1. Qualitative vs Quantitative Research By Adelaide Collins Maori Development Research Centre

2. A Paradigm is … Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) A methodological model of scientific inquiry:  what is to be observed and scrutinized,  the kind of questions that are supposed to be asked and probed for answers in relation to this subject,  how these questions are to be put,  how the results of scientific investigations should be interpreted.

3. A Paradigm is … Redefined in social science research and given an epistemological meaning … the set of beliefs, values and experiences that affect the way an individual perceives reality

4. What is to be observed  Quantities  Scales  Trends QuantitativeQualitative  Qualities  Behaviour  Complexities

5. Type of Questions Asked  How many?  What? QuantitativeQualitative  Why?  How?

6. How the questions are put (Methods)  Application Forms  Questionnaires  IQ Tests  Measurements QuantitativeQualitative  Document Review  Participant Observation  Interviews  Focus Groups  Workshops

7. How the results are interpreted (analysis)  Describe, measure, predict  Statistical tables and charts  Universal: applicable to all QuantitativeQualitative  Explore, explain, understand  Narrative  Particular: applicable to particular people or circumstances

8. How the results are interpreted (analysis)  Mainly deductive reasoning: everything is known before conclusions can be drawn  Deductive inquiry: gather data to test a theory or hypothesis QuantitativeQualitative  Mainly inductive reasoning: conclusions can be drawn from the evidence no matter how incomplete  Inductive inquiry: develop a theory from the data gathered

9. Positions on the nature of reality  Positivist: that which is observable and measurable is real  Absolute truth: facts, statements are either true or false QuantitativeQualitative  Constructivist: reality is socially constructed  Relativism: truth is relative to the person’s or group’s beliefs and values or to the circumstances in which it is applied

10. Positions on the nature of reality  Assumes that access to information is a right  Objective: an object occupies space, can be observed and the research is unaffected by personal emotion or prejudice QuantitativeQualitative  Assumes that access to information is a negotiated privilege  Subjective: reality seen through the lens of personal emotion and bias