Comparison of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods

Comparison of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods NAME: LUCKY AMADI DISCUSS QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS. INTRODUCTION. What is Research? Research is an inquiry to describe, explain, predict and control the observed development. Research helps to acquire knowledge about a particular thing it is done to understand. It can also be seen as the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Research methods are often divided into two main types: Qualitative Research methods Quantitative Research methods Qualitative Method of Research. Qualitative research which is also called Field research is done to gain a deep understanding of a specific organisation or event rather than the surface description.it is aimed at getting a better understanding through first experience, truthful reports and quotation of actual conversations, also aims to know how participants derive meaning from their surroundings and how their meaning influences their behaviour. Qualitative research makes use of observation as a data collection method; this is the selection and recording of behaviours of people in their environment, observation is useful for generating in-depth descriptions of organisations or events, for obtaining information that is otherwise inaccessible, and for conducting research when other methods are inadequate. The context or background of behaviour is included in observations of both people and their environment. Stages in Participatory Observation Selection of a site and definition of problems, concepts and indicators. The problem or phenomenon of interest is first identified by the researcher; he tries to discern what will yield the greatest understanding of that problem. The researcher then identifies preliminary concepts and what data will be gathered as indicators of those concepts. The researcher chooses a strategy to move into the researcher. This involves an overt or a covert role for the researcher, issues may include how to record observations (writing notes, tape recordings, video tape) as well as ethical issues (privacy, confidentiality, etc.) Strategies include: adopting a passive role at first, learning the ropes; don’t seek data aggressively until later; be a researcher not a therapist, answer questions but don’t become closely identified with any one person until you are sure it will not cost you information in the long run, be non-persistence. Selecting people and events to observe. Primary sources also known as â€Å"key informants† of information are identified by the researcher. These people may be relied upon in the beginning to help the researcher get acculturated to the situation. The statements of key informants can be taken as evidence, even if their statements are somewhat self-serving. The researcher must also be aware of possible differences between the validity and intention of volunteered statements that are made in response to the researcher’s questions. Develop relationships with the participants. Researchers must have the trust and confidence of the informants. Researchers must speak their â€Å"language† and understand their â€Å"world†. The researcher can note the differences rather than accept one and reject the other. The researcher must determine whether certain things are not being said because of his or her role as â€Å"researcher† or whether they can use their position as â€Å"neutral outsider† to gain more information. Analysing observations. The researcher can check whether none, all or some proportion of behaviours or events occur under distinct circumstances. A preliminary model can be generated to explain the data collected. Further observations are then collected which can strengthen or weaken the researchers preliminary model. Final analysis and interpretation. Models are checked against the evidence. Advanced concepts and evidence for their support and refutation are checked. The major problem is how to present the data in a brief but meaningful form. Advantages of Qualitative research. It gives the researcher freedom to let the study unfold more naturally. The researcher gains more detailed and rich data in the form of comprehensive written descriptions or visual evidence such as photographs. It looks at the context and social meaning and how it affects individuals. Disadvantages of Qualitative research. It is time consuming. It is difficult to code data. It is not applicable to widely dispersed social settings It is difficult to control for researcher bias. Quantitative Research of Method. Quantitative research can be seen as explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analysed using mathematically based methods; this method reduces the data into numbers, the researcher helps to analyse the data with the help of statistics. The researcher knows in advance what he/she is looking for and all aspects of the study are carefully designed before the data is collected. Its objective is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories or hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. Process of Quantitative research method. Developing models, theories, and hypotheses of what the researcher expects to find. Developing instruments and methods for measuring the data. Experimental control and manipulation of variables. Collecting the data. Modelling and analysing the data. Evaluating the results. Principles of Quantitative Research. Objectivity is important. Methods and conclusions are examined by researchers for any possible bias. Researchers go to great length to ensure that they are really measuring what they claim to be measuring. External factors which might affect the result must also be controlled as it might be the other factor which produces the result. When looking at results the P value is important, P stands for probability. It measures the likelihood that a particular finding or observed difference is due to chance, P is between 0 and 1, the closer the result is to 0 the less likely it is that the observed difference is due to change, the closer the result is to 1 the greater the likelihood that the finding is due to chance and that there is no difference between the variables. Advantages of Quantitative method of research. It allows researchers to measure and analyse data. It helps to carry out test for hypotheses in experiments because of its ability to measure data using statistics. The researcher is more objective about the findings of the research. Disadvantages of Quantitative research. It doesn’t study things in a natural setting or discuss the meaning things have for different people unlike qualitative method of research. A large sample of population must be studied; the larger the sample of people researched the more statistically accurate the results will be. CONCLUSION. Each of these researches are done for a purpose just like Qualitative is done to gain understanding of a specific organisation or phenomena, Quantitative is done by analysing data with the help of statistics it has to do with numbers. Just like everything they both have their advantages and disadvantages. REFERENCES Anderson, ML and Taylor, H.F (2009) sociology. The essentials Belmont C.A Thomson Wadsworth.

Mothers and the Chinese Spirit in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club Essay

Mothers and the Chinese Spirit in Amy Tan’s The Joy Luck Club   Ã‚   The Joy Luck Club is the telling of a tale of struggle by four mothers and their four daughters trying to understand the issue of gender identity, how they each discover or lose their sense of self and what they mean to one another. Throughout the book each of the mothers works hard at teaching their daughters the virtues of Chinese wisdom while allowing the opportunities of American life. They try passing on a piece of themselves despite the great barriers that are built between the women. Each of the stories gives a wonderful glimpse into the Chinese culture and heritage that the mothers are trying to reveal to their daughters through the use of festivals, food dishes, marriage ceremonies, and the raising of children, essentially their past experiences.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Living with their traditional Chinese culture in American society, these eight Chinese-American women suffer the problems of cultural conflicts in compliance with their gender. Asian women were looked at as being "positive, subservient, compliant, quiet, delicate, exotic, romantic and easy to please" (Mulan). They are nicknamed "China dolls" or " lotus blossoms", which are sexually loaded stereotypes of Asian women. These stereotypes discriminate against women by degrading their worth as people. By men taking advantage of their obedience and submissiveness they are showing that these women are not valued and that they have no voice. Judith Butler responds to these roles by saying, "Gender is an act, a performance, a set of manipulated codes and costumes rather than a core aspect of essential identity". By the middle of this century, Chinese women had been playing this manipulative, subservient role for m... ...look like our mother. Her same eyes, her same mouth, open in surprise to see, at last, her long-cherished wish" (Tan 332). Each mother achieved her desire of implanting her Chinese spirit and wish into each American daughter. Works Cited Butler, Judith. http://www.colorado.edu. Do, Thuan Thi. Chinese-American Women in American Culture. 1992 http://www.ics.uci.edu/~tdo/ea/chinese.html. Hooks, Amy. How to Be a Girl: Problems with Feminism in "Rules of the Game" and Mulan. http://www.unc.edu/~dcderosa/STUDENTPAPERS/childrenbattles/chinaamy.html. Hsiao, Rita, et al. Screenwriters. Mulan. Director Barry Cook and Tony Bancroft. Disney 1998. http://www.unc.edu/~dcderosa/STUDENTPAPERS/childrenbattles/chinaamy.html. Scarcella, R. United States. 1990. http://www.ics.uci.edu/~tdo/ea/Chinesewomen.html. Tan, Amy. The Joy Luck Club. New York: Random House, 1989.

My Summer Narrative Essay Essay

Narrative Essay It was a hot summer day in the year 2002 when I went camping with my family in Savannah, Georgia. I will never forget this day because it’s the day I learned the lesson that if I don’t obey my parents the consequences will be large. I was only about six years old when we first pulled into the campground. Of course being a young child the first thing I noticed was this extravagant playground out near the road. When me and my sister, Natalie who was around seven at this time, saw it we both looked at each other and knew we were going to go play on that playground. We pulled into our campsite that was located near the very back of the park and our parents started unpacking everything and setting up the motorhome. They were making it obvious they wanted us out of their way. They grabbed our dolls, bikes and chalk out of the car and told us to go play. Natalie and I knew this was the perfect time to go play on the playground that we saw on our way in. It just so happened there was a playground right by our campsite as well. We came up with the perfect plan. We would tell our parents we were going to go play on the playground and trick into them into thinking we meant the one right near our campsite. In reality we planned on going to the big one near the front of the campground and not have to lie in the process. So we grabbed our bikes and asked our parents if we could ride over to the playground and play. They both said yes, so we rode off towards what we thought was the most beautiful playground we’ve ever saw. It was probably about a fifteen minute bike ride for us to get there. We dropped our bikes and ran to the playground and started playing. About a half hour passed when my sister Natalie decided she had to use the restroom. So she went around to the other side of the playground away from the road and decided to go. By this point we noticed there was this blue truck that drove past a few times while we were there. We began to get a little scared and thought maybe we should start going back to the camper. No sooner than we got back on our bikes our mom and dad came driving up with anger in their eyes. Me and Natalie knew we were about to be in some big trouble. Just as my parents got out of the car the man in the blue truck stopped and walked over. He started reprimanding my parents and told them they can’t let their kids run around without any supervision. He also said he was the manager and told my parents Natalie sed the restroom right out in the open. My parents apologized to the man and then made us apologize as well. The manager accepted our apology and told us we weren’t allowed back on that particular playground for the rest of our stay. By this point my our parents were livid and gave me and Natalie a 10 minute lecture about the dangers of them not knowing where we were and not being able to see us. They grabbed us and our bikes and we headed back to the campsite. When we got back they took all our toys and our bikes and we were told we weren’t allowed to join any of the activities the rest of the week. That week my family went swimming, horse back riding and hiking. Natalie and I didn’t get to do any of it and our siblings made sure they told us after every activity how fun it was. It was a time I’ll never forgot. It seems everything seems so much more traumatic when you are young. I learned the lesson that I should obey my parents even if I don’t necessarily want to. I’m not saying there aren’t times I don’t go against their will; but ever since that day I think to myself and analyze if the rule that I am about to break is worth the consequences I’ll have to pay if I get caught.

Pttils Assignment 1 Essay - 1687 Words

Unit 9: Understanding Inclusive Learning and Teaching in Lifelong Learning Learning outcome 1: Understanding teaching and learning strategies in lifelong learning I am a Dental Sister at Guys and St Thomas’ Hospital. I will be teaching 1st year Undergraduate Bachelor Dental Students (BDS). The 1st year BDS have to have certain criteria when enrolling on the 5 year BDS course the academic entry requirements are Biology and Chemistry A-level grade A, Mathematics A-level grade A, GCSE grade B in both English and Maths and all applicants must take UKCAT. There is also some non-academic entry requirements which include scholastic activity, community activity, general activity/interests and work shadowing/observation experience. The†¦show more content†¦It means acknowledging that students have a range of individual learning needs and are members of diverse communities. For example a student with a disabling medical condition may also have English as an additional language and be a single parent. Inclusive teaching avoids pigeonholing students into specific groups with predictable and fixed approaches to learning. If not all learning styles are covered some students may feel excluded or left out, for example if I did not identify or carry out an initial assessment to identify that TW had dyslexic my lesion plans may not support TW’s learning style/needs. TN has a disability that may need some extra support and encouragement It is vital for me to carry out an initial assessment in the induction process or when first meeting the students to discover what each student needs are. Each session should cover all styles of learning e.g. active learning, student-centre, teacher-centre, peer working, small and large group activity, independent research and the use of information communication technology. As I will be teaching on a clinical environment it will not be possible to have the use of Information Communication Technology ICT but this will be covered with the student in the classroom environment. 2.1 Analyse inclusive approaches to learning and teaching When taking an inclusive approach to learning and teaching