Chapter 3:

The nature of
quantitative and
qualitative research
CHAPTER GUIDE
focuses on the two main research approaches to management
and business research and outlines the logic and key features
of both:
• Quantitative research
• Qualitative research
• some criticisms of quantitative and of qualitative research
• the main contrasts and similarities between qualitative and
quantitative research
THE NATURE OF QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
• involves the collection of numerical data
• regards the relationship between theory and research as
deductive
• has a bias towards a natural science approach (and towards
positivism in particular)
• proposes an objectivist idea of social and business reality
The main steps in quantitative research

(p. 49)
 Concepts and their measurement
• Concepts are labels that we give to elements in the field we
research that seem to have common features and that strike
us as significant
• Once measured, concepts can be in the form of independent
or dependent variables
• Why measure?
• Measurement allows researchers to quantify fine differences in
magnitude relating to the concept in question
• Measurement gives us a consistent yardstick or device to make
these distinctions and gauge differences
• Measurement provides the basis to make more precise estimates of
the extent of relationship between concepts
Indicators

Indicators are used to gauge concepts that are

more abstract and less quantifiable directly

Based on common-sense understandings of the

forms the concept takes or on anecdotal or
qualitative evidence relating to that concept
Using multiple-indicator measures

A multiple-indicator measure of
a concept should be used when
there are potential problems
with a reliance on just a single
indicator
Criteria in quantitative research
Reliability
Stability
Internal reliability
Inter-rater reliability
(p. 54)
Validity

Validity Face validity

Concurrent validity
Predictive validity
Construct validity
Convergent validity
Discriminant validity
The connection between reliability and validity:

If the measure is not stable and fluctuates over time, it cannot

provide a valid measure of the concept it is supposed to be related to
and may be measuring different things on different occasions

If a measure lacks internal reliability, it means that a multiple-

indicator measure cannot be valid, as it actually is measuring two or
more different ideas

If there is a lack of inter-observer consistency, it means that

observers do not agree on the meaning of what they are observing,
which in turn implies that the measure being used is not valid
The main preoccupations of
quantitative researchers
• Measurement
• Causality
• Generalization
• Replication
THE NATURE OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
• emphasize words, rather than quantification in the collection and
analysis of data
• emphasize how people interpret their social world, rather than
following positivism and the practices and norms of the natural
scientific model
• view social reality as both constantly shifting and emergent, as people
interpreted it
• Four further features:
1. inductive view
2. epistemological position described as interpretivist
3. ontological position described as constructionist
4. emphasis on naturalism
The main steps in qualitative research

(p. 59)
• The following are examples of some qualitative research
designs you may choose from:
• Ethnography
• Phenomenological designs
• Grounded theory
• Case study research
• There are several methods to collect qualitative data:
• Direct observation
• Participant observation
• Qualitative interviews
• Surveys
• Focus groups
• Language-based methods
• Content analysis
• The researcher then analyzes and interprets the data in
order to identify answers to the research question(s) and
possibly generate theories. Specific techniques include:
• Coding
• narrative analysis
• content analysis
Theory and research
• Qualitative researchers prefer to treat theory as emerging out
of the collection and analysis of data, rather than collecting
and analyzing data to test theory
• Qualitative data analysis involves using your research
questions to guide the process rather than imposing
preconceived ideas on the data
Concepts in qualitative research
• Blumer (1954) differentiated between the ‘definitive’
concepts found in quantitative research and the ‘sensitizing’
concepts of qualitative research
• Researchers frequently start out with a broad outline of a
concept, which is revised and narrowed during the course of
data collection.
• Subsequent researchers may take up and revise the concept
and use it in different organizational contexts or in relation to
different research questions
Criteria in qualitative research
• Reliability and validity→
• External reliability
• Internal reliability
• Internal validity
• External validity
• Alternative criteria for evaluating qualitative research:
• Trustworthiness
• Credibility
• Transferability
• Dependability
• Confirmability
Qualitative research criteria issues

Researchers treat their

They strengthen those
accounts as one of a number
accounts by using tactics like
of possible representations,
thick descriptions,
rather than as a definitive
respondent validation and
version of social reality
triangulation
typically
The main preoccupations of qualitative
researchers
Viewing events and the social world through the eyes of the
people being studied by probing beneath surface appearances
Providing a detailed description about what is going on

Describing how processes, events and patterns develop, unfold,

interconnect, change and remain in flux over time
Retaining a loosely structured and flexible approach

Formulating concepts and theories inductively from the data that

is collected
RESEARCHER– PARTICIPANT
RELATIONSHIPS
• Action research criticized criticized:
• for concentrating too much on organizational action at the expense
of research findings
• it cannot be repeated and consequently lacks academic and
research rigour
• From a feminist point of view, qualitative research:
• allows women’s voices to be heard
• can reduce exploitation
• does not treat women as objects to be controlled by the
researcher’s technical procedures
• Post-colonial and indigenous research:
• construct alternative approaches to knowledge production, in the
form of indigenous research methodologies, using methods that
enable the voices of colonized peoples to be heard
• Jack and Westwood (2006) use ideas from post-colonialism to
argue that even researchers committed to qualitative
methods have been slow to acknowledge the political nature
of research in reflecting the researcher’s interests and values
EVALUATING THE QUANTITATIVE AND
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH APPROACHES

1. There are differences 2. It is a useful way of

between quantitative organizing research
and qualitative research methods and
in terms of research approaches to data
approach. analysis
Criticisms of quantitative research
• Failure to distinguish people and social institutions from the
natural world
• False sense of precision from the measurement process
• Missing the connection between research and everyday life
• A static view of social life
Criticisms of qualitative research
• It is too subjective.
• It is difficult to replicate.
• It has to deal with the issue of generalizability.
• It often lacks transparency
BREAKING DOWN THE QUANTITATIVE/
QUALITATIVE DIVIDE

(p. 72)
Some common contrasts
between quantitative
and qualitative research

(p. 72)
Similarities between quantitative &
qualitative research
Both concerned with data reduction
Both answer research questions
Both relate their findings and data analysis to the research literature
Both are concerned with explaining variation and their underlying reasons.
Both treat frequency as a springboard for analysis
Both seek to ensure that deliberate distortion does not occur
Both argue for the importance of transparency
Both must address the question of error