How can qualitative research methods be used to improve the quality of quantitative methods?
What will be an ideal response?
Qualitative methods play an important role in the development and improvement of the quality of quantitative methods such as survey instruments. In the initial stage, qualitative data help focus the research on particular constructs and terms. Then, after the development of a survey instrument, researchers often realize that the items on the survey may mean different things to different people. This is problematic because if questions are understood and perceived in different ways by different people (say, by people of different ethnic groups), the subsequent analysis would be an apples-to-oranges comparison. Qualitative research is therefore imperative to improve the quality of quantitative measures during the development and pilot testing process.
A range of qualitative procedures may be used in strengthening quantitative measures. These methods include focus groups, interviews, input from experts, and other approaches. For example, focus groups may be used to determine how different groups think about and approach the key construct in question. If some individuals do not feel comfortable about discussing their perspectives in a focus group, in-depth interviews may be conducted to gain additional information on sensitive issues. Thereafter, insights from the focus group sessions and interviews can be combined to develop a preliminary survey questionnaire. Then the questionnaire may be provided to a panel of experts for comments. Input from experts can be used to make any further changes to the survey instrument. In such ways, qualitative methods can be used to improve the reliability and validity of quantitative measures. Here again, because qualitative methods have the potential to draw out and synthesize the full variety of experiences from multiple different participants as well as experts, they play a useful role in developing high-quality quantitative measures.
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