After Theme 4: Quantitative Research

(N.B. This is the study blog for the course Theory and Method for Media Technology. More detailed information regarding the theme as well as the course is available on the course page [1].)

For the last week we studied and discussed a lot on the two main research methodology perspectives, i.e. Quantitative and Qualitative. Although it shows that quantitative research is our theme topic, a comparison with qualitative research is very useful to help us better understand the research methodologies. This is what in particular I learned from the seminar discussion. 

During the first hour in the seminar, we are encouraged to share thoughts in small groups on the theme topic and also to discuss on advantages and disadvantages of Quantitative and Qualitative research. Some conclusions of our discussion are listed below. 

• Quantitative research is more objective while Qualitative research is more subjective. 
• Quantitative research deals with the data mores directly for trying to answer the WHAT questions, while Qualitative research is more concerned with the WHY questions. 
• So the results of Quantitative research is often clearer and easier to understand with help of analysis of the data, while Qualitative research results is more analyzed type with explanation. 
• Quantitative research studied more with obvious data, while Qualitative research is able to find something deeper behind the obvious data. 
• Quantitative research provides EVIDENCE while Qualitative research provides ANALYSIS.
• Quantitative research comes from science, while Qualitative research is more used in humanities. 

Furthermore, the seminar leader informed us that design research is always Qualitative. 

The limitation for the quantitative research determines that it is common to combine the quantitative analysis with qualitative analysis for research in practice. For example, before conducting a quantitative content analysis, qualitative analysis can be used to help define the variables; or after conducting a quantitative survey, qualitative interviews can help discover more interesting facts behind the data collected from survey.

My efforts for this theme consisted of reading the related papers and books [2][3][4][5][6], answering the questions, writing the blogs as well attending the lecture and seminar. Basically everything needed for this class is achieved. Glad to say that I got a better understanding of quantitative research after this theme, in particular how to relate it within technology domain.  

Those are all for today’s blog. Thanks for reading. Your valuable comments are welcome. Please let me know if you find anything interesting or want to have a further discussion. I am looking forward to more discussions in seminar with you all.

---

Sources:

[1] https://www.kth.se/social/course/DM2572/page/theme-4-quantitative-research-2/

[2] Aiello, L. M., Petkos, G., Martin, C., Corney, D., Papadopoulos, S., Skraba, R., ... & Jaimes, A. (2013). Sensing trending topics in Twitter. Multimedia, IEEE Transactions on, 15(6), 1268-1282.

[3] Lacey, A., & Luff, D. (2001). Qualitative data analysis (pp. 320-357). Sheffield: Trent Focus.

[4] Neuendorf, K. A. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Sage.

[5] Robertson, A., & Levin, P. (2010). Europe as Other: Difference in global media discourse. Statsvetenskaplig tidskrift, 112(1).

[6] Gray, J. H., & Densten, I. L. (1998). Integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis using latent and manifest variables. Quality and Quantity, 32(4), 419-431.