Qualitative Research: An Introduction to Methods and Designs

Summary

Although there are several sources of knowledge for understanding our surroundings, research-based information developed through disciplined inquiry is a more trusted source. A quantitative research approach, on the one hand, is often used to study both physical and social phenomena, with current forms of quantitative research having advanced beyond earlier frameworks. Qualitative research, on the other hand, examines social settings from insiders' perspectives and generates descriptions and analyses of contexts, rather than applying numbers, to derive meaning.

Qualitative and quantitative research are guided by distinctly different views about how knowledge is defined and discovered; qualitative researchers see meaning as socially constructed, ...