You can score evaluation marks by pointing out that practical issues such as the preferences of funding bodies for quantitative data play a part, as do ethical considerations and the nature of the topic being studied.
Phrases which might help you in the essay:
Positivists emphasize the importance of representativeness, because they wish to discover general patterns and make general cause-and-effect statements about social behaviour.
For a method to be reliable, it must be replicable i.e. exactly repeatable to obtain the same results, regardless of who actually carries out the research. Reliability also means using standardised forms of measurement. A reliable method creates data that can be used to systematically re-test hypotheses about social behaviour.
Positivists favour a scientific approach emphasising the need for reliability and therefore they use structured research methods that can be repeated, such as experiments, questionnaires and structured interviews. Positivists regard participant observation and unstructured interviews as unreliable because they cannot be repeated and do not use a standardised system of measurement.
A hypothesis is an idea which the researcher guesses might be true, but which has not yet been tested against the evidence so it is a prediction of what the researcher thinks will happen e.g. Hypothesis: Pigs get fat because they eat too much food.
Correlation: If changes in one thing are matched by changes in another thing then there is said to be a correlation or relationship between the two things. However, this does not mean one causes the other. It could be that something else is affecting them for example.
Quantitative data are anything that can be expressed in statistical or number form or can be measured in some way, such as age, qualifications, income or periods of ill-health. Such data are usually presented in the form of statistical tables, graphs, pie charts and bar charts.
Qualitative data: Information concerned with the meanings and interpretations people have about some issue or event e.g. feelings on assisted suicide. Qualitative data is associated with interpretivists and is usually expressed in words. Qualitative data is usually highly valid which means it gives a true picture of the situation.
-----Despite theoretical and methodological concerns, research can be constrained by practical and ethical concerns which will inevitably influence the choice of data and methods used. For example,
-----In practice a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods are used, a process known as triangulation, which results in both statistical and written data being used. This results in the strengths of one type balancing the weakness of the other. However, funding bodies, for example the Government, often prefer, quantitative data which is easy to analyse and to confirm or put forward the policies of the day.
The nature of the topic also can influence whether the data used is quantitative or qualitative.
NOTE: This is probably one of the hardest questions you will have to answer on research methods. If you can master this essay this will really help you in your basic understanding of research methods.
GOOD LUCK!
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jennytaylor12345 (student)
