Quantitative and Qualitative
Quantitative research methods were originally developed in the natural sciences to study natural phenomena. However examples of quantitative methods now well accepted in the social sciences and education include:
- surveys.
- laboratory experiments.
- formal methods such as econometrics.
- numerical methods such as mathematical modelling.
Qualitative research methods were developed in the social sciences to enable researchers to study social and cultural phenomenon. Examples of qualitative methods include:
- action research aims to contribute both to the practical concerns of people in an immediate problematic situation and to the goals of social science by joint collaboration within a mutually acceptable ethical framework;
- case study research - a case study is an empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context;
- ethnography- the ethnographer immerses her/himself in the life of people s/he studies and seeks to place the phenomena studied in its social and cultural context.
http://www.edu.plymouth.ac.uk/resined/Quantitative/quanthme.htm
