What Constitutes Valid Research? Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research

Issue title: Research and Development

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Reswick, James B.¹

Note: [1] Reprint with permission from Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, 1994, Volume 31, Number 2.

Abstract: Research is scientific when the methods used are replicable and the data produced are valid. The most significant distinction in research methodology relates to the extent to which research employs quantitative or qualitative methods. Quantitative research is proposed as being primarily deductive in nature while qualitative research is inductive. An analogy is drawn from control systems theory wherein quantitative research is like an “open-loop” system while qualitative research has the elements of a “closed-loop” feedback system. The point is made that neither methodology is necessarily more scientific than the other.

Keywords: Research, scientific research, quantitative research, qualitative research

DOI: 10.3233/TAD-1994-3403

Journal: Technology and Disability, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 255-257, 1994