This week’s
theme was quantitative research. It involved reading the paper Physical activity, stress, andself-reported upper respiratory tract infection (Fondell et al., 2010),
selecting a paper where quantitative methodologies were used in a good way, discussing and critically reflecting on quantitative methodologies, their
benefits and limitations.
I believe
that the seminar exercise, where we had to develop a model and show the
relationship between the researched phenomena, was helpful in my understanding
that in quantitative papers, researchers usually look for patterns and relationships between phenomena.
The benefit of quantitative methodologies is that researchers are able to collect statistical data and thus test and prove their hypotheses. If data do not prove the hypothesis, then researchers might be led to interesting insights. The limitations of quantitative methodologies concern the reliability and validity of the data and the results and thus the conclusions of the studies. Another limitation could be the inability to generalize results. Further research is usually necessary.
Similarly,
qualitative methodologies have both benefits and limitations. Researchers might
argue for the use of either qualitative or quantitative methods, but after the
readings and the discussions of this week I realized that all methodologies
have their limitations. Taken this into account, the researchers evaluate the
methodologies and chose the one that they think is appropriate for the specific
topic. During the week I was wondering if a combination of quantitative and
qualitative methodologies would be provide richer results and better insights.
Having
worked with online questionnaires enabled me to understand how demanding a
procedure it is to design a questionnaire, formulate the right questions, send
it out to a representative sample, getting a good response rate, using the right
tools to understand, analyze and interpret the results. Based on my previous
work experience and on discussions about quantitative methodologies during this
week, I came to the following conclusions:
An
important factor of statistical and online surveys is the design of
questionnaires and how questions are formulated. During the lecture we
discussed that questions should be carefully structured and that the
questionnaires should be tested in order to avoid misunderstandings and
mistakes that could affect the data and the results.
During this
week, I confirmed my prior thoughts that it is difficult to generalize results
of a survey. At the seminar we discussed the problem of generalizing results
because the number of participants was considered to be small and because
studies were conducted in specific contexts. Finding a representative sample is
a demanding procedure. And in most of the selected papers, we concluded that further
research is needed and/or that the study should be replicated in different
communities.
Simon
discusses in his blog post, and I agree with him, that interpreting the results
involves statistical knowledge. Interpreting statistical data and explaining
results in the right way is certainly not an easy procedure. It demands
specific knowledge and use of specific programs. I think that weighing data is
an important factor of reliability and validity of results.
During the
seminar, we also discussed the importance of researchers thoroughly explaining
their methodologies. Not only is it important for the peer review process, but
this way readers can also critically reflect on the study and its results.
Plus, future research can use the same methodologies in different environments
and test the hypotheses in different contexts. This might lead to the generalization
of results.
To conclude, I believe that all methodologies have benefits, as well as limitations. I don't think that there is one right methodology. I would rather say that choosing the right methodology depends on the focus of the researched subject.
REFERENCES
Fondell, E., Lagerros, Y. T., Sundberg, C. J., Lekander, M., Bälter, O., Rothman, K., & Bälter, K. (2010). Physical activity, stress, and self-reported upper respiratory tract infection. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 43(2), 272-279.
Kim, J. and Haridakis, P. M. (2009), The Role of Internet User Characteristics and Motives in Explaining Three Dimensions of Internet Addiction. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14: 988–1015. doi: 10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01478.x
