Hi.

I use several methods. Here are some:

1. I expose them to research questions that cannot be answered adequately by using quantitative tools (e.g., What is the experience of...? What does the process entail? How do the participants understand phenomenon X?, etc.). I also have them find a quantitative tool (i.e., questionnaire) that they favor, and demonstrate the areas that it does not cover (i.e., the richness of the experience under investigation).

2. Early on, I expose them to the different paradigms and their logic (I have them experience social construction and subjective meanings via an exercise wherein I show identical stimuli to two students but construct their meaning differently).

3. Early on I teach them the hermeneutic circle, and have them experience the cyclic process of understanding and re-understanding. I also demonstrate in various how parts and whole give meaning to each other (e.g., how the word "positive" changes it's meaning in "Are you positive" and "O positive" and "positive symptoms" and five other examples).

4. I also let them ponder several quotations that challenge their views (e.g., Nietszsche, Rorty, Geertz). For instance: "When we aggregate people, treating diversity as error variance, in search of what is common to all, we often learn about what is true of no one in particular" (Josselson, 1995, p. 32 "imagining the real")

Good luck.

Celso Pagatpatan, Jr., I appreciate your "problem". I have also experienced it - and I was sensitive to it because I have an inherent bias toward quantitative methods that I needed to guard against.

One of the most effective ways of getting the pendulum to swing toward qualitative research was to expose my students to journal articles containing good qualitative research, and asking the students to consider whether the insights gained from that research could have been gained from quantitative research. I used qualitative research articles taken from their own disciplines.

I think it's also important to realise the interplay between qualitative and quantitative research. The following quotation from Donald Campbell (of Campbell and Stanley), although it favours quantitative research, demonstrates this nicely:

“I believe that the quantitative, when based on firm and examined quantitative knowing, can validly go beyond the qualitative, and can produce subtleties that the qualitative would have missed. Such results, however, would again, for instance in participant group discussions, be subjected to cross-examination, and if the results then appeared valid to the qualitative observers, the quantitative would have gone beyond the qualitative in a valid manner.”

I hope that's helpful.

In addition to journals, I generally expose my students to good theses that adopted the qualitative approach (generally from past students and colleagues).

I also use these past postgraduate students (that used the qualitative approach) to assist in mentoring my new students who have adopted the same approach.

Very good question. One way to demonstrate the importance of the qualitative can be to make students understand the difference between objective and subjective reality. The implications of Thomas's law: "what we believe to be real is real in its consequences", illustrate this difference well.

Interesting answer Robert - exposing to qual journal articles looks effective. The interplay of qual and quan will allow students realize the strength and limitation of each, and see how to complement each other

Thanks Rodney for sharing your experiemce in using good thesis.

Celso Pagatpatan, Jr., since placing my post, I have realised that you're working in the health sciences - as was I. I'm sure you're aware of some good qualitative research. Just poke your students' noses in it!

My (enthusiastic and knowledge-hungry) students were in physiotherapy, podiatry, and speech pathology. It wasn't difficult to find some "convincing" qualitative research in those areas - ha ha, as well as some quite unconvincing quantitative research that was useful to wipe the smiles from the smug faces of my fellow quant-lovers.

I think that one of the best set of skills we can give students is the ability to recognise and appreciate good research - and that means giving them the skills to evaluate research effectively, whatever "shape" that research comes in.

Thanks Ricardo, letting students understand objective and subjective reality may allow them to realize the idea of multiple reality as well as reality can also be seen as the effect of a particular force or mechanism.

Jr. Celso Pagatpatan - Definitely students/participants who always use measurement or numbers in understanding all phenomena may require more effort in convincing them about the importance and processes of qualitative research. One way to get them inclined towards qualitative research is to make them understand the importance of "mixed research design" where they have the chance to use both quantitative and qualitative research together. This is the latest trend in research where we get the results of both qualitative and quantitative research. This way students who are highly interested in quantitative research will keep their interest and simultaneously inculcate the interest in qualitative research.

Dear Hussain,

I use to teach my students using the following aporoach: they have to answer (more or less) the same question in a quantitative and qualitative approach. The original idea was to apply mixed method and compare both methods. Sometimes they can do it by themselves. Sometimes I need to nudge with some ideas. But if they can experience it is very rich. I use to teach Iramuteq and in-vivo and compare the analysis using both methods. It is also interesting.

Dear Celso Pagatpatan, sorry, I changed the names!

Few situations demand a qualitative study more than a quantitative one, if we can explain those situations to our students they will be more interested in qualitative research.

I agree with Dr Hussain, some examples of good mixed methods research show how complementary the two methods are. Two examples i give are:

1. One study measured the effectiveness of physician assistant training in caesarean section in a clinic in somaliland. 3 month quant data showed an increase in maternal transfer but maternal death rate remained the same and C/S rate did not increase. Qualitative interviews with staff and women attending showed women were transferred in to the facility but the accompanying relative had to return to the village to seek permission from the head of the family for the C/S to proceed. This delay negatively impacted the stats.

2. A primary care study in England found X number of consultations to be from people suffering from viral illness/common cold. The rate of antibiotic prescription for this condition was found to be quite high despite government campaigns of the ineffectiveness of antibiotics for viral cold. Qualitative work found GPs faced significant pressure from patients to prescribe medication. And interviews with patients found a need to take something away from the visit after taking time out of their day to attend the GP. A trial of giving info leaflets instead of a prescription was found to be effective. GPs fulfilled their need to give something, patients fulfilled their need to receive something from their visit and the contents of the leaflet offered government advice against using antibiotics with tips on how to treat the symptoms.

(I can include refs and give more! if you are interested to read in full). Qual gives the content to the quant picture, they are inseperable if you want a sustainable intervention.

I think Celso Pagatpatan, Jr. it started a good discussion, which by nature also applies in other areas of knowledge. And as in other experiences, I also agree with the suggestions and experiences shared in the previous answers. It seems appropriate to provide different experiences so that students can experience research with a qualitative approach and with a quantitative approach, so that they can choose based on that situation, one or the other could be more appropriate or even a mixed approach. Avoiding a pre-determinism of which would be better, but that the choice was based on the adequacy of the need.

From practical point of view - I usually start qualitative methods so that we deside together with a class a phenomenon, qualitative in nature, which the class finds interesting (e.g. their own experiences regarding studying). First they all think interview questions for this phenomenon, after which I split the class to two/three and then they interview each others (interviewees write their answers). This gives thematic data which is then used to practice for example content analysis. Responses from students have been positive 😊

I also like the idea of exposing students to qualitative journal articles, which are very common in the health sciences. In particular, you might assign each student to locate what they consider to be a usual article that applies qualitative methods to their own area of interest.

Hi.

I use several methods. Here are some:

1. I expose them to research questions that cannot be answered adequately by using quantitative tools (e.g., What is the experience of...? What does the process entail? How do the participants understand phenomenon X?, etc.). I also have them find a quantitative tool (i.e., questionnaire) that they favor, and demonstrate the areas that it does not cover (i.e., the richness of the experience under investigation).

2. Early on, I expose them to the different paradigms and their logic (I have them experience social construction and subjective meanings via an exercise wherein I show identical stimuli to two students but construct their meaning differently).

3. Early on I teach them the hermeneutic circle, and have them experience the cyclic process of understanding and re-understanding. I also demonstrate in various how parts and whole give meaning to each other (e.g., how the word "positive" changes it's meaning in "Are you positive" and "O positive" and "positive symptoms" and five other examples).

4. I also let them ponder several quotations that challenge their views (e.g., Nietszsche, Rorty, Geertz). For instance: "When we aggregate people, treating diversity as error variance, in search of what is common to all, we often learn about what is true of no one in particular" (Josselson, 1995, p. 32 "imagining the real")

Good luck.

Jacob Y. Stein, please forgive me if I'm wrong, but in the first paragraph of your post just above, did you mean to write "quantitative" where you have twice written "qualitative"?

You ar right Robert Trevethan . Thank you. I corrected it.

Jacob Y. Stein, thanks for the reassurance. I'll go back up and recommend your original post, with confidence!

In my experience, it has always been very helpful if the "quantitatively" predisposed students or students from "non-subject" settings are encouraged to expand their thought patterns right at the beginning.

At best through examples: First, how is "satisfaction" measured in a quantitative approach? What can we conclude from this and what not? Next, a qualitative study is outlined as an example to illustrate this.

I also use classics of social science research to clarify approaches, ways of thinking and, above all, terms. In my opinion, "Street Corner Society" by William F is suitable for this. Whytes (or more recent "Doing the Hustle" by Venkatesh), Asylums by Irving Goffman and " Marienthal. The Sociography of an Unemployed Community "by Marie Jahoda, Paul Felix Lazarsfeld and Hans Zeisel as an example of mixed methods. In every country there will probably be well-known social science studies, these are always very suitable to bring in.

In my opinion it is very important to deal with subjectivity at the beginning of the course. On the one hand, that the researchers have to acknowledge their subjectivity and use it positively in the research process, and on the other hand, that by dealing strongly with the subjective view of the researchers we get a high-quality, high-grade knowledge about their views on the researched topic (Thomas Theorem, for example). It is always close to my heart to also make clear that qualitative research is not "subordinate" to quantitative research. Depending on one's own preference, for example, one can also deal with social constructivism or the like.

Next, I would like to mention the characteristics of qualitative research, as (from the German discourse)

variety of methods; appropriateness of subject matter; orientation to everyday events, everyday knowledge, perspectives of the participants; contextuality as a guiding principle; individual case / case analysis as a starting point; principle of openness; understanding as a principle of knowledge; discovery and theory-building as a goal; reflexivity of the researchers.

Again and again, students are asked to make and sketch their own thoughts on research fields or to provide examples of how this can be implemented. These examples are then used to introduce the various methodologies and methods. I don't know the English word, but I would like to emphasize that qualitative research builds up a special "proximity" to the object being researched (near-field methods) and therefore there is intensive personal contact. I will mention here right away the steps in the research process and the specifics of qualitative research in general, such as the circular process of gaining knowledge.

One difficulty that I repeatedly encounter is that students are used to having a precise time schedule and plan in quantitative research. Many then find themselves somewhat lost in the "openness" of qualitative research. Therefore, one should always try to connect the individual, dynamic phases with the respective possible work steps, such as establishing field contact--> a study information and an informed agreement must be created. Dealing with reflexivity or pre-assumptions --> research diary or similar Participatory observation --> field note, at the same time openness for informal discussions etc.

From my own point of view, students needed to be exposed to qualitative research early enough along side with quantitative research. In the research field, there are situations whereby qualitative research will be more suitable and helpful.

Teaching qualitative research to such group of students who are used to quantitative techniques would require the following:

1. Committing them to pre-class individual assignments to search for published studies that used qualitative research approaches bringing out the salient features of the publications including authorship, title, research design and procedure, instruments used and major findings.

This process would key them into basic information, terminologies, methods and instruments used in qualitative research.

2. The introductory class sessions should draw on their knowledge of quantitative methods, their strengths and their limitations, linking these to how they statistical methods find improvements and compliments in qualitative studies.

3. A tabular presentation of the main characteristic features of both approaches bringing out differences in their independent focus, method of data analysis, type of research questions answered, key terms used, data collection methods etc

4. Focus group discussion, Document Analysis, Interviews, Observation and other qualitative research techniques should be adopted in the classroom teaching and student assignments to activate their interest in the research approaches and give them practical exposure to the subject matter-qualitative research methods..

Exposing them to journal articles that have been done in similar topics using each approaches. Assign them tasks to understand and explain/summarize how each approach dealt with the similar topics.

In addition to the many helpful ideas that have already been shared, I

I sometimes do the following with my students to illustrate some aspects of the differences bewteen quanti and quali research:

(1) Give half of the students a standardized questionnaire to answer and the other half an open question on the same topic (beliefs works really well for that, e.g. beliefs of mathematics: What does mathematics mean to you?). I then ask all students with the questionnaire and all with the open question to prepare a short presentation of the results of their groups. Usually the results are quite different, but also have some overlaps and make for interesting discussions, not only in terms of the results, but also difficulty in analysing the open answers, etc.

(2) Write different sorts of data on separate pieces of paper, e.g. newspaper articles, journals, observation logs, population statistics, rankings of a race, drawings... (whatever suits your theme). Then I ask students to pick one or two pieces of paper and place them on a visual or imagined continuum (on the floor or on a table) between the two poles of quanti and quali data. When placing "their" data on that continuum, they have to explain why they placed it in the specific chosen place, e.g. they have to say why they consider something to be quanti or quali data. That is also quite interesting, as their arguments provide interesting insights into their thinking.

Good luck!

In my opinion, the comparison between the philosophical foundation of positivism (quantitative) and interpretivism (qualitative) can be very useful. It can elaborate the way both of the research types look at the social reality and social world. Then the methodological differences between quantitaive and qualitative to study the same social reality or phenomenon could be helpful. The comparison between epistemological and ontological stance of both can be taught. Debate of inductive and deductive approach can be generated. Quantitative study aims at testing the existing theory whereas qualitative study intends to add to the already existing theory or produce new theory through inductive codes.