Quantitative and qualitative research stem from different philosophical assumptions that shape the ways researchers approach problems and collect and analyze data.Positivism is often considered the traditional 
scientifi c method, which involves hypothesis testing and objective data gathering to arrive at fi ndings that are systematic, generalizable, and open to replication by other investigators.For a time, the relationship between quantitative and qualitative 
researchers was somewhat adversarial, but gradually there was a trend toward 
rapprochement as researchers began to see quantitative and qualitative methodology as complementary.They 
believed that using quantitative methods in highly controlled settings ignored 
the participants' perspectives and experiences.Positivists believe that general principles or laws govern the social world as they do the physical world and that 
through objective procedures researchers can discover these principles and 
apply them to understand human behavior.The positivists, such as Francis 
Bacon (recall the anecdote in Chapter 1), stressed observation as the primary 
source of dependable knowledge.Furthermore, because researchers do not know in advance 
how naturally occurring events will unfold or what variables may be important, 
they do not begin a study with hypotheses.Quantitative research originated in positivism, a philosophic view 
formulated in Europe in the 19th century.Qualitative research is based on a different philosophical approach, which 
sees the individual and his or her world as so interconnected that essentially 
the one has no existence without the other.In 
the late 20th century, however, scholars began to call for an alternative to the 
quantitative approach in educational research (Guba & Lincoln, 1988).Historically, the quantitative approach has dominated education research.Qualitative research was the 
alternative.