What is the success or failure between qualitative and quantitative observations and methods and what are some examples of each?

Answer 1

Both have important but distinctive uses. Quantitative Studies are used when counts are needed. For example, a study that shows differences between men and women would require counting how many people / which sex agreed/disagreed, said yes/no, etc. Or even a population /Demographics study would need numbers. For example:

Your "data" could be from surveys, interviews, or both. Of 120 people enrolled in English 101 Basic Composition, 75 were female, 25 males. Ninety-four students of the 120 classmates were aged 18-22 years old; the remainder were over 30 yo. Of the 120, only 39 lived in on-campus housing; the remainder lived with parents, spouse, or shared housing. Of males, 24 were undergrads in a technical or mathematics program. One male was an undergrad in an English Language related degree. Of females, 57 were undergrads in either Health or Teaching; the remainder were focused on English Lit degrees. Of the language degrees, 12 planned on pursuing writing careers; the remainder were undecided on a future occupation. *As you see, practically anything can be counted or measured, based on the hypothesis you intend to answer. Quantitative Studies require knowledge of math formulas, statistics, and

Qualitative Studies offer a unique opportunity to do either a Mixed Study (Qual and Quan), or Qualitative alone. You can also choose from a wide variety of methods with a Qualitative Study. An example of a qualitative study might concern the topics and topic development among Freshman students in English 101 Basic Composition writing. Perhaps you want to study how students use "personal experience" in academic compositions. In addition, you want to discover how many students use metaphors when relating author's works to their personal lives. (But, you *could* study much more, depending on the question you want to answer. Your "data" in the study are the students' mid-term writing assignment of 10 pages giving a critique of their favorite author or poet. You also use limited interviews with each student. While you do give some "numbers" in your results, you focus mainly on the types of metaphors and personal stories the students tell in their writing. If you use an autoethnographical method, you could even relate the students' data to something in your own life.

As to supposed success vs. failure, it is NOT specifically that QUAN and QUAL are competing. Success vs Failure depends more on:

• choosing which type (Qual, Quan) best suits your study
• choosing which methods are most appropriate for the type of study
• choosing the best ways to elicit the data (survey, interview, observing, or combination) and relating the data well in your results
• if QUAN, your methods and process must be much more rigorous; if there are 120 students, but numbers total 122 students, the process was flawed
• Both must be thorough
• Both must be rigorous
• Both must relate to your Lit Review

Observations are used much more in QUAN, but can be used in a QUAL study. For example, in a QUAL, you might study how much and when teens swear at each other. You could use a survey, interview, and unobtrusive observation (for either type ). It's your methods and how you deal with the data that help validate your findings. If you don't show validation in the methods you used, you could receive a lower grade even if you did most of it right. A reader must be able to see/visualize what you did, what you conclude from what you saw, how you relate it to your hypothesis. For example, in studying 15 teens, all used racial slurs toward other teens, even friends. The researcher found literature of prior studies and relates her observations of this "mini story" or microcosm she observed. She isn't focused as much on numbers but what happened, why, what it might mean in a larger society, etc.