Theme 4: Reflection

In my previous post on the topic regarding Quantitative research I was not detailed enough regarding its true essence, pros and cons and did not make an adequate comparison between it and the qualitative one.

After the lecture and the example we have been discussing on it – Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality, I am now feeling more confident in structuring an answer.

Quantitative research focuses on numerical measurements (statistics) and amounts, seeking a general description in order to prove a hypothesis.

However, it is not the numbers that are considered as the final result of the study but the researcher’s way of building up a theory or reaching to certain conclusion based on these numbers. 
When he/she does not reach a statistical significant result, however, this does not mean that the opposite of the formed hypothesis is wrong or right. It means that there is a need of a new experiment to be conducted.

The whole process is easy to be reproduced by other researches that can use its empirical data and even try to prove new hypotheses.

The researcher needs to avoid personal involvement on the subject matter as reality is being analysed in numbers and the result is defined by the argument that one develops based on the numerical measurements.

One way of starting a quantitative method is to form a hypothesis as a starting point and then picking up the right participants for the study (the whole analysing process needs to be preplanned in advance prior to the start of the actual project). It includes design process in it as well by the way it is structured.

What the lecture made clear is how the quantitative method is based on design decisions. Every stage of it needs to be strictly preplanned in order for one to reach his originally formed hypothesis. This can all be consistently followed when analysing the Virtual Body Experiment. 

In the reading I consider the observed method as a controlled experiment by manipulating certain variables.

It is a research that tests experimentally and is based on an already existing theory about the virtual body ownership (one having the illusion that a rubber hand is his as a used example in the lecture).

The project uses as a basis and is designed around the question whether one reacts differently on the body ownership illusion and how does that influence people’s behavior? The participants that take part in the experiment are unaware of its actual aim, in order for more objective results to be reached.

The design questions consist also around the choice of tools that are to be used which in this case is the djembe drum (a choice which is dependent on the cultural background of the participants) plus the making of avatar with which the involved participants need to associate with.

When analysing quantitative and qualitative methods I felt that sometimes it would be inevitable not to mix them both because ‘the best answer frequently results from using a combination’ of the two methods as they ‘are suited in answering certain types of questions but not appropriate to answering other types’. (Thomas; 2003: 7) Both concepts can perfectly complement each other and help one to reach his research goal. 

Qualitative research uses an interpretative approach to its subject matter. It is subjective and in contrast to the quantitative, it tries to resolve what something is instead of focusing on the question “how much/many”. The researcher himself is seen as a tool in the process of the study and he/she can be in direct contact with the subject of interest and not just observe it from aside. The main purpose I define in those types of methods is the development of ideas and theories about the human experience instead of specific quantities based on a groups/samples of people. It focuses on collecting data and analyses that are not quantative so the final result is more of a descriptive type rather than a proof.  

Used sources:

1. Thomas, Murray (2003); Blending Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods in Theses and Dissertations; Corwin Press