This week's theme was an eye-opener for me. I have always put more value in quantitative research rather than qualitative research. After having read the recommended literature, and selected one paper for our pre-seminar, I realized I couldn't have been more wrong.
Indeed, during the seminar we talked about objectivity: just like in last week's theme, we're generally very quick to brandish words like "truth", "objective", "false", "subjective"… But in research, it's best not to resort to that, as we very often realize that the results we get can't help but be related to the way we've designed the study, within our certain framework, set of data, decisions and starting concepts. Why have we chosen drums, and not piano? Why white people and not black people?
In this sense, while the general preconception would be that because quantitative studies often produce results in the form of numbers (which we, as scientists, love, worship, and more specifically don't question… sadly), we think they're more "reliable", more likely to be accepted. I was in this case as well. Thankfully, the seminar and lecture changed my point of view: now that I know the design of the study is the one subjective, questionable, deniable, point, I realize that a big part of the study's reliability boils down to the skills of the researcher - might the study be quantitative or qualitative. Best would be that it's a mix of both.
In this sense, deciding to conduct a quantitative/qualitative study generally comes parallel to the design process - there are things more adapted to be quantified than others, for example character and personality traits generally would be difficult to reduce to just a few numbers. The same goes in terms of "wicked problems" : trying to quantitatively design a product to solve that problem only using measurements isn't enough, we have to go into many more aspects - and thus, controlling the outcome becomes much more hazardous. That's why we have to use a mix of quantitative and qualitative. While the standardization of the quantitative methods offers the possibility to have a uniform metric for different people, the benefits of having the possibility to vary our measurements sure show when we use a qualitative method. By doing this, we get deeper knowledge, and an interrelation between the results that quantitative and qualitative methods give us. An example that illustrates the benefits of the comparison would be conducting a qualitative method to measure the amount of candy you ate last week (do you feel you ate a lot of candy? Or little ?) then, conducting a quantitative method, and comparing results: this would shed light on our perception of quantity, on the concept of guilt, or want… But of course, it still depends on sample selection (for the quantitative method), question and test implementation… Everything that makes research interesting, captivating, and of course, complicated.
Hi! Thank you for interesting reflection! Especially I like your point that research results depends on skills of the researcher. So the design of research is somehow predetermines the result of the research. But sometimes studies conducted by different authors lead to the same results. Consequently, objectivity of results can be reached despite of subjective approach. Is this the way to find the "truth"? I think that objectivity an subjectivity is relative in terms of research methods.
ReplyDeleteHello ! Thanks for your comment :-)
DeleteI didn't think about that, it's true that comparison can also be very valuable in this case : comparing two studies that lead to the same results is one way to come one step closer to objectivity, despite the fact that our approaches are subjective. It's a very interesting idea, and I am quite disappointed we didn't get to talk more about it during the seminar ! Thanks for bringing this up!
Thank you for your well-written and crisp reflection! You succeed in guiding the reader through your text, making it easy to follow your thoughts. It is interesting that the lecture and seminar could change your perspective on objectivity and how we are often judging before assessing. Your explained the connection between the design of the study and the researcher's perception in a very understandable manner. The visualization with candy really helps to clarify your point in favor of a combination of the two methods: "this would shed light on our perception of quantity" - Well said!
ReplyDeleteHi Cèline! I like your reflection and it is nice to read that this theme changed your point of view on qualitative and quantitative research! I feel that I did not learn as much as you at all since I just wrote my bachelor thesis and we discussed these subjects in depth then, so to is nice to see that the theme was more beneficial to others.
ReplyDeleteI love your example with the candy! It is very clear and exemplifies the concepts in a great way!
I feel that objectivity and "truth" is something which has been relevant in all themes in this course so far and my understanding of these subjects improves with each week. These concepts is something I will take with me from this course. Seems like you discussed interesting things in your seminar.
Hey!
ReplyDeleteIt's great to read that this lecture made you rethink and change you point of view on this topic. It is wrong to think that the quantitative methods produce more objective data and that data is not influenced nor by the researcher nor by the participant, when it is obvious that by constructing the experiment researcher influences the outcome.
I totally agree with you when you say that the balance between the two method is necessary, extreme points of view in any case are dangerous.
A really well written reflection and an important lesson to learn that the way you ask the questions will affect the outcome. I think it's a trap that is very easy to fall into, being too eager to look at the results that you forget to look at if what you are asking are really giving the subjects to have a different opinion than what you are looking for.
ReplyDeleteI would dare say if the point mentioned above would be the only thing you take with you from this course, it would still have been worth taking it.