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ERIC Number: EJ741594
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 10
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-189X
EISSN: N/A
What Good Is Polarizing Research into Qualitative and Quantitative?
Ercikan, Kadriye; Roth, Wolff-Michael
Educational Researcher, v35 n5 p14-23 Jun-Jul 2006
In education research, a polar distinction is frequently made to describe and produce different kinds of research: "quantitative" versus "qualitative." In this article, the authors argue against that polarization and the associated polarization of the "subjective" and the "objective," and they question the attribution of generalizability to only one of the poles. The purpose of the article is twofold: (a) to demonstrate that this polarization is not meaningful or productive for education research, and (b) to propose an integrated approach to education research inquiry. The authors sketch how such integration might occur by adopting a continuum instead of a dichotomy of generalizability. They then consider how that continuum might be related to the types of research questions asked, and they argue that the questions asked should determine the modes of inquiry that are used to answer them. (Contains 4 figures and 1 note.)
American Educational Research Association. 1230 17th St. NW, Washington, DC 20036-3078. Tel: 202-223-9485; Fax: 202-775-1824; e-mail: subscriptions@aera.net; Web site: http://www.aera.net.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A