6 Research Methodologies

Chapter 6 Objectives

  • Explain the differences between quantitative and qualitative methods.
  • Identify and describe common qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques.
  • Describe considerations necessary for choosing a research method.

Chapter 5 discussed inductive and deductive approaches to research and three goals researchers might have when conducting their research. In addition to detailing a researcher’s approach and overall goals, researchers must decide how they will collect their data. Luckily, there are many commonly used and accepted methods for data collection to choose from. The specific method a researcher chooses will depend on the research question, approach, and goals. In this chapter, we’ll discuss the difference between qualitative and quantitative methods, some commonly used data collection techniques for each method, and how to choose a particular method.

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

Broadly speaking, data collection methods can be grouped into two categories: positivist and interpretive. Positivist methods such as laboratory experiments and survey research are usually aimed at theory testing. Positivist methods employ a deductive research approach, starting with a theory and testing theoretical postulates using empirical data. In contrast, interpretive methods such as participant observation and ethnography employ an inductive, theory-building approach that starts with data and tries to derive a theory about the phenomenon of interest from the observed data.

These methods are often incorrectly equated with quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative and qualitative methods refer to the type of data being collected and strategies for analysis rather than the approach taken to collect those data. Qualitative methods involve data collection strategies that yield results such as words or pictures. Some of the most common qualitative methods in social science include field research, intensive interviews, and focus groups. After data collection, these methods require analysis strategies such as thematic coding, narrative analysis, and content analysis. Interpretive research relies heavily on qualitative data, but can sometimes include quantitative data.

Quantitative methods, on the other hand, result in data that can be represented by, and condensed into numbers. Survey research and experiments are probably the most common quantitative methods in social science, but content analysis and interviews can be conducted in a way that yields quantitative data. After data collection, quantitative methods require statistical analysis strategies. Positivist research predominantly uses quantitative data, but can also use qualitative data.

Sometimes qualitative and quantitative methods are presented or discussed in a way that suggests they are in opposition. Researchers may prefer one method over another, because their research approaches or questions are better suited to one particular approach, or because they happened to have been trained in one specific method. While qualitative methods aim to gain an in-depth understanding of a relatively small number of cases, quantitative methods offer less depth, because they typically focus on more cases. Sometimes, joint use of qualitative and quantitative data may help generate unique insight into a complex social phenomenon, so mixed-mode designs that combine qualitative and quantitative data are often highly desirable. This textbook operates from the perspective of qualitative and quantitative methods as complementary rather than competing. These two methodological approaches certainly differ, but have different goals, strengths, and weaknesses. In later chapters, we’ll further explore the goals, strengths, and weaknesses of both approaches.

Common Data Collection Techniques

There is a wide variety of methods for gathering qualitative and/or quantitative data, and a single textbook could never cover every method. Instead, this section introduces you to a few methods for collecting both types of data. Subsequent chapters will cover these methods in more detail, including discussing their strengths and weaknesses.

Qualitative Methods

Focus groups involve bringing together a small group(typically 6 to 10 people) to discuss a phenomenon of interest for an hour or two. A trained facilitator (sometimes the researcher) leads and moderates the discussion. The facilitator sets the agenda, poses questions to spark discussion, ensures that all participants provide their thoughts and experiences, and attempts to build a holistic understanding of the topic of interest through the discussion. Researchers often use focus groups for more exploratory and inductive research projects. Unlike one-on-one interviews, the focus group setting allows researchers to learn more about how people talk with others about a topic, create shared understandings of the topic, and where and how people disagree on the issues at hand. Focus groups mostly yield qualitative data such as audio recordings and notes researchers take during the discussion. They may also yield some basic quantitative data, such as demographic information on participants, but are generally used to describe the participants rather than to draw conclusions about the topic of interest.

Field research is another method of collecting qualitative data. Unlike the facilitated settings of focus groups, field research aims to understand, observe, and interact with people in their natural settings. Sometimes researchers use the terms ethnography or participant observation to refer to field research. Ethnography is a type of field research inspired by anthropology that emphasizes studying social phenomena within the context of culture. The researcher deeply immerses themselves in a particular community over an extended period (8 months to many years) during which they engage in, observe, and record the daily lives of people in the community. By contrast, participant observation is a type of field research in which the researcher studies a phenomenon of interest by observing people in an area, where the phenomenon is most likely to occur. As we’ll discuss in Chapter 10, participant observation involves a range of participating and observing.

Social scientists have used field research for inductive and deductive projects, and all three research approaches (descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory). Field research yields qualitative data such as field notes, audio recordings of interviews, and official and cultural documents.

Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

Depending on how they’re used and the study’s goals, some research methods yield qualitative and quantitative data. For example, interviews involve two or more people exchanging information through a series of questions and answers. The researcher designs questions to elicit information from interview participants on a specific topic or set of topics. Traditionally, interviews have involved an in-person meeting between the interviewer and interviewee. But as we’ll discuss later in this textbook, interviews need not be limited to two people, nor must they occur in person. Interviews operate like a conversation in which the researcher asks questions, follows up with more questions to clarify or elicit more detail on the topic, and records personal observations and comments in addition to participants’ answers. As interviews are often involved in field research, they can be useful for projects with various research approaches and goals. Further, depending on the interview format, interviews may yield qualitative data such as audio recordings, researcher observations, and responses to open-ended questions, as well as quantitative data such as answers that participants choose from a list of possible options.

Secondary data analysis is another technique that can involve qualitative and quantitative data. Secondary data analysis is when a researcher analyzes data that has been previously collected. This data may include information from government agencies such as crime statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, transcripts from federal court proceedings, data by other researchers pursuing similar or parallel research questions, or publicly available third-party data such as social media trends or newspaper reports on a particular topic. While other entities have already collected the data used in secondary data analysis, researchers can approach and analyze the data in ways similar to those they’d use if they had collected the data themselves. Because of the variety of secondary data sources available, this research method can be used for all research approaches and goals.

Quantitative Methods

Perhaps one of the most common methods for collecting quantitative data is through survey research. Survey research is a quantitative method whereby a researcher poses a set of predetermined questions to an entire group, or sample, of individuals. Survey research is especially useful when a researcher aims to describe or explain the features of a very large group(s).

In cross-sectional surveys, researchers use a single questionnaire to examine the relationship between two or more variables. In longitudinal surveys, researchers use two or more surveys administered at different times to measure changes in answers over time. For example, a researcher interested in the impacts of age on criminal behavior might survey people when they are teenagers, and then again when they are in their twenties, thirties, and forties. Researchers most often use surveys when their study has explanatory goals and requires a deductive approach. They may also use surveys to quickly gain information about their population of interest as they prepare for a more focused, in-depth study using qualitative methods. Depending on how the survey is administered, survey research yields either stacks of paper questionnaires with answers that must be entered into a computer, or large electronic files of information. In either case, researchers transform the answers into numbers and then import those numbers into statistical software for analysis.

Unlike surveys, experiments test cause-effect relationships (hypotheses) in a tightly controlled setting. Students often use the term “experiment” to describe all kinds of empirical research projects, but in social scientific research, the term has a unique meaning and should not be used to describe all research methodologies. Researchers can choose from several kinds of experimental designs. In general, designs considered to be “true experiments” contain three key features: independent and dependent variables, pre-testing and post-testing, and randomly assigned experimental and control groups. In the classic experiment, the researcher randomly assigns participants to two groups: an experimental group that is exposed to a stimulus, and a control group that is not exposed to a stimulus. The researcher measures participants before and after they’re exposed to the stimulus, to assess the effects of the stimulus on the phenomenon under study. If a researcher does not randomly assign participants to experimental and control groups, then the design becomes quasi-experimental.

Researchers can conduct experiments in an artificial or laboratory setting such as at a university (laboratory experiments) or in field settings such as in an organization where the phenomenon of interest is occurring (field experiments). For example, the Stanford Prison Experiment was a laboratory experiment, because Zimbardo created a fake prison environment in which to examine his research questions. Had he decided to observe real inmates and guards in real prisons, then the experiment would have been a field experiment.

Experiments fit well with deductive, explanatory research approaches and goals. Pre-tests and post-tests tend to yield quantitative data through a survey design and/or through systematically coded observations that researchers then quantify and analyze using statistical software.

Choosing a Research Method

Given all the considerations that go into designing and choosing a research method, which one should you choose? Researchers tend to choose the research designs that they are most comfortable with because of their skills, training, and disciplinary norms; however, ideally, the choice should depend on the nature of the research phenomenon being studied and the research question, approach, and goals. In the preliminary phases of research, when the research problem is unclear, the researcher wants to scope out the nature and extent of a certain research problem, and/or no theories appear to explain the phenomenon of interest, a focus group, field research, or interviews may be ideal because of their usefulness for inductive approaches and exploratory and descriptive goals. If the researcher finds existing, competing theories and wants to test them or integrate them into a larger theory, interviews, secondary data analysis, surveys, or experiments would be more appropriate because they fit well with deductive approaches and explanatory goals. Regardless of the specific research design chosen, researchers must consider the specific research question, their approach to the research process, and the goals of the research before choosing the method that fits best with their project.

Summary

  • Qualitative methods involve collecting data that are represented as pictures and words and analyzed using coding strategies. Quantitative methods involve numerical data analyzed using statistics. Interpretivist research usually relies on qualitative data, and positivist methods usually rely on quantitative data.
  • Common qualitative methods include focus groups and field research. Interviews and secondary data analysis can yield both qualitative and quantitative data. Common quantitative methods include survey research and experiments.
  • Researchers should choose a research method based on their research question, approach, and goals. Often, the researcher’s skills, training, and disciplinary norms influence the choice of a research method.

Key Terms

Classic Experiment Interpretive Methods Qualitative Methods
Cross-Sectional Surveys Interviews Quantitative Methods
Ethnography Laboratory Experiments Quasi-Experimental
Experiments Longitudinal Surveys Secondary Data Analysis
Field Experiments Mixed-Mode Design Survey Research
Field Research Participant Observation True Experiments
Focus Groups Positivist Methods

Discussion Questions

  1. What are the major differences between qualitative and quantitative methods? Why do you think qualitative methods are more often associated with interpretivist research and quantitative methods with positivist research?
  2. Which of the qualitative methods do you find most intriguing? Why? What about the quantitative methods or the methods that yield both types of data?
  3. Consider a research question that you’ve developed. Use the information in the last section of this chapter to select a research method that would fit best with your research question. Why did you choose that method?

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Research Methods for Criminal Justice Students Copyright © 2022 by Monica Williams, Ph.D. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.