Quant or Qual - That is THE Question!
- JoAnn Foley Markette
- Apr 11, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 4, 2022
by JoAnn Foley Markette, Ed.D.
I get it. You want to earn your doctorate, and you want to get through the process as quickly and as painlessly as possible. The fundamental question that torments the newbie doctoral student is which methodology to select: quantitative or qualitative.
Now for those who have been around the block, yes, there are other choices--just like in politics--but for the sake of this post, we're going to stick to these two basic methodological choices.
The reactions of a class of doctoral students who are asked to consider a quantitative student fall into these groups:
Pure, unadulterated fear! Eyes wide, mouth puckered, and head shaking, these poor souls had a heck of a time in their high school and college math classes and can only remember the pain of days past at the thought of statistics...no, scratch that. They can't think about it. Their minds blocked out that childhood trauma for self-preservation. Hard no!
Laughter...but not the type of satisfied chuckle from YouTube shorts of dogs donning botties for the first time but the not-on-your-life, nervous ha-ha that clearly indicates that they will not be falling for that trap.
Head-nodding with humble, yet knowing smiles of confidence. This small cadre of math teachers in the crowd have already calculated their p values and wonder in amazement at everyone else's arithmophobia.
Here is a video to (re)consider conducting a quantitative study:
APA citation:
Markette, N. & Markette., J. [Dr. Markette]. (2021, August 5). Afraid of Quantitative Research? Fear Not!! Save TIME & MONEY || Doctoral Dissertation. [Video]. https://youtu.be/ivymd_VA6ws
The reactions of a class asked to consider qualitative studies:
The fear lifts from the first group. Yes! Yes! They come back from the dark place knowing mercy flows like a river as they envision how much they will enjoy interviewing their colleagues and new acquaintances during the data collection phase. Hard yes!
Confident smiles. Interviews? Focus groups? Sure, that sounds like fun! This group tends to be the more extroverted; nothing could be easier than talking with people, they muse.
What's for lunch? Those math folks already figured out they chose quant, so they have been creating a class Excel sheet to organize the lunch orders.
Here's a video to watch if you are considering a qualitative study:
APA citation:
Markette, N. & Markette., J. [Dr. Markette]. (2021, July 20). Qualitative Research - Pros & Cons. [Video]. https://youtu.be/2Ev1asTBmF4
While no one wants to scare off newly committed doctoral students, there must be an invitation to consider this quant-qual question thoroughly. First, there is a reason that only a small fraction of the population has earned a doctorate: It is hard! There is no "easy" way!
Whether one chooses a quantitative or qualitative methodology, the process promises to stretch, push, and pull you in all sorts of directions...and it will be worth it!
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