What struck me this week was that I
thought I already had knowledge about quantitative and qualitative methods but
I learned that there was a lot more to the topic than I thought. I’ve used both
quantitative and qualitative methods before when doing research and writing
papers. Therefor I knew what the methods meant but to really think and reflect
about it gave me a deeper understanding. By having a greater knowledge I think
it will be easier to determine which method is the best suited and how to use
it in the future. I think one of the most important parts when writing an
academic paper is to motivate your choices because then you really show you
know what you’re doing. That’s what I'll take with me from this week, how to
motivate your choice of method.
I’ve always in some way considered that qualitative methods were better than quantitative. Since I value a deeper understanding I’ve considered a focus group or an interview to be better than a questionnaire. But after this week I’ve realized that the two methods don’t need to interfere with each other. I believe by using both quantitative and qualitative methods correctly it can bring an academic value to the article. Booth methods have their strengths; quantitative methods are great to get a broader input since you involve more people in the research but if not exceeded properly the number of participants won’t matter.
When I wrote my bachelor thesis last year I used a questionnaire to gather a lot of shallow data from many people. Then I used this data to get an overview of opinions and to find relevant people to do a deeper interview with. During the process I considered the second part (the qualitative method) to be more important. Now I’ve realized that without the first part (the quantitative method) my thesis probably wouldn’t have been as good. I learned a lot this week that I think I will have use of in the future. I’m starting to look forward to write my master thesis now when I’m getting a greater understanding for the importance of your choices and the different parts that lead to the final conclusion.
Hej Cim! I liked your example you used to describe how to choose between quanitative and qualitative methods. Lucky you that (as you said) did the right thing without any greater knowledge in the topic. Sometimes you have to jump in at the deep end to make your own experience. I'm glad it turned out to be positive for you. However from what I learned in the seminars, e.g. that qualitative research is used to generate new knowledge, I'm wondering how your results would have been turned out if you had started first with the interview and then tested your hypotheses with the questionnaire. What is your opinion?
SvaraRaderaIn my case I was lucky, I don't think I would have gotten the as good results as I did if I had done it the other way around. My idea was to get some knowledge of the test persons' habits through the questionnaire and then get deeper understanding of people with appropriate habits and their usage during the interviews.
SvaraRaderaI do believe it could have been a good experience making a mistake as well since than I would have gotten a greater knowledge about quantitative and qualitative methods right away rather than now almost almost a year later.