There has been much debate and controversy overthe relative values of quantitative and qualitative research in psychology.Describe the major differences between both types of research designs...

Running head: RESEARCH METHOD FOR PSYCHOLOGY 1
Research Method for Psychology
Student Name
University Name
Course
Mentor
Date
RESEARCH METHOD FOR PSYCHOLOGY 2

Research Method for Psychology
Introduction
In psychology, a carefully and well planned research has immense value. The research
should adhere to high standards of the scientific practice. A perfect research can be rarely
found and there exist no concept of a perfect research as such. However, a well-designed
research can contribute greatly to the existing evidence even if that might not have the most
reliable results. In psychological research, a combination of clinical studies and sciences of
epidemiology has greatly contributed in extending the existing knowledge in psychological
practices (Alvesson, M. A., 2000). There has always been debate upon which research
method is the best: qualitative research or quantitative research. The effectiveness of the
research method greatly depends upon the research topic and the subject (Bernard, H. R.,
1995). Both of the methods have their own merits and demerits and they must be chosen
according to the field of the study. This paper aims at describing the advantages and
disadvantage of both the methods and tells us which one suits the best in psychology
(Alvesson, M. A., 2000).
Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is nothing but an empirical investigation of social phenomenon
via mathematical, statistical and computational techniques in a systematic way. It aims at
developing and employing mathematical theories, models and/or hypothesis relating to the
phenomenon being studied. The measurement process is principal and key to quantitative
research as it tends to provide fundamental connection between observation and expression in
mathematical terms of the quantitative relationships. Quantitative data is nothing but
numerical form like percentages, statistics etc. Putting it simply, the researcher asks narrow
yet specific questions and collects data in numerical form from the participants so that he/she
can answer the questions. Then the data is analyzed using various statistics. The researchers
RESEARCH METHOD FOR PSYCHOLOGY 3

tend to give unbiased result so that he/she can generalize to a large population (Alvesson, M.
A., 2000).
Advantages and Disadvantages of Quantitative Research
Psychologists are marked for their specialized knowledge and this knowledge usually
comes from quantitative research. Quantitative research is very crucial to in the field of
clinical psychology and its development. There are mainly two advantages of quantitative
research. First, it yields new knowledge pertaining to many questions, issues and problems in
clinical psychology. Second, it determines a process of distributing high quality knowledge.
So, it has process and product aspect. Quantitative research tends to address substantive
findings as well as the process through which it was obtained and then report (Punch, K. F.,
1998).
There are few disadvantages of the quantitative research as well in psychology. The
building block of the quantitative research is the assumption that the reality exists greatly
independent of the person carrying research. It is exposed to materialization. There are many
events that quantitative research cannot capture such as social interaction among the
organizational members. Also, there are many aspects such as satisfaction, commitment and
motivation cannot be directly measured or perceived. There is always a problem of
misrepresentation and misunderstanding (Punch, K. F., 1998).
The application of the knowledge obtained is a major concern in the quantitative
research (Bernard, H. R., 1995). The research focuses on interpreting the reality and
comprehending how the events tend to relate to each other. Fundamentally, the researcher has
no objective of solving problem or making decision on what actions to take. The tasks and
goals of professionals and researchers differ. The researchers attempt to investigate what
already has happened while the professionals attempt to investigate what is yet to be
happened. This is the reason why much of the research cannot be transformed into the
RESEARCH METHOD FOR PSYCHOLOGY 4

practice and it loses on productive front. Psychology calls for the attention on many
situational events than quantitative research study will normally account for (Bernard, H. R.,
1995).
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is another way of inquiry deployed in so many academic
disciplines, conventionally social sciences but market research and other contexts. It aims at
collecting extensive and in-depth understanding of the human behavior and the governing
factor behind that. Unlike quantitative research it investigates how and why of the decision
making rather when, what, where. Qualitative research tends to produce information on only
the cases that are studied in the past and rest of the general conclusions are just propositions.
It can be very handy to seek empirical support for these research hypotheses. It employs
different...