Analysis concepts and methods

¶ … activity of companies or of individuals. Research can be conducted for a variety of purposes, from individual ones to market study and customer behavior. Research projects use qualitative or quantitative data collection methods, but trends in this field reveal the fact that numerous researchers prefer to mix qualitative and quantitative methods.

Qualitative research is usually preferred when studying human behavior and its factors of influence, market research and others. Qualitative research focuses on identifying why and how certain phenomena are produced. This type of research is applied on smaller samples that are more representative for the studied problem (Silverman, 2004). The data collection methods used in qualitative research include: grounded theory practice, ethnography, and others. The data collecting using these techniques is then analyzed with the help of interpretive techniques, coding, recursive abstraction, mechanical techniques, and others.

Quantitative research is used when studying properties of certain phenomena and the relationships established between them. The disadvantage of quantitative research is that it cannot produce general aspects, given the fact that it provides information on the subject studied in each case.

As one may observe, both qualitative and quantitative methods have their limitations. In addition to this, the complexity of the problems that need to be studied have determined the necessity of mixing qualitative and quantitative research methods. Although the theory regarding this aspect seems to provide solutions to a series of problems, the practice of applying mixed research methods raises a series of issues.

The main explanation for using a combined model of qualitative and quantitative research is represented by the fact that qualitative information can support and explain the meaning of quantitative research (Jones, 1997). There are numerous reasons for which some researchers choose to use a combined research method. These reasons can be attributed to the advantages of each of the two combined methods. For example, qualitative research permits the research team to create a general image of the problem under research, which can be useful in determining the hypotheses of the research. Quantitative analysis is more likely to address behavioral aspects and to determine the representativeness of sample groups used in qualitative research.

There are several approaches used by researchers that prefer to combine the two methods, like triangulation, complementarity, conceptual development, expansion, and others. Triangulation consists in the fact that it is more useful to address several methods intends to study the same problem, because these ensures that findings are verified, and aspects that have not been resolved by one of the methods are identified. Complementarity consists in the fact that several methods are used in researching the same research question because the findings of one method can be supported by the findings of other methods.

In the case of conceptual development, qualitative and quantitative research methods are used in a sequential manner, in order to identify the relationships between the ideas in the research project (IDRC, 2010). Expansion refers to the fact that a combination of methods is likely to increase the scope and the number of aspects addressed by the research project.

There are several reasons that determine some of the researchers to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The limitations and disadvantages of each method explain the mix of methods intended to focus on the advantages of these methods. The combination of research methods increases the accuracy of the research project's results. It also allows to address a larger area that can be used in the research project.