The Pros And Cons Of Quantitative Research

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For performance of a research, its methodology must be clear to the researchers. A clear methodology indicates the methods or techniques to be used as well as their relevance for the study. In choosing an appropriate methodology Guba& Lincoln (1994, pg. 105) argue, “Questions of method should be secondary to questions of paradigm”. The issue is one of choosing the most appropriate research method to achieve stated research objectives. Keeping this view a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods has been used. By application of both methods in this study, it was intended that the disadvantages of pure quantitative and qualitative research could be minimized.
4.1 Research Approach:
4.1.1 Quantitative versus Qualitative Research Approach
Quantitative research, what Evered& Louis (1991, p11) referred to as “inquiry from outside, is characterized by the researcher’s detachment from the organizational setting under study”, the premise being that the phenomena under study is separate from, unrelated to, independent of, and unaffected by the researcher”. In quantitative research Guba and Lincoln (1994, p108) argue that a “real” world is assumed and “how things are” and “how things really work” can be objectively determined.
In contrast, qualitative research as described by Evered& Louis (1991, p1) is “inquiry from the inside” is premised upon an appreciation that “the researcher can best come to know the reality of a situation by being there, by being immersed in the