Running Head: RESEARCH METHODOLOGIES COMPARISON

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Comparison of Research Methodologies

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Comparison of Research Methodologies

Introduction:

Research methodologies are important for human progress in different fields of life and it

is because of the research that human race is successful in developing in-depth knowledge of

different natural and physical phenomenon occurring around them. Considering one of the fields,

none other than social sciences, it is not wrong to state that research in social sciences has

enabled the human resource to study different psychological and social problem existing in the

society. Researches in the field of social work have enabled people to improve methodologies

and processes important in the field. There are two primary methodologies used for the purpose

of research in social work[ CITATION All14 \l 1033 ]. One of these methodologies is quantitative

research that is related to a structured mechanism of acquiring people’s opinion related to

phenomenon or material in study.

Various studies have been conducted inquiring about the use and importance of research

methodologies; in this regard, Rubin and Babbie (2014) has rsearched well. According to them,

quantitative research in social work includes a mechanism through which different problems

related to the field are studied by gathering and analyzing opinion of the people related to the

problems as well as the initiatives can be taken to deal with the problem. There are different

techniques that are used to get the opinions of the people in order to find and resolve the

problem; one such primary function to gather the data is questionnaire where a questionnaire is

an instrument through which opinion of the people as well as the experts related to the problem

in study is taken and put to analysis, as discussed by Rubin and Babbie (2014). Results are
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gathered from questionnaires through application of different statistical tools and software

especially built for this purpose.

“Quantitative Research studies typically attempt to formulate all or most of the

research procedures in advance and then try to adhere precisely to those

procedures with maximum objectivity as data are collected”[CITATION All14 \p 79 \l

1033 ]

One other research method, qualitative research, is a type of research in which pre-

existing literature, about certain problem or issue prevailing in the society, is used to study

different aspects of the problem as well as remedies associated with these problems. Literature

studied for this purpose can be a quantitative or a qualitative study. It is important to know

different issues prevailing in the society and the methods through which these problems can be

dealt with effectiveness. Not only that opinion of the society related to the issue is important to

find solution and an in-depth study of previous researches helps to a great deal in this regard. Not

only that, analysis of previous researches helps in getting the knowledge about the reason for

which people stand with a particular point or opinion.

“Qualitative research methods are more likely to tap the deeper meanings of

particular human experiences and generatethoerratically richer observations that

are not easily reduced to numbers”[CITATION All14 \p 79 \l 1033 ].

Knowing about bot research methodologies, it is not wrong to state here that whatever the

methd has been used; it is understaood that research in social work is important as it indulges

scientific approach to study different behavior which is important for the fact that behavioral

study contains systematic biasness. It is important that findings through observation and other
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means should base on evidence and deprive of biasness. This is for the reason that solutions for a

particular problem are dependent on these findings. Rubin and Babbie (2014) in their text

describe that scientific approach to these problems helps reduce the personal understanding error

in finding results. In addition, absence of scientific method in research leads to inaccurate

observation, overgeneralization, selective observations, Ex-post facto hypothesizing, ego

involvement in understanding and other illogical reasoning associated with the research.

Finding the importance of one research method is quite a challenging task; it depends

upon the nature of research; to prove this argument, McCormack et al (2012) gives an example

that if there is a need to conduct research related to the problems of infrastructure in Asian

countries that halt or reduce social work activities in the region; then in this case a qualitative

research may not be feasible in regard to this need especially when the research numbers related

to the topic exists in low numbers or have issues with credibility. Research conducted in United

States of America related to infrastructure will not be enough to extract results for Asian

countries. It is important that some basic research should be done within the area on which a

qualitative research is going to be initiated. This is for a fact that a study initiated in United

States of America is not valid to a considerable extent for a qualitative study going to be

conducted in Asian countries. Culture in one part of the world is different from other part of the

world and it has great effect on relevance and intensity of problem associated with an area. Take

another example; influence of government on prisoner’s right movement is different in

developed and developing countries. This is for the fact that developed countries usually have

developed system of accountability and strong civil societies as compared to developing

countries.
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Measures to reduce government’s influence suggested in the research and conducted in a

developed country will not be relevant for researches in under developed countries. According to

McCormack et al (2012), the importance of relevance of research matters is even more when it is

used for qualitative study. This due to the fact that opinions used in the research represents

cultural context of that country and not of the country in which the research is going to be

conducted. To elaborate more clearly, compare the perception of women in Muslim communities

in comparison to Christian one. The measures needed to be taken for progress of women in

Christian societies are different from that of Muslim societies.

Comparing the qualitative and quantitative research methods, McCormack et al (2012)

explains that qualitative research is dependent on different factors just like quantitative research.

A reason qualitative studies are conducted in less numbers as compared to quantitative research

is that expertise are needed to critically evaluate the studies o be used in the research where the

evaluation of resources needed for quantitative research is less important as compared to those

used in qualitative research. A primary reason for less importance of qualitative research is the

fact that quantitative research is dependent on literature previously held on the topic as well as

the fresh survey conducted to add legitimacy to the studies.

Based on the above mentioned argument that quantitative research is dependent on both

the literature review and the survey conducted on the topic for obtaining result; it has been said

that greater stress is laid on the survey conducted during the research. Qualitative research on the

other hand depends solely on the studies already conducted on the topic. Results of qualitative

research are obtained through evaluation and analysis of the studies previously conducted on the

topic. It is necessary that these researches should be relevant in greater capacity as compared to

other studies.
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McCormack et al (2012) state in their study that quantitative researches are fast paced

studies with quick results and more relevance with the society. A fact attached with the social

work is its ever changing dimension and needs. Social work requires quick adaptation with the

changing societies and that changes in the society needs to be studied as well as to be observed

closely and rapidly. According to the authors, qualitative researches conducted in 50’s and 70’s

on sexual harassment or feminist issues at workplace will not be relevant current studies

conducted on the same topic. Quantitative research will be the best approach in this regard as it

will highlight issues prevailing at the workplace for women. Another benefit includes the control

in researcher’s hand to study specific segment of an area or to measure issues attached with them

through systematic controls given in quantitative research. Adding more to the significance of

quantitative research, Venkatesh et al (2013) describes that social work often requires pin-

pointing problems associated with a particular segment of the population and quantitative

research provides that control as compared to qualitative research which is dependent on

previous work conducted on different segments of a population.

As described by Rubin et al (2014), quantitative research can easily be generalized to a

larger segment of the population through careful classification of the sample taken during the

research. A researcher has no control in qualitative research over the segment he is going to

analyze; not only that, a research finds it really difficult to make a qualitative proposal.

“The dilemma for the qualitative researcher, then, is figuring out how to put enough detail

about the plan in the proposal to enable potential funders to evaluate the proposal’s merits

while remaining true to restructred, flexible, inductive qualitative approach”[CITATION All14 \p

631 \l 1033 ].
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So, the problem related to qualitative research proposal is that researcher has no clues of the

expected results or the nature of the material of the studies he/she is going to encountered with.

In case a research is sponsored or even when it it’s not, it is difficult for the researcher to take

his/her supervisor in confidence about the expected benefits of the research as well as the

dimension the study will take as it progress.

Analyzing the given source, it has been said that quantitative research provides statistical

evidence to a problem and the solution which a sample population may think appropriate for a

problem. Qualitative study on the other hand depends on evaluation of the research and even the

study is systematic to the best possible level, the evaluations made by the researcher have great

chances to be different from evaluation made by another. Not only that, it often becomes difficult

to control openness or generalization of the study as compared to quantitative research which

provides greater control to the researcher.

Discussing the same concept with regard to the social work, it must be said here that

quantitative researches are relevant in greater extent for social work as compared to qualitative

research. Another reason for that lies in alternative solutions or results that can be obtained from

quantitative research. Qualitative research on the other hand denies that liberty because of the

preplanning already done at proposal stage. This difference of methodologies makes quantitative

studies to be more relevant and helpful for social work as compared to qualitative studies.

The discussion is not ended yet; an interesting phenomenon attached with the given

studies includes the dependence of qualitative researches on statistical data or information from

quantitative studies conducted on the same topic. Most of the qualitative researches being

conducted with relevance to the social work include added statistical figures needed to for
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legitimacy of the research. Quantitative research is more feasible for social work but it does have

some limitation that often made the other methodology more feasible.

It is known that conducting a survey involves various elements am one of the important

elements is population. Qualitative research is all about previously done literatures while the

quantitative research requires an efficient selection of population of we want our research to

remain on the right track. Population in quantitative study is important in great regard for the fact

that their opinion is on what the results will be based on. It is important that population should be

selected carefully and should be relevant to the study. A chance of irrelevant sample inclusion

exists throughout the study that contaminates the findings. It is difficult to draw conclusion from

contaminated results and thus in turn declines the credibility of the research. The need for an

authentic finding asks for proper selection of the sample. A flaw in quantitative research is that

biasness in the population often gets through without detection. Although responses are filtered

through different means at different stages of the research including the stage of application of

statistical tools, the chances of biased or irrelevant data exists and that can only be reduced to

negligible value and cannot be eradicated completely. Qualitative analysis on the other hand is

based on critical evaluation and comparison of different argument related to the topic. This

critical evaluation has more chances to detect biasness or irrelevance existing in the data.

Qualitative research provides a chance to study a topic in depth and with relevance to

different perspective across the globe. Another reason includes the expenses attached with

qualitative studies which often are far less than quantitative studied. The need for flexibility in

social works add great advantage to the qualitative study and this is the reason it is more

appropriate for conducting a research as compared to qualitative research. The selection of a

method greatly depends on types of results to be explored.

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According to Rubin and Babbie (2014), an important question in study includes the

effectiveness of different methods for research purpose in the field of social work. There is no

doubt that effectiveness is attached with both these methods. The only problem is the extent or

intensity of effectiveness of these methods in different situations or studies related to the field.

The paper will study which method is more effective in different situations. It is foremost

important that research conducted in a society should be socially competent in order to reflect the

situation truly. An inherent limitation in research related to social work includes absence of

absolution. Moral, ethic, problem in a society, relevant to great extent, may not be valid in

another society.

Summing up all, both types of methodologies has advantages as well as shortcomings

when are used to conduct study on topic relevant to social work. The existence of advantages and

shortcomings makes it necessary to choose such method, which is more relevant for the study.

Quantitative method provides a systematic approach to the problem with targeted results as

compared to the qualitative research more preplanning and structured approach towards a study.

However, quantitative studies are dominant in the field of social work.

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Bibliography

McCormack, Dianne, & al, e. (2012). Getting Through Ethics: The Fit between Research Ethics

Board Assessments and Qualitative Research. Journal of Empirical Research on Human

Research Ethics 7.5, 30-36.

Rubin, A., & Babbie, E. R. (2014). Research Methodologies for Social Work . Cengage.

Venkatesh, Viswanath, & Bala, S. A. (2013). Bridging the qualitative-quantitative divide:

Guidelines for conducting mixed methods research in information systems. MIS

quarterly 37.1 , 21-54.