I am intrinsically drawn to qualitative data. I feel like it is much more illustrative of the situation. I also struggle sometimes with how to best express the measure of this kind of data. How to quantify it, if you will. It feels sometimes like it could go a bunch of different directions and I'm not really sure how to be sure which ones are 'right.' Like when someone tells a great story about how they never once got lost on their vacation and tries to convince you it's an indicator of their great sense of direction...but you know it was because their travel buddy actually had the good sense of direction.
On the surface it seems like quantitative data is much more straightforward in terms of data analysis. Although having studied statistics and number manipulation at some point in college, I"m not all too firm about this stance either.
Ultimately when working with my own data, I prefer to use qualitative data, but when being presented with data I prefer qualitative because then I can do my own analysis and draw my own conclusions.
For my first paper I'm stuck using quantitative data, because I'm working solely with ex post facto data. In future research projects I would like to use a mix. I definitely want and need to be able to ask students to self report using open ended questions. I plan on asking students to describe the reasons why they like or don't like to read. I also want to ask them to elaborate on their levels of reading engagement. This first time I have to assume this based on data, and I want to be able to get it directly from the students the next time. Next time I will be performing a mixed methods project.
TAGS: 790, Qualitative, Quantitative, HW
On the surface it seems like quantitative data is much more straightforward in terms of data analysis. Although having studied statistics and number manipulation at some point in college, I"m not all too firm about this stance either.
Ultimately when working with my own data, I prefer to use qualitative data, but when being presented with data I prefer qualitative because then I can do my own analysis and draw my own conclusions.
For my first paper I'm stuck using quantitative data, because I'm working solely with ex post facto data. In future research projects I would like to use a mix. I definitely want and need to be able to ask students to self report using open ended questions. I plan on asking students to describe the reasons why they like or don't like to read. I also want to ask them to elaborate on their levels of reading engagement. This first time I have to assume this based on data, and I want to be able to get it directly from the students the next time. Next time I will be performing a mixed methods project.
TAGS: 790, Qualitative, Quantitative, HW