Integrating qualitative and quantitative research methods

Qualitative research has gained greater attention in medical research, but it might seem to be unscientific because qualitative and quantitative research methods are grounded in different paradigm. In this article, we introduce three major qualitative research methods frequently used in studies of patient-doctor communications: 1) in-depth interviews; 2) focus group interviews; and, 3) semi-structured interviews. Each qualitative research method has different or common advantages and disadvantages, and which methods should be used depends on the study objectives. Qualitative research and quantitative research are complementary: while quantitative research explains the prevalence or variation of an issue, qualitative research explains the reasons or processes of that prevalence or variation. Combination of the two methods enables the gathering of more comprehensive and explanatory results.

Background Qualitative research has made great strides in recent years and it now makes an important contribution to our understanding of health and illness. But there are still many practitioners, academics and researchers who are totally bemused by its principles and practices. Content In the first of a series of three articles exploring qualitative research philosophies, methodologies and methods, I attempt to unravel some of its complexities and peculiarities, in the hope that those readers new to qualitative research will study it further and consider using it in the future. This article deals with broad questions of philosophy; most especially the fundamental difference between a quantitative and qualitative worldview. Conclusions This article explores the difference between a belief in a single objective reality and multiple realities, and relates these to quantitative and qualitative research methods. It also considers the role of theory, focusing on the difference between inductive and deductive reasoning. These concepts are the basis for the second article in the series on qualitative methodologies, to appear in the next issue.

Bu çalışmada, turizm alanında yazılmış lisansüstü tezlerin bilimsel araştırma yöntemlerinde nicel
\nyöntemlerden nitel yöntemlere geçişteki paradigmatik dönüşüm incelenmiştir. Çalışma amacına
\nbağlı olarak YÖK ulusal tez merkezi veri tabanında ‘turizm ve işletme’, ‘gastronomi’, ‘rekreasyon
\nve yönetim’ ‘seyahat ve acente’, ‘turizm ve rehberlik’ anahtar kelimeleri kullanılarak tarama
\nyapılmış ve ulaşılan 107 adet tez değerlendirmeye tabi tutulmuştur. Araştırma kapsamında nitel
\nve nicel araştırma yöntemleri bir arada kullanılmış, nitel kapsamda doküman incelemesi ve nicel
\naraştırma kapsamında ise çoklu uyum analizinden faydalanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda
\npozitivist paradigmanın turizmde yazılan lisansüstü tezlerde egemen olduğu sonucuna
\nulaşılmıştır. Ayrıca, 2010 yılından itibaren yazılan tezlerde nitel yöntemlerde artış yaşandığı,
\nrekreasyon yönetimi alanındaki tezlerde ağırlıklı olarak nitel yöntemler kullanılırken, turizm
\nişletmeciliği, seyahat işletmeciliği ve turizm rehberliği ile gastronomi ve mutfak sanatları
\nalanlarında daha çok nicel ve karma yöntemlerin kullanıldığı tespit edilmiştir.

The purpose of research is to analyze research trends and methods in a total of 709 studies published in five domestic mathematics education journals issued by Korea Citation Index (KCI) for the last 10 years (2003-2013) and strands in stages of research methods among mixed methods studies. As a result, the majority of articles in the five journals used either qualitative or quantitative methods and mixed methods research was less than 10 % of the total number of studies. The majority of mixed methods was research equally mixing qualitative and quantitative methods. The mixed methods research consisted primarily of quantitative with descriptive statistics and very little qualitative with conceptual framework based on theoretical background. Our results provide not only trends of the current research methods, but also implications for various future research paradigms in mathematics education.

<div class="WordSection1"><p>I am honored for being an alumnus of KEMC, and am delighted to write this editorial for the Annals. I have, ever since done my research and taught qualitative methods, felt that clinical methods are quite akin to qualitative research. Then, why only few clinical researchers use qualitative methods? A witness to this assumption is the research published in the Annals. In this treatise, I try to identify some parallels between the two types of methods and argue for the clinicians to invest in learning qualitative research methods to practice clinical methods well.</p><p> Qualitative research is to identify and interpret issues from the perspective of participants, their experience of: illness or disability, using health service, and to appreciate the meanings they give to the behaviour, events or objects in the context of their social and cultural norms. In this type of research, the emphasis is on exploring the associations and understanding the phenomenon in its holism; and not, like in quantitative research, from an outsider’s perspective and for certain specific aspects.<sup>1</sup> It requires participants with specific characteristics, selected purposely that can best inform the research topic. More participants, identified inductively during data collection, are added to develop full and multiple perspectives about the cases.<sup>2</sup></p><p> No preset data collection tool is used, instead qualitative researcher guided by a research question acts as an instrument, since the line of enquiry he changes during data collection as new understanding is gained and/or the situation changes.<sup>3</sup> The data for research is derived from the observation, interviews or verbal interactions, focus group discussions, document reviews, life histories etc. and the researcher asks why, how and under what circumstances things occur; and not just what, where and when. It is recorded in words or pictures and log book is used to record notes arising from interviews, observations, extracts from documents etc.</p><p> In health care settings patients are the subjects for clinical methods. The clinician, even prior to any verbal communication, observes the patient, e.g. for his gait and appearance. If in a bed or examination couch, his posture could give some clue to the illness. Inspection, a clinical method, is like systematic observation, which is qualitative method, should be holistic. In my third year during bedside teaching, Professor (late) Rashid Ahmed Qureshi said, <em>“patient has come to you as a whole and not his stomach in a tray”</em>, when a student straight went to examine abdomen of a patient with acute abdomen. History taking, another clinical method, is like conducting semi structured in depth interview – a qualitative research method. In both disciplines, we are told, <em>“not to ask leading, but follow up and probing questions”; </em>and Professor (late) Alamgir Khan, while teaching clinical methods, would add, <em>“if a good history is taken, you will establish diagnosis in over 65% of cases”. </em>Likewise, as part of history taking, documents related to patient’s illness history and treatment are reviewed similar to document review in qualitative research.</p><p> The two approaches however differ in how the data is analysed. In clinical practice, diagnosis is established based on the pathophysiological knowledge or patient’s clinical condition is discussed in clinicopathological conference.<sup>4</sup> On the other hand, qualitative research employs meaning based data analysis, whereby the qualitative data is transformed into some form of explanation, understanding or interpretation of people and situation that is investigated.<sup>5,6</sup></p><p> In conclusion, the history, the observation and the review of document related to patient are since obtainned using qualitative methods, the clinician trained in these methods could not only conduct these methods well but also interpret the data to identify and detect obstacles to the change in clinical condition and the reasons why improvement does or does not occur.<sup>7</sup> Finally, while it is heartening that research forums are organised in the institutions affiliated with KEMU, in order the research is richer, the researchers’ skills in qualitative research methods should be built.</p></div>

Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research in Cross-Cultural Psychology

Qualitative and mixed methods research in trials

This article examines how the attention which media scholarship gives to only thequantitative research method impacts on journalism practice in Nigeria. Firstly, typicalmass media texts were purposively selected and presented on a titled table. SecondlyCritical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methods were used to analyse selected texts. Thirdlye-mailing and audio recording were used to elicit comments from a reporter and aneditor. The editor and the reporter who commented wrote the stories from which theselected newspaper texts were drawn. Lastly, elicited comments were used to buttressarguments as the analysis progressed. In Nigeria journalists report news withoutimputation. Reporting news without imputations flaws news presentation. In this articleflaws in news presentation are attributed to the attention which media scholarship inNigeria gives to only the quantitative research method. The article proposes that as thequalitative research method, more so than the quantitative method, imparts better criticalskills to journalists, the qualitative method should be emphasised more in mass mediaresearch.

This paper will discuss the theoretical design considerations and the practical integration of quantitative and qualitative methods in disability and rehabilitation research, which have gained recent popularity among researchers of various disciplines. Whereas quantitative experimental and survey approaches allow researchers to draw generalizable conclusions that apply to a particular population as a whole, qualitative methods capture the depth of respondents' experiences in their own words. Qualitative methods may be used to explore new topical areas prior to implementing a population-based survey, or they may follow quantitative approaches to explain findings in greater detail. We will discuss research findings from two recent studies of rehabilitation industry professionals and people with physical disabilities to exemplify the utility of mixed-method designs in disability and rehabilitation research. The article will conclude with recommendations for rehabilitation nursing researchers to apply both qualitative and quantitative methods in their research practice.

Accreditation bodies of medical education globally value competency in research that facilitates evidence-based practice of medicine. Physician-scientists need awareness of qualitative research methods for in-depth exploration of sociocultural, gender, behavioural, emotional, and religious factors affecting health that cannot be gauged by quantitative research methods. The introduction of qualitative research at the undergraduate level can enhance understanding of local populations' unique health needs and strengthen evidence-based practice. This was a mixed-method study conducted from July to October 2021. Four journals with dedicated student's corner/student journals were hand-searched for qualitative research articles published by students, over the past five years. Quantitative data was collected at four medical colleges of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa for several qualitative research projects being conducted by students. Quantitative data was collected from the faculty of these colleges about the facilities of research departments. After analysing quantitative data, five semi-structured interviews via email were conducted about factors limiting qualitative research at medical colleges. Written responses were analysed for themes. There was not a single qualitative research article published by students in local journals in five years. Out of 39 research projects by undergraduates at four medical colleges only one was qualitative. Two themes developed from qualitative data were underdeveloped research departments and a lack of attitude toward qualitative research. There is a felt need and gap to include qualitative research objectives at the undergraduate level, but before that emphasis needs to be placed on providing infrastructure, resources, and trained faculty to facilitate implementation. It will facilitate future doctors to find answers to problems impalpable by quantitative methods.

This study aims to identify students’ creative thinking skills in solving the problem of using chitosan as a natural preservative in processed meat. This research uses mixed methods, namely a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. We used quantitative research methods to analyze the results of student’s creative thinking skills in the application of RBL-STEM, while qualitative research methods were used to analyze the learning activities and portrait phases of students’ creative thinking skills. The research respondents consisted of two classes, namely the control class and the experimental class. The control class has 25 students, and the experimental class has 30 students. We used tests, interviews, and questionnaires to collect data in this study. The results showed that the independent sample t-test on the post-test scores of the control class and the experimental class showed significant differences. This is due to the value of sig (2-tailed) is 0.000 (p=<0.05). It can be concluded that the application of the RBL learning model with the STEM approach can improve students' creative thinking skills in solving the problem of using chitosan as a natural preservative for processed meat. The rest, based on the results of observations on student learning activities, 98.25% of students in the experimental class lies in the “very active” category.

Metadiscourse marker is one of determining indicators of the quality of the writers� writing. Metadiscourse markers enable the writers to interact with the readers effectively. What commonly happens to many undergraduate students studying English as a foreign language is that they are not able to develop an engagement between themselves, their texts, and their readers. Thus, this study investigates the types of metadiscourse markers used by Unimus EFL learners in final project introduction sections, and markers that are frequently used by them in their writing. By using qualitative and quantitative research method, seven introduction sections of final project of Unimus EFL learners focusing on qualitative and qualitative research methods were chosen purposively. As result, the study revealed that in writing introduction sections, the students used various metadiscourse markers, including interactive resources (transitions, frame markers, endophoric markers, evidentials, and code glosses) and interactional resources (hedges, boosters, attitude markers, engagement markers, and self-mensions). Among those categories, interactive resources were found to be frequently used by the learners rather than interactional resources. It means that the writers tended to give attention to and guided the readers through the text by establishing their interpretations explicitly rather than involving the readers in the argument through the use of markers in interactional dimension.

This study was undertaken to explore the factors that could affect to the emotional exhaustion and turnover intention of Information Technology (IT) employees in Vietnam. This study was done through two steps including qualitative and quantitative research methods. In qualitative research method, nine information technology employees were interviewed to assess the clarity of words, the content of the questions and the ability to answer the questions of the readers. Formal quantitative research was executed by interviewing a sample collected by convenient method, using a questionaire, including 194 information technology employees in the areas of HoChiMinh city. The data was used to assess the scales and test the hypotheses. Cronbach Alpha coefficient analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), regression analysis were used in this section. The results showed some differences compared to the initial theoretical model. Only some elements in the theoretical model affect the emotional exhaustion, in which IT job demands is the factor that have the most powerful affect. Study results contribute additions to the theoretical basis of human resource management, by understanding more about the factors that have impact on the emotional exhaustion and turnover intention of information technology employees. Thereby, the results also provide additional facilities for the management of information technology enterprises so that the managers can make appropriate decisions in order to preserve the IT human resources.

The purpose of this study was to provide a comparison between the demand and supply aspects of live music performances in order to establish whether any differences exist between those aspects regarded as important by management and those critical success factors that visitors regard as important in achieving a memorable visitor experience. This research employed qualitative (supply aspect) and quantitative (demand aspect) research methods. The surveys concerning the visitors (demand) were conducted at six musical events representing diverse genres: classical, R&B, rock, blues, pop, and Afrikaans, where a total of 4,110 questionnaires were administered for all six genres. To determine the critical success factors in terms of what the visitors regarded as being important for a memorable visitor experience, a factor analysis was employed. The qualitative research method was applied by means of interviews to obtain the relevant information from the selected participants. All the data collected in the process were transcribed into text and presented in a narrative form. Creswell's six steps for data analysis and interpretation were utilized to analyze the data. Two themes were identified from the analysis; each of these was differentiated in terms of various categories and subcategories. The results from both the demand and the supply sides were compared with one another and significant differences were identified. The results of this research contribute greatly to existing literature and to the music industry as a whole, as this was the first time that research has been conducted on both the demand and the supply side. Moreover, this was also the first occasion on which both a qualitative and a quantitative research method was employed in research conducted at live music performances and where these were subsequently compared to one another.

In the current era of artificial intelligence, large language models such as ChatGPT and BARD are being increasingly used for various applications, such as language translation, text generation, and human-like conversation. The fact that these models consist of large amounts of data, including many different opinions and perspectives, could introduce the possibility of a new qualitative research approach: Due to the probabilistic character of their answers, “interviewing” these large language models could give insights into public opinions in a way that otherwise only interviews with large groups of subjects could deliver. However, it is not yet clear if qualitative content analysis research methods can be applied to interviews with these models. Evaluating the applicability of qualitative research methods to interviews with large language models could foster our understanding of their abilities and limitations. In this paper, we examine the applicability of qualitative content analysis research methods to interviews with ChatGPT in English, ChatGPT in German, and BARD in English on the relevance of computer science in K-12 education, which was used as an exemplary topic. We found that the answers produced by these models strongly depended on the provided context, and the same model could produce heavily differing results for the same questions. From these results and the insights throughout the process, we formulated guidelines for conducting and analyzing interviews with large language models. Our findings suggest that qualitative content analysis research methods can indeed be applied to interviews with large language models, but with careful consideration of contextual factors that may affect the responses produced by these models. The guidelines we provide can aid researchers and practitioners in conducting more nuanced and insightful interviews with large language models. From an overall view of our results, we generally do not recommend using interviews with large language models for research purposes, due to their highly unpredictable results. However, we suggest using these models as exploration tools for gaining different perspectives on research topics and for testing interview guidelines before conducting real-world interviews.