Research Methodolgy - Essay Example

Knowing the manner of data collection readers would be able to evaluate the validity as well as reliability of the results, and the conclusions which were drawn from them. A method of a certain research depends on the type of research conduction and approaches used in the study. The study can be Quantitative type or a Qualitative Research. Quantitative methodologies assume that collected data are measurable, or if they are not, it is necessary to design an experiment or computer simulation in a way that respective measurements can be taken.

Once the measurements are done, the problem is to fit (in a broad sense) the data adequately. Derived dependencies are then interpreted in the context of the initial problem formulation with a possible test of the hypothesis about the nature of the data and the errors in the measurements. In qualitative methods, the interest is centered on the qualitative characteristics of the phenomenon. Rather than trying to quantify every detail, these methods try to grasp the Quantitative and qualitative methods are relatively distinctive in the emphasis they position on each (Stake, 1995).

For quantitative inquiries, argumentation is based on a demonstration of the phenomenon as a fixed set of variables. There, systematic statistical or further functional relations between the factors or variables. Meanwhile, in qualitative researches, argumentation is with reference on a description of the research observation units fairly than on approximation of some degree of number of variables. The purpose of quantitative research is simply to elucidate observed phenomena; to provide the capacity to predict as well as to control examined concepts.

As a result, these concepts call for quantification. The proceeding pages present summaries and criticisms of the two selected research topics (one quantitative and the other one is the qualitative research), as well as the