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Quantitative and qualitative research stem from different philosophical assumptions that shape the ways researchers approach problems and collect and analyze data. Quantitative research originated in positivism, a philosophic view
formulated in Europe in the 19th century. 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. 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.
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. It sees social reality as unique; thus,
researchers can only understand human behavior by focusing on the meanings
that events have for the people involved. You must look not only at what people
do but also at how they think and feel, and you must attempt to understand their
reality. The intended result of a qualitative research study is a narrative report so
rich and comprehensive that you can understand the social reality experienced
by the participants. 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.
Historically, the quantitative approach has dominated education research. In
the late 20th century, however, scholars began to call for an alternative to the
quantitative approach in educational research (Guba & Lincoln, 1988). They
believed that using quantitative methods in highly controlled settings ignored
the participants’ perspectives and experiences. Qualitative research was the
alternative. 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. Pring (2004) wrote, “The distinctions within the
so-called paradigms are often as signifi cant as the distinctions between them”
(p. 48). A new methodology in which the same study uses both quantitative and
qualitative approaches is called mixed methods research. The end result of
mixed methods research is fi ndings that may be more dependable and provide
a more complete explanation of the research problem than either method alone
could provide. All of these approaches are discussed in greater detail in later
chapters.
As an example, assume you want to know the impact of a newly instituted dress
code in an inner-city high school. Depending on exactly what you want to fi nd
out, you might choose either a quantitative or a qualitative approach alone or a
mixed methods approach. In a quantitative study, you could measure subsequent
attendance, frequency of violations of the code, and/or the number of school
suspensions for failure to comply. You might administer a survey that assesses
students’ attitudes toward the new policy or one that asks teachers about the
policy’s effect on the incidence of disciplinary problems in the school. Numerical
data would be gathered and analyzed. In a qualitative study, you might observe