Sociology 2206A/B Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: External Validity, Cohort Study, Experiment
19 Oct 2013
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Quantitative research often explain a phenomenon in terms of causes and effects that are expressed in laws and principles. Quantitative researchers choose research designs that help to satisfy these three criteria. Qualitative researchers aim for different kinds of explanations. Seek to produce rich description of a person or group based on the perceptions and feelings of the people studied rather than to discover general laws and principles. Will choose a design that will produce idiographic explanations. Quantitative researchers use cause and effects to explain principles and laws. These laws are general and meant to be applied to people who are not apart of the study as well: called nomothetic approach. Three criteria that needs to be satisfied in order for explanation to be considered acceptable: Correlation: proposed cause and effect have to vary with one another time order: cause cannot precede the time effect. Quantitative researchers choose designs to satisfy these criteria"s.
