The Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

However, others would disagree with Boster's claim. Instead, they would state that the use of strictly empirical methods may indeed provide a valid glimpse of a given phenomena, but this glimpse is a very tiny slice of the phenomena with none of the contextual detail that is part and parcel of the phenomena occurring in the real-life setting. Therefore it is validity with little meaning and less practical utility.

In fact, the foregoing point was made by Hayhow and Stewart (475-493) who pointed out that in order to produce truly valid findings in research, what is needed is not strictly empirical methods, but findings that are rich in detail, nuances, and context. Only in this way, can a holistically valid observation be made because phenomena exist within a contextual framework.

In brief, the foregoing differences in perspective about research methods that do or do not yield valid data symbolizes what has become know as "the classic qualitative vs. qua

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ier to derive meaning (both practical and conceptual) from qualitative research than it is from the very small and narrowly defined examination of the phenomena that quantitative research provides. Another argument in favor of qualitative research, according to Siegle (1) is that qualitative methods are more valid because quantitative methods study phenomena in artificial laboratory conditions; these conditions themselves influence and affect the phenomena (e.g., subjects who lie, poorly designed questionnaires, etc.). The result of this artificiality is that it produces little more than findings that are methodological artifacts. However, when out in the real-world conducting research, the phenomena is unrestricted in its occurrences and thereby provides the research with not only an observation of it but also an observation of the general framework within which it really occurs. On the other hand, Bostrom (275-294) states that advocates of quantitative research hold that the problem with qualitative research is that it is fundamentally subjective while empirical methods are objective. The findings of empirical studies do not depend on what the researcher thinks or supposes or desires to occur; rather, the findings are co
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