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Quantitative Research Method

Decent Essays

. Choice of Research Method: Quantitative, Qualitative or Mixed?

Research methods are procedures for research that informs not only the techniques chosen for the data collection, but also informs the selection of data analysis techniques in order to deal with research questions or hypotheses. It can be distinguished as three types: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Qualitative research is a method of investigation for exploring and in-depth understanding the behaviour and process within individuals or groups and the cause of those of behaviour and process. Qualitative data is typically collected directly from the people in which data analysis is built based on an impression from particulars to general themes. Hence, researcher make interpretations of the meaning of the data with some influences from personal background, subjectivity and experiences. In contrast, a quantitative research method is based on previously defined epistemological stance based on empiricism knowledge creation. Thus, it investigates to test the hypothesis and theories by examining the relationship among variables and measurement the analytical outcomes of variables. In between qualitative and quantitative methods, mixed methods research combines qualitative and quantitative methods, techniques or data (Rao and Woolcock, 2004; Creswell, 2009).The research methods should be designed based on research questions and issues being addressed, epistemological assumptions of study and specific techniques of …show more content…

Each approach has its own strengths/advantages and weaknesses/limitations, and the choice of method depends primarily on the purpose, type of research question to be answered, setting, and time and resource constraints. However, recent literature suggests and provides a strong basis for the combination of both methods (Kanbur and Shaffer,

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