ABSTRACT

Research methods in the social sciences often divide into quantitative versus qualitative methods. Quantitative methods focus on numerical evidence of a predetermined hypothesis concerning a research question, while qualitative methods focus on subjective, interactive, and context-informed methods of gathering data. While they are often presented as ideologically diff erent, in eff ect, both quantitative and qualitative methods can be used with all theories, depending on the research question. The analytical prism will always be theory-based (e.g. grounded in theory in qualitative research, or hypothesis in quantitative research) (Gilroy, 2006 ; Hubberman and Miles, 2002 ; Wadeson, 2002 ).