The aim of this essay is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of combining the two methodologies, qualitative and quantitative, when designing research in relation to the study of drug use
What are the strengths and weaknesses of combining quantitative and qualitative methodologies when designing research? Relate your answer to the study of drug use in particular.
The aim of this essay is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of combining the two methodologies, qualitative and quantitative, when designing research in relation to the study of drug use.
Qualitative methods of research and data focus more on the context and integrity of the material and produce research findings that are not arrived at by statistical summary or analysis. The methods used in qualitative research include participant observation, intense interviewing and focus groups which provide researchers with in depth information, unlike quantitative method. Quantitative refers to studies whose findings are mainly the product of statistical summary and analysis. In criminological research the quantitative research methods used are generally surveys and questionnaires. The rise of drug use in recent decades has prompted more research into this area using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies not only to attempt to evaluate the extent of drug use in individual areas but also to seek to understand the reasons behind it. A great number of researchers are more frequently using a mixed method research design now to try and increase the credibility of their findings.
Individually each method has both strengths and weaknesses to consider when designing research, however when both are combined researchers can focus more on the strengths of the research. The quantitative analysis of research can compliment the findings of qualitative methods by adding words to numbers and vice versa as it allows the findings to be viewed from two different perspective's using two different data sources. It can also assist researches by helping to indicate the extent to which the findings can be applied to the overall population that is being studied, for example drug users. By using a questionnaire on drug use the findings from the questionnaire can be used to support what was found in an in-depth study of an individual who uses drugs.
Aside from supporting or confirming findings of qualitative research, quantitative analysis can also disconfirm any apparently significant data found. Qualitative data may suggest for example, that people take drugs for a certain reason but by using quantitative methods researchers can disconfirm the idea more easily than if using a single method design. Confirming and disconfirming the significance of research findings is made easier in a mixed method design as two different, almost opposite, data sources are used which increases the validity of a study or research and their findings. This is vital when researching sensitive topics such as drug use as people may not be one hundred percent truthful when answering questionnaires but also because studies of individuals are hard to generalise to a wider population due simply to individual difference such as circumstances.
Quantitative methods can not explain why things happen or why people do certain things that they do but by combining it with qualitative methods which assist with the understanding of these an overall 'picture' can be achieved of a research topic. Using the research topic of drug use to help explain, quantitative data can aid researches in determining an estimated number or percentage of how many drug users there are in an area or population, what drugs are most commonly used or even who are more commonly users in terms of demographic information. On the other hand, qualitative ...
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Quantitative methods can not explain why things happen or why people do certain things that they do but by combining it with qualitative methods which assist with the understanding of these an overall 'picture' can be achieved of a research topic. Using the research topic of drug use to help explain, quantitative data can aid researches in determining an estimated number or percentage of how many drug users there are in an area or population, what drugs are most commonly used or even who are more commonly users in terms of demographic information. On the other hand, qualitative methods, such as interviews, allow a researcher to really understand the reasons why the individual at least, uses drugs or why they use a particular type. Qualitative is useful in helping to rehabilitate users but by combining the two an overview of who in the population is most likely to use drugs can be obtained and then counter measures can be used to attempt to deter those most likely before they have even started to use in the form of anti-drugs campaigns.
The development of the research is also a major strength to using the mixed methods design. This involves using one approach to develop an instrument to be used in the other, i.e. using quantitative methods to develop a qualitative instrument, e.g. a survey, and vice versa. Quantitative surveys are useful in determining the interview guide of a qualitative survey as its results can highlight sensitive issues that people are not comfortable with answering questions about, thus allowing the researcher to adjust their qualitative survey to take this into account and touch on the particularly sensitive areas more carefully than they perhaps normally would. In relation to drug use this is particularly important as making the individual being studied feel comfortable and easing them into the more personal and sensitive areas is key to gaining truthful and detailed information. If the individual feels uncomfortable and believes the questions are intrusive they may not even wish to participate any longer and withdraw from the study. This idea also works in the other direction, with qualitative research findings being used to help determine the design of a quantitative survey questionnaire. Quantitative survey questionnaires are often sent out via the postal service or increasingly more commonly over the internet via email, however theses type of survey questionnaires have a low response rate and therefore the sample of completed questionnaires researchers will receive back are likely to be representative of only one particular group or type of people in the population. By using qualitative research to help design the quantitative questionnaires the response rate can be improved to some degree. Again in terms of sensitive issues such as drug use the collaboration of quantitative and qualitative methodologies is imperative when designing a quantitative questionnaire as the qualitative research can accentuate sensitive issues that need to be addressed and recognised when designing the questionnaire. If questions appear to personal or irrelevant people may not complete them and not send them back to the researcher but by using relevant findings from qualitative data this problem can be minimised and partially overcome.
Qualitative methods are also used to pre-test quantitative survey questionnaires for many of the same reasons stated in the last point as they allow researches to evaluate the questionnaires strengths and weaknesses. This therefore allows the researchers to modify the questionnaire by eliminating the weaker points or at least improve them and accentuate the strengths of the questionnaire.
Using the two methods in union can also lead to the creation of new lines of thinking by the emergence of fresh perspectives and contradictions. When looking at the issue of drug use and studying it, using the mixed method design may produce research findings that lead the researcher to a completely new idea or way of thinking, which may prompt further research into the same subject, drug use, but from a new angle or focusing on a different aspect to the use of drugs. It can also contradict previous findings from single method research studies and again prompt more research into the subject, or contradict the researchers own ideas allowing them to eliminate one idea and concentrate on another. Supporting a researchers ideas and the passed findings from other studies can also give more credibility to those previous studies which may have used only a single method design.
The mixed method design does however have weaknesses to its collaborating of the two methodologies. One of is being able to pose the right research question. Normally when dealing with only quantitative or qualitative it is simply a 'how many or who?' or 'why' but when combining the two methodologies it becomes double-barrelled as for example, 'how many and why?' . This complicates the research as instead of concentrating on one simple area the double-barrelling of a question opens up many other questions and possible answers. This complicating of the subject may result in a researcher concentrating on way area more than another therefore neglecting one side of the question and possibly hindering the research process, results and overall reliability of the entire study.
Due to the design being more complicated the whole process can be very time consuming and therefore expensive. Having two sets of data and two different research methods result in the overall planning taking a lot longer than with a single method design. This is because many more issues have to be addressed and the 'pitfalls' for both qualitative and quantitative research designs have to be avoided as much as possible which can only be done by careful and thorough planning. The carrying out of the research also takes more time and needs more researchers to be completed efficiently. Analysing the results is also not only time consuming as there is a lot of information to go through but also very difficult and complicated. The results from both methods have to be analysed separately and then jointly which takes more time to do so. The mixed method design is also more expensive and needs many more researchers to help complete the research, whether more researchers are used so it is completed quicker or the time it takes to complete is longer so less researches are needed, it all ends up costing more which can deter researchers from using such a method.
Developing strategies for comparing and evaluating different data and for reconciling contradictions can also cause problems when combining qualitative and quantitative methods as they are two separate and very different approaches to research. This is because, as noted before, using two different designs doesn't consist of simply combining the two into one study, it means that a researcher almost has to conduct two individual studies and then combine the data at the end. This is due to the methods needing to be planned separately, evaluated separately and sometimes needing two individual researchers, one to concentrate on qualitative the other on quantitative. This leads on to the final weakness that is to be identified in this essay, and that is the one concerned with the researcher and their knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. If there is only one primary researcher the weakness in the research can be a result of the researcher's knowledge of the two methods. If a researcher has a greater familiarity with or specialises in either quantitative or qualitative, then the other method which is not as familiar may not be completed to the same standard and may then hinder the results creating a bias to one method over the other. The best way to combat this problem is by having two researches, one specialising in each method, therefore any biasness should in theory be counterbalanced making the partnership of the two methods successful.
In conclusion each method is successful to some degree on its own but combining qualitative, which allow a researcher to develop an overall picture of the subject under investigation, and quantitative, which can be more appropriate to asses behaviour, is a more reliable indication of what is being studied than if one method was used without the other. Although there are weaknesses that have to be acknowledged and taken into account if designing research using a mixed method design, many of these can be overcome if the right resources are available. Consequently the benefits for the research outweigh the drawbacks making the combination of qualitative and quantitative data a successful one.
References
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