Blog #6

Biases in the choice of Research Method

 As a researcher, I will rely on a combination of research methods, that being quantitative and qualitative. I will explore quantitative research methods because it generates precise yet, generalized findings. However, I will mostly employ the qualitative research method, because it is known to emphasize deeper meaning of the human experience. With personal interviews and observations, the qualitative method will produce the best results for me inquiring of a certain group perspective about their own experience of homelessness. It is important to recognize the biases in the choice of the research method, because it will allow you to provide more accurate information to your audiences. What could determine the use of a particular research method for me will most like be explanatory/ opposed to exploratory. Early in our Essential Research Methods for Social Work textbook was an example given, if a researcher set out to explore why homeless people refuse to sleep in a shelter. Well, if your ultimate aim is to explain this phenomenon, then it would explanatory. But if your goal is to merely gain familiarity with the phenomenon and generate possible explanations or insights that can be tested out more carefully and later in an explanatory study, then at this point, your purpose is exploratory. I had to read that section twice to get it understood, but I now understand the difference. Just as research methods can be used in a combination; one will more than likely lead the focus, but both practices should be explained separately.