Qualitative research cannot be extrapolated to a Target Population. Period. Only quantitative research with specific design structures can be statistically extrapolated from sample findings to the Target Population as a whole.
Research is generally divided into qualitative methods and quantitative methods. A single research study may include both types of research. Qualitative and quantitative research have different purposes.
Qualitative research typically digs deep to understand the nuance the why or how of a research participant’s attitudes or behaviours. Qualitative research methods include unstructured interviews, ethnographics, focus groups and more.
Quantitative research, on the other hand, is typically intended to measure incidence, correlation, causation. Quantitative research methods may include surveys, evaluation of records, large scale observation, meta-analyses, and more.
While quantitative research is often designed such that the sample findings may be mathematically extrapolated to a larger target population, qualitative research findings can only speak to the findings of the study participants. MORE1 MORE2
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Real World Example
Math Homework Can End Up Doing More Harm Than Good, Study Shows
MEDIA ARTICLE Science Alert, April 6, 2024 | ACADEMIC ARTICLE
The media headline certainly caught my attention. I believe there is value in people having a good grounding in mathematics and I am interested in how we can better educate children in mathematics.
The media headline is based on an academic study of:
- 8 families
- with a child in grade 3
- that were selected from a larger ethnographic study of homework in which a parent had, unprompted, mentioned math “as a subject that wasn’t liked, and that involved too much extra work.”
You don’t have to be a research methodologist to know that the findings from 8 families should never become a media headline like “Math Homework Can End Up Doing More Harm Than Good”. Especially when those 8 families were selected because a parent had, a priori, made negative comments about their child’s mathematics homework.
Academic research should inform public policy and help society do better. I ask myself, does the media have a responsibility to be more precise in its headlines to avoid misleading the public?