Skills for doc res 2

Research Methodology Characteristics Qualitative studies o Approach is inductive o Used when an area is under -researched o Used when depth of understanding (e.g., meaning or experience) or when theory generation is important o Data analysis can be very complex ( requires analysis of a large quantity of text data) — software packages manage data but are not used to do data analysis Quantitative studies o Approach is deductive o Used when an area has been studied and initial relationships among variables are posited o Use d to understand more complex relationships among variables o Used when assessing cause and effect is important o Large population -based studies o May be easier when a large amount of data needs to be synthesized Mixed methods studies o Used to combine the best o f both qualitative and quantitative approaches o Very popular when doing formative research in an area that leads to development of instruments or interventions that can then be tested quantitatively o Reporting demographic statistics for a qualitative study does not make it a mixed methods study