Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology

Flashcards on Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology

What is a key tenet of quantitative research in psychology?

Positivism, which emphasizes the belief in the scientific method and objective science to uncover the truth.

What type of logic is prominently used in quantitative methods?

Deductive logic

Who mainstreamed statistical methods in psychology at the beginning of the 20th century?

Galton and Pearson

What has allowed psychology to focus on the hypothetico-deductive method effectively?

The growth in complexity and power of quantitative methods, mainly due to the invention of computers.

What is at the top of the evidence-based hierarchy for clinical research?

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses

In quantitative research, what do methods generally use to test hypotheses?

Probabilistic causation

What statistical values does quantitative research place a huge amount of emphasis on?

Significance values (p-value) and effect sizes (d value).

What is a limitation of quantitative methods related to the 'average human'?

It is impossible to define the average human, and focusing on this ignores the nuance and individuality between people.

What does a statistical test examine when it uses a mean value?

What it believes to be the average human.

What are the key tenets of the philosophy underlying qualitative methods?

Phenomenology and positionality, along with the idea that much of the world is socially constructed.

What does qualitative research involve in data collection or analysis?

A direct human element.

What are some examples of analysis done in Qualitative research?

Thematic analysis, discourse analysis, interpretive phenomenological analysis, and ethnography.

What is a significant limitation of qualitative methods?

They involve more subjectivity, leading them to be seen as less credible sources of information and difficult to verify results with .

Why aren't the results of qualitative research fully generalizable?

Because Qualitative research tends to be very time consuming and therefore cannot be conducted on large populations.

Name one way that qualitative and quantitative research methods can coexist and complement one another.

Qualitative research can be used after quantitative research to get to the heart of issues that quantitative methods can't.