QUALITATIVE VS QUANTITATIVE

1. Assumptions

1.1. • Social facts have an objective reality • Primacy of method • Variables can be identified and relationships measured • Etic (outside's point of view)

2. Researcher Role

2.1. • Detachment and impartiality • Objective portrayal

3. Purpose

3.1. • Generalizability • Prediction • Causal explanations

4. Approach

4.1. • Begins with hypotheses and theories • Manipulation and control • Uses formal instruments • Experimentation • Deductive • Component analysis • Seeks consensus, the norm • Reduces data to numerical indices • Abstract language in write-up

5. Purpose

5.1. • Contextualization • Interpretation • Understanding actors' perspectives

6. Assumptions

6.1. • Reality is socially constructed • Primacy of subject matter • Variables are complex, interwoven, and difficult to measure • Emic (insider's point of view)

7. Aproach

7.1. • Ends with hypotheses and grounded theory • Emergence and portrayal • Researcher as instrument • Naturalistic • Inductive • Searches for patterns • Seeks pluralism, complexity • Makes minor use of numerical indices • Descriptive write-up

8. Researcher Role

8.1. • Personal involvement and partiality • Empathic understanding