population.
is focused on hard facts and figures and with
data which can be objectively analyzed and
quantified
Aim: to use mathematical models in an
attempt to provide real data, with numbers
that can be crunched and results that can be
verified
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QUANTITATIVE vs. QUALITATIVE

RESEARCH
Quantitative
- Emphasizes on collecting
and analysing numerical
data;
- Concentrates on
measuring the scale,
range, frequency etc. of
phenomena.
- Harder to design initially,
but usually highly detailed
and structured and results
can be easily collated and
presented statistically

Qualitative
- More subjective in nature
- Involves examining and
reflecting on the less
tangible aspects of a
research subject, e.g.
values, attitudes,
perceptions
- Easier to start, but often
difficult to interpret and
present the findings; the
findings can also be
challenged more easily

BA-Research Methods

V. EXAMPLES

Investigation into
poverty in a rural area

Qualitative
approach

Quantitative
approach

The study may rely on focus

groups, interviews and other
techniques to determine the main
factors that cause those
households to be impoverished

A quantitative study may report

on the number of Village A
households who are living below
the poverty line

The study may identify factors:

educational level, intelligence,
race and gender in an effort to
determine why those workers are
earning substandard wages

The study may report the number

of workers whose incomes are
more than a third below the
average for their communities
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Some reminders
Dont be tempted to only run a couple of
focus groups or an online survey and feel
you know everything.
A combination of qualitative and
quantitative research techniques will give
you in-depth insight and a solid foundation
for decision making.
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DEBATE: Qualitative & Qualitative

approach to research

LHD-BRM-S6

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Predispositions of Quantitative and

Qualitative Modes of Inquiry
Quantitative Mode Assumptions

Social facts have an objective reality

Primacy of method

Variables can be identified and relationships

measured

Etic (outside's point of view)

Purpose

Generalizability

Prediction

Causal explanations
Approach

Begins with hypotheses and theories

Manipulation and control

Uses formal instruments

Experimentation

Deductive

Component analysis

Seeks consensus, the norm

Reduces data to numerical indices

Abstract language in write-up

Researcher Role

Detachment and impartiality

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Objective portrayal

Qualitative Mode Assumptions

Reality is socially constructed

Primacy of subject matter

Variables are complex, interwoven and

difficult to measure

Emic (insider's point of view)

Purpose

Contextualization

Interpretation

Understanding actors' perspectives

Approach

Ends with hypotheses and grounded theory

Emergence and portrayal

Researcher as instrument

Naturalistic

Inductive

Searches for patterns

Seeks pluralism, complexity

Makes minor use of numerical indices

Descriptive write-up
Researcher Role

Personal involvement and partiality

Empathic understanding
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Contrasting Positivist and Naturalist

Axioms (Beliefs and Assumptions)
Axioms About

Positivist Paradigm
(Quantitative)

Naturalist Paradigm
(Qualitative)

The relationship of
the knower to the
known

Knower and known are

independent, a dualism.

Knower and known are

interactive, inseparable.

The possibility of
generalization

Time-and context-free,
generalisations (nomothetic
statements) are possible.

Only time-and contextbound working hypotheses

(idiographic statements) are
possible.

The possibility of
causal linkages

There are real causes,

temporally precedent to or
simultaneously with their
effects.

All entities are in a state of

mutual simultaneous
shaping, so that it is
impossible to distinguish
causes from effects.

The role of values

Inquiry is value-free

Inquiry is value-bound

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.....Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: 19
Sage Publications.

Research with who?

Research with Subjects
(Quantitative)
1. What do I know about a problem
that will allow me to formulate
and test a hypothesis?
2. What concepts can I use to test
this hypothesis?
3. How can I operationally define
these concepts?
4. What scientific theory can
explain the data?
5. How can I interpret the results
and report them in the language
of my colleagues?

Research with Informants

(Qualitative)
1. What do my informants know
about their culture that I can
discover?
2. What concepts do my
informants use to classify their
experiences?
3. How do my informants define
these concepts?
4. What folk theory do my
informants use to explain their
experience?
5. How can I translate the cultural
knowledge of my informants into
a cultural description my
colleagues will understand?

Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Fort Worth, TX:

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.

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VI. IN SUMMARY
Although some social science researchers (Lincoln &
Guba, 1985; Schwandt, 1989) perceive qualitative and
quantitative approaches as incompatible, others (Patton,
1990; Reichardt & Cook, 1979) believe that the skilled
researcher can successfully combine approaches.
The argument usually becomes muddled because
one party argues from the underlying philosophical nature of each
paradigm, and the other focuses on the apparent compatibility of
the research methods, enjoying the rewards of both numbers and
words.
the positivist and the interpretivist paradigms rest on different
assumptions about the nature of the world, they require different
instruments and procedures to find the type of data desired
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VI. IN SUMMARY
This does not mean, however, that the positivist
never uses interviews nor that the interpretivist
never uses a survey. They may, but such methods
are supplementary, not dominant....
Different approaches allow us to know and
understand different things about the world....
Nonetheless, people tend to adhere to the
methodology that is most consonant with their
socialized worldview.
(Glesne, C., & Peshkin, A. (1992). Becoming qualitative researchers: An

introduction. White Plains, NY: Longman. P.9)

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VI. IN SUMMARY
The qualitative/quantitative debate is a nondebate.
Each functions within different assumptions.
Finding fault with one approach with the
standards of another does little to promote
understanding.
Each approach should be judged on its
theoretical basis.
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References
Creswell, J. W. (1994). Research design: Qualitative &
quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Glesne, C., & Peshkin, A. (1992). Becoming qualitative
researchers: An introduction. White Plains, NY: Longman. P.9)
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry.
Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Marshall, C., & Rossman, G. (1980). Designing qualitative
research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case study research in education: A
qualitative approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Spradley, J. P. (1979). The ethnographic interview. Fort Worth,
TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers.
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Thank you.
Be always inspired &
interested in doing
your research.
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