Methods Comparison Paper
For a long time, there has been a debate among our society regarding the differences
between and advantages of qualitative and quantitative methods. Although, it is not necessary to
conclude which of these approaches can be described as the better one. It is important to have a
thorough understanding of these methods and how they both provide significant information to
psychology. Both methods have their own strengths and weaknesses to them so it is key to know
when one is more helpful to figure out the information you are trying to conclude.
The quantitative research method have many pros and cons to it. Some strengths of the
quantitative method are that findings can be generalised if selection process is well-designed and
sample is representative of study population. Two more strengths would be that is somewhat
easy to analyze and the data from it can be very consistent, particular and reliable. The
quantitative method is used to form general laws of behavior and experience throughout different
settings or contexts. This research is used to test a theory and essentially support or reject it. For
example, statistics help us turn quantitative data into useful information to help us make
decisions which could in turn be a good thing. However, there are also cons to using quantitative
data such as it could be difficult to understand context of a certain event. Furthermore, data may
not be strong enough to explain complex issues. Quantitative experiments also do not take place
in a natural setting which means they don’t let the participants explain their choices. With this, it
could be a con because this type of research isn’t based off our natural or real life experience.
They mostly focus on getting statistics and the correct answers no matter what the outcome is.
Although, quantitative data has there cons they also have positives in using it.
Qualitative differs because unlike quantitative research it doesn’t focus on numbers or
statistics. Some strengths in the qualitative approach is that it complements and refines
quantitative data, it provides more detailed information to explain complex issues. In addition, it
also has multiple methods ...
