Philosophies and methods in qualitative and quantitative research: Bryman’s notion

Writen by Tiyamike Kathewera

Introduction
For quite a long time researchers have been drawn to choose between two methods of conducting research which are qualitative and quantitative. These two methods denote divergent ways in which different researchers collect their data.

Research methods are techniques of gathering data and are generally dichotomised into being either quantitative or qualitative. Quantitative research on one hand is research involving the use of structured questions where the response options have been predetermined and a large number of respondents is involved. Measurement of results in this research method is supposed be objective and statistically valid. In simpler terms quantitative research method is about numbers, objectivity and hard data.

The sample size for a quantitative survey is determined by using scientific formulas to establish the size f a sample that will be needed from a given population. This is done in order to achieve findings with a competent degree of accuracy.2

Qualitative Research on the other hand is research method that involves collection, analysis, and interpretation of data by means of close observation of what people under study are doing and saying. Qualitative research refers to the meanings, concepts, definitions, characteristics, metaphors, symbols, and descriptions of things.3

The researcher is much more involved in the research process. For example, the researcher is part and parcel of a focus group discussion when the method of collecting the data is that one. There is constant interaction between the researcher and respondents. The researcher can also be part of a community which is under study so as to have first hand observation of the respondents. Owing to this fact, there is much more subjectivity on the part of the researcher in qualitative research unlike in quantitative research. Qualitative researchers also have the luxury of diverse ways of gathering collecting their information which will be discussed later on in this paper.

This paper seeks to explore philosophies and methods of collecting information underlying these two research methods with regards to Andrew Bryman’s notion that “increasingly, the terms ‘quantitative research’ and ‘qualitative research’ come to signify much more than ways of gathering data; they come to denote divergent assumptions about the nature and purpose of research in social sciences” (Bryman 1983).

The first part of the essay will try to explore and explain methods of collecting data in qualitative research method as well as those in the quantitative tradition. The second part of the discussion will involve exploration of philosophies behind the two methods with specific examples used to clarify points.
3 http://uk.geocities.com/balihar_sanghera/ipsrmehrigiulqualitativequantitativeresearch.html

The conclusion of the paper will give the author’s own stand and opinion over Bryman’s notion. It will clarify the author’s own stand on the two methods and the preferred tradition in an event of a research.

Some methods of data collection in qualitative research
There are different ways of gathering information when using qualitative method. One of the ways in which qualitative researchers collect information is through focus groups. The focus group generally tries to understand and/or explain people’s behaviour. The ideal number of people in a focus group is in most cases in the region of 6-12. This group is considered small enough to control and big enough to generate as much desired responses as possible.
Participants are usually asked to respond to general and/or specific questions. The interviewer’s main job in this type is to probe and explore the interviewees’ responses. The responses are used to identify the respondents’ perceptions, feelings and opinions on a topic under study. The main aim of this is to determine the degree to which the respondents agree on the topic. Qualitative research in this respect will highly depend on the skills and experience of the interviewer in bringing out the respondents out of their shell.

One most important thing under the focus group is that the respondents should posses similar characteristics and qualities. This provides coherence of answers with regards to the topic under study. For example, a researcher might decide to use university students who regularly read newspapers in their school library to establish what paper the students prefer over a wide range of available papers. In this case the respondents are homogeneous.

Another important thing under the focus group is that questions are usually predetermined and the order in which they are asked is also already set by the researcher. This however does not mean that the method uses a structured pattern. On most occasions the format is unstructured and in some cases semi structured. Owing to this fact the researcher often times is exposed to some responses that he/she did not expect.

Focus groups have an advantage of cutting costs because a group of people is interviewed on a particular topic on a single go than having to interview 12 people individually on different occasions. This as well is saves time of the researcher.
One notable disadvantage with focus groups is that most of the times group discussions are dominated by some few individuals. Others might also feel shy to speak in a group of people thereby giving the researcher less accurate results. For example, a mere village member might not express his thoughts in a village focus group discussion because his village chief, whom he has much respect for, is also in attendance of the discussion.

Closely related to focus group discussions is personal interview. This is another method of data collection in qualitative research. Personal interviews normally use a small sample size. The aim is to solicit views from specific respondents. The researcher has the comfort of extensive observation of nonverbal communication because only two people, the interviewer and interviewee, are involved.
Despite having each person asked questions separately, the questions administered to all the respondents are the same.

In in-depth interviews it is important that the researcher establishes rapport with the respondents so that he should extract as much information as possible even on topics that might initially be presumed sensitive or embarrassing. Achievement of this rapport will give much detail to the research and this is one of the many advantages of personal interviews.

Appearance of the interviewer as in the way he looks and dresses might be a disadvantage as this might intimidate respondents. When this happens the respondents might give inaccurate information in order to match with their preconceived perception of the interviewer. For example, people in a village might think very highly of a well and decently dressed interviewer emanating form a car to the point that they can consequently be forced to alter their responses in order to please the researcher.

Case study is also another qualitative research method. Wimmer and Dominick define a case study as a method that uses many data sources as possible to systematically investigate individuals, groups, organisations, or events. They are conducted when a researcher is trying to understand or explain a phenomenon. Case studies use different past and sometimes examples to establish a current phenomenon. For example, a researcher in Malawi might use Zain, Malawi as a case study, on their handling of the tragedy that befell them when their Blantyre offices were gutted down by fire to explain the role of public relations in organisations. The researcher will then use available information on how the company handled the crisis to determine the role public relations plays in organisations.

Case studies have an advantage of providing rich information to researchers. This is so because there are a lot of situations that the researcher makes use of in the research process.The richness in detail can be a springboard to further research.
One notable disadvantage of case studies is that they are time consuming. Often times case studies produce an enormous amount of information and it is also time consuming for the researcher to go through all the data before him in order to make representative conclusions.

Methods of data collection in quantitative research
The most common and notable method of data collection in quantitative research is through the use of experiments. An experiment is a procedure or operation carried out under controlled conditions in order to discover an unknown effect or law, to test or establish a hypothesis.

A hypothesis is a tentative assumption made in order to draw out and test an existing body of knowledge or a yet to be established body of knowledge.
With an experiment a researcher tries to learn new things about the world, an explanation of why something happens. The experiment must maintain internal and external validity or else the results will not be representative. Researchers are supposed to follow all scientific methods when conducting a research. Quantitative researchers ensure that their hypotheses are valid and testable.
The earliest stage of an experiment involves identification of a hypothesis and making predictions. After a hypothesis is formulated the research is preoccupied with identifying a sample size. This is the population that will be used for the research purpose.

After a sample size is chosen the researcher divides that population into a control group and a test group. A control group is a population that enables researchers to observe differences with the main population under study. The population under study is the test group. Choice of members in each group is supposed to be scientific to reduce chances of experimental error or bias.

The researcher should also establish the time scale and frequency of sampling. For example, a researcher trying to establish the changes that happen in swine flu patients will need to take frequent samples over a considerable amount of time.
After all the above have been done the experiment takes course. The independent variable, that variable whose happening or non-happening does not depend on another, is manipulated to observe changes in the dependent variable. Whatever is gathered during the experiment is then analysed through statistical means.
Another method of collecting information is through telephone surveys. The researcher identifies respondents in a telephone directory, for example. Choice of which people to involve results from statistical means, for example, random sampling. The questioning in the survey is static and standard. The researcher asks the respondents the same questions.

The above method follows the same pattern as internet and mail surveys. The choice of respondents therefore is also similar.

Philosophies behind qualitative research
Qualitative researchers are primarily concerned with understanding how people create meaning and interpret events that surround them (Wimmer & Dominick). In other words, qualitative research is very much harmonious with philosophy of knowledge which is known as epistemology. Epistemology assumes a separation between knowing and being.
Qualitative researchers also have an understanding of what constitutes knowledge. They argue that there are multiple realities and that each person constructs his/ her own reality or perception.5 . This is termed as constructivism. This can best be described using the example of God. Qualitative researchers will agree that everybody who believes in God will have his/her own perception of who God really is. The idea is not fixed therefore one’s own thought of God is definitely different from that of another person’s.

Qualitative research also believes that human behaviour is very much influenced by its setting. Physical setting is of much importance in the qualitative research process. This is so because people are affected by their norms, culture, schedules and traditions among other things. Subjects in qualitative research can therefore not be studied outside the context and setting in which they exist. In short, one cannot understand human behaviour outside the framework in which subjects interpret their thoughts, feelings and actions. 6

It is the belief of qualitative researchers also that the beginning of the research method starts with choice of a topic or area of study and identification of plans of generating and analysing data. They believe that successful identification of a topic coupled with a well planned research procedure helps a lot in the completion of a qualitative research study. Sometimes the research process may emerge as the researcher gains more knowledge from reviewing the literature, consulting experts, or beginning data collection.

After the research process is over, qualitative researchers believe that the write up of such should be more descriptive than abstract. This is made possible by the fact that this type of research uses words more than it does numbers. There is a detailed explanation of findings in qualitative research.

Philosophies in quantitative research
Quantitative research belongs to a positivist tradition which believes that the social world can and should be researched in the same way as natural science. This denotes applying natural scientific ways in the exploration and interpretation of the social world. Natural science is concerned with predicting the future, for example how climate change will affect future generations; controlling the future, for example, how climate change can be reduced in the next ten years; and explaining causes and effects of particular phenomenon, for example, what causes climate change and what are the effects.

Quantitative researchers believe that there is only one reality and that that reality exists outside the knower. In other words the knower and the known are independent of each other. Reality in quantitative research is concrete. Quantitative researchers believe that reality is only comprehensible through human senses. This, in other words, means that reality can only be known through one or a combination of humans’ five senses of smell, touch, hearing sight and taste. Such a proposition automatically rules out speculation as a means of comprehending reality.
Quantitative researchers advance that the relationship between the knower, researcher, and the to be known, researched, should be characterised by objectivity, thus in one way the researcher should not be an integral part of the research. Objectivity is achieved in one way by generating a hypothesis that can be tested to be either true or not.

This type of research depends on finding out what other people have already done and you consequently follow laws and theories that best inform your choice of study. It goes without saying therefore that quantitative research is concerned with confirming or rejecting a theory of theories.
Conclusion

Looking critically at the two research traditions, it appears that quantitative research generates reliable population based on generalisable data. It goes without saying that quantitative research is well suited for establishing cause and effect relationships between phenomena.

Quantitative research also sees the researcher ideally as an objective observer who neither participates in nor influences what is being studied. There is also more usage of statistics and mathematics in quantitative research.
On the contrary, qualitative research makes use of words more than it does numbers. In short qualitative research generates rich, detailed and valid data that contributes to in-depth understanding of a context.
The choice of which method to use will definitely depend on the type of the nature of the project at hand. The author therefore wholly agrees with Bryman that “increasingly, the terms ‘quantitative research’ and ‘qualitative research’ come to signify much more than ways of gathering data; they come to denote divergent assumptions about the nature and purpose of research in social sciences.”











References:
Author unknown. “The Assumptions of Qualitative Designs.” Available: http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/Qualitative/qualquan.htm. Accessed: 29/04/2009
Author Unknown. “Qualitative and quantitative research.” Available: http://uk.geocities.com/balihar_sanghera/ipsrmehrigiulqualitativequantitativeresearch.html. Accessed: 27/04/2009
Barnes J. et al (2005). “The qualitative versus quantitative debate.” Available: http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/gentrans/po2f.cfm. Accessed: 27/04/2009
Bryman, A. (1988). “Quantity and quality in social research.” London:Unwin
Creswell, J. W. (1994). “Research design: Qualitative & quantitative approaches.” Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Dominick, J. and Wimmer, R. (2006). “Mass media research: an introduction.” Belmont: California
Glesne, C., & Peshkin, A. (1992). “Becoming qualitative researchers: An introduction.” White Plains, NY: Longman
Merriam Webster online dictionary (2009). Available: http://www.Merriam-webster.com/. Accessed:19/05/2009
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Westmarland N. (2001). “The Quantitative/Qualitative Debate and Feminist Research: A Subjective View of Objectivity.” Available: http://www.qualitative-research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/974/2124. Accessed: 29/04/2009
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Barriers to entry in the Malawian Media
Written by Tiyamike Kathewera

The media in Malawi, like many other countries, is affected by a number of challenges that act as barriers to entry for aspiring entrants. Due to such barriers relatively new media houses find it very difficult to penetrate the country’s media.

This paper discusses some of the barriers to entry in the Malawian media and how they have shaped the local media over the years. Discussion will be focused on factors like regulation, high fixed costs, market power of existing firms and loyalty.

To begin with, it is important to allude to the fact that liberised Malawian media is new to the country just like democracy also is. With the advent of democracy the country had to quickly adopt a new constitution which also clearly stipulated the extent to which the media can report on a number of issues. To ensure that there is conformity to the law on the part of the media, Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA) was instituted. One of MACRA’s responsibilities is to regulate entrance of new media practitioners into the market. It is mandated to issue licences to companies wishing to join the media in the country. However, the licence fees that MACRA charges to these aspiring entrants tend to be prohibitive. For example, to operate a national radio station one has to pay a licence fee of $5,000. This charge translates to seven thousand Kwacha in the local currency. This is a prohibitive amount and it impinges on otherwise companies with brilliant ideas and bright prospects from entering the country’s media industry. The result of this becomes a media industry saturated with the elite of the country as enablers of the industry. Often times the media in such an environment serves the interests of these few privileged groups.

MACRA’s strict regulation of new media entrants has had a retrospective effect especially on the part of broadcasting in the country. To get a private broadcasting licence in Malawi is very difficult due to that fact that MACRA has to first advertise for a frequency. Apart from that there is less commitment on the part of MACRA to grant private radio broadcasting licences. It is relatively easier for community radio stations as well as religious stations to be granted broadcasting licences than the same to be granted to other private radio stations with other interests like politics. This leaves the country with seven religious radio stations, five other privately owned radio stations and a host of community radio stations. Consumers are therefore left with little choice of their preference as far as radio listenership is involved.


Another barrier to entry in the Malawian media is high fixed costs. Any form of the media be it print or electronic media requires heavy investment. This is so because operational equipment is generally priced so high. For example, it is believed that a single printing press costs a minimum 50million Kwacha. For a new newspaper willing to join the market it is relatively impossible for it to source such an amount of money to buy that very important equipment. As a result of this many promising print houses fail to establish themselves in the local media. This is not helped at all with the fact that alternative private printing houses offer services at a higher cost especially in the long run.

Fixed costs also come in the form of salaries and wages for staff. As a new media house there is no or little income to pay staff workers in the event that the company wants to roll into business. As economics suggests, there are negative returns to investment at the inception of a business as a company registers no profits. This is despite the company having to pay for its fixed costs like rent and other bills as well as wages and salaries. This again forces many determined businesses to miss out in joining the media industry in the country. As a result of this the country continues to register a fewer number of media houses. For example, for quite a long time now Malawi only has two daily newspapers.

Market power of existing firms also stands as a barrier to entry in the Malawian media. The country’s media is full of well established and stable firms that act as a threat to those wishing to join in. it is an open secret that the media strives mainly on revenue sourced from advertising. Advertisers are in most cases unwilling to place their adverts in an untested media with an uncertain audience. Advertisers are attracted to a media firm mainly because that firm has proven to have a definite audience. New firms therefore are sidelined in the process of selecting the right media in which advertisers choose to advertise in. As already articulated this strangulates the new firms because, as compared with existing firms, they are left to compete with those already existing and well established firms.

The market power of existing firms also extends to the point of loyalty on the part on consumers who are the audience. By association some consumers pledge their allegiance to a particular media house at the expense of other equally competent firms. For example, some newspaper readers prefer reading Malawi News during the weekend. When another newspaper is introduced into the market they would not bother to switch their allegiance to the new paper. In simple terms such kind of consumers will not provide audience to that new paper. This, as earlier said, has a negative connotation as advertisers only look for a media house with a larger audience. This over the past years has managed to limit the number of firms that join the media and those as well that manage to survive heat in the industry.






Reference:
MSI Africa (2006-2007). Media sustainability Index Malawi. Available: http//www.irex.org.programs/MSI_Africa/Malawi.asp. Accessed:17/05/2009

Short Story
Why I hate Jane
By Tiyamike Kathewera

Jane. That’s the name of the girl I hate most in the world. Or is the word hate too strong? Only if you knew how I feel about this girl would you change your thinking.

See, anytime, any day and everywhere I don’t want to hear that name especially if it’s the Jane I am talking about. To me she is the devil personified. Oh! You are wondering. I know. I haven’t told you what tort this girl committed.

Let’s go five years back. Jane and I used to live in the same neighbourhood. Actually she had just moved in. I was 17 at the time, she was 16. I can’t deny now, I was attracted to her. Who wouldn’t? The girl was excessively beautiful.

The first day I had a real encounter with her I was coming from football training. You know how kids in the shanty towns of our society do. “Hi!” I started, “hi” she replied. It was a low tone. “Ah, mhmh, so… you live around here right?” I asked though I already knew the answer. “You mean you don’t see me around here or what… are you serious?” she asked. Her voice was a little bit louder this time around. “Oh! Its you… I forgot…. So what’s your name?” I asked though I also already knew her name. “I have to go, my mum is waiting for me.” Before she could finish that she had already left.

My friends behind started to laugh. It was obvious. They were laughing at me. To tell the truth I was the least talented in our group when it came to issues of approaching girls. Nevertheless, it seemed I was the guy most interested in girls in that same group.

The next time I met Jane I was more composed. She laughed off my insistence that I didn’t know her name. She told me anyway. As time went on we became close and closer. She came to my place often just as I did at hers. I could tell her mum liked me, as a friend to her daughter of course. Especially that I was helping her Jane in Maths and Biology – subjects that she didn’t do well in class. Jane was in form three while I was in form four.




One day Jane came to my place. I was playing Mario. That video game kids in our time liked to play. “Can I play too?” she asked, “yes you can, here,” I gave her the pad. I watched her as she played the game, helped her when she asked me to, especially jumping over those deep holes.

As I helped her do one stunt our heads banged. Our eyes met. I didn’t doubt what I saw in them. We kissed passionately. She apologised for that but I kissed her, again. That was it. Jane was now my girlfriend. It was the envy of my friends. We promised to keep it between ourselves but who wouldn’t want his friends to know that Jane was his girlfriend.

We now started going to school together. I rarely went for training because I was spending much time with Jane. When I decided to go for training she usually escorted me. I could see my friends were jealous. I was deserting them. But don’t blame me. I was in love. I think Jane was in love too. At night I could compose poems for her. She liked them.

She was now my best friend. I could sense she was my soul mate too. There was nothing I couldn’t do for my Jane. I didn’t want her to get hurt, never.

Her mum must have noticed. Yes, that we were not just friends anymore. But I think she also approved of the relationship. There was nothing in me that she didn’t like I guess. I was intelligent, handsome, well mannered and intelligent. She always wanted the best for her Jane.

One day Jane and I decided to spend some quality time at a certain nature sanctuary. It was quiet that day, nobody around. We brought our food and drinks. It always felt good being alone with Jane away from the traumas of school and the like.

We kissed passionately as this was now common in our relationship. We were so used to it that we could even kiss in a minibus – so strange for kids our age I think. But it was just love.






She started touching me all over. I responded likewise. Before we knew it I was a virgin no more. It wasn’t her first time though. It was a wonderful experience anyway. I had no problem with my loss of virginity because I was convinced Jane was my wife, or would be my wife in the near future.

Two weeks later she called me at school. She sat on the door way of school hall. We started chatting. She asked me a question, “George, what if am pregnant?” I replied, “then I would be responsible.” That was it.

Some days or weeks later she visited me at my place. She was stunningly looking beautiful. We took a walk. She told me that she was pregnant, that she went to see a doctor. I was scared at the same time thrilled. I couldn’t take care of her of course. But she told me that her parents would. I was excited. I was going to be a father. But I also noticed that she wasn’t too happy.

Well time went on. We were out of secondary school. Just two three months before her delivery I received a letter. It was from Jane. I was always happy to receive letters from her. I started reading it. There was something strange. She didn’t address me in the normal way, “dear, honey, sweetheart.” The contents of the letter were also disturbing.

She wrote, “George, I was recently listening to some song and it said the truth sets you free. I haven’t been free for sometime. You are not responsible for the pregnancy. I tried to tell you all this while but I couldn’t. Thanks for all the love and things you did to me. I don’t think you would love me anymore. Am sorry but I guess you would find someone who loves just as you loved me. By the way, if the baby is male can I give him your name? It’s me, Jane.” She signed out.

I cried that day. All the love, the hope and affection had just gone to the drain. I thought I was loved but now you see, I was dancing with the devil all along. Now, do you see why I hate Jane that much?

The dream

By Tiyamike Kathewera

She walked the other side of the road
Engrossed in beauty untold
My nerves rattled
I had never seen such beauty before
A bold face I wore
She smiled back
Nay, her man followed behind

If wishes were horses
Poor I would have ridden
I heard the voice
It was my mother
Damn, I had been dreaming