Dear all,
I am doing a single case study in my thesis and am struggling if my approach is scientifically and methodologically explained in a correct way
It consists of a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative and quantitative elements in the research.
- qualitative I am doing expert interviews and use a contentwise structured analysis such as described by Kuckartz and Mayring --> this should be fine
- quantitative I am not sure if my approach counts as truly quantitative research method. I received internal documents such as process data for single projects as well as an encompassing excel file containing all the projects as a base --> my approach would be to analyse the figures described in the files on an encompassing level and on a project level both (some complementary examples). Quantitative in this context means to make analysis with the existing figures in the documents / excel files. Does this count as a "document-analysis" in a quantitative way? Is this methodologically reliable? And is my approach in general as a mixed method correct if I do as described?
Let me know if you have any hint regarding my issue please.
Thanks.
Regards,
Frank
I am not sure about what your version of "quantitative analysis" entails. Uncder most circumstances, such analysis involves the data analysis of variables measured on an interval/parametric or ordinal/ranked scale. Quantitative variables can be acquired from both surveys and behavioral measurements. Are you performing such measurements? If not, you need to look carefully at your analysis method.
Dear Frank Duemmler ,
I think your document analysis would count as a quantitative approach if it is objective (i.e. not based on personal interpretation) and creates categorical or numerical data. In this case you would be able to describe your overall approach as mixed methods.
Your analysis will be quantitative as long as it consist of collecting and analyzing numerical data. If you have collected or accessed a numerical data which you can use for detecting trends, patterns, correlations, make predictions. Since, your objective is '' to analyze the figures described in the files on an encompassing level'', of course you can make a quantitative descriptive research based on available data.
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