ABSTRACT
Quantitative methods involve the collection of numerical data that is then analysed using statistics. Qualitative methods collect non-numerical data that is analysed in terms of patterns in the form of categories, themes, or a narrative. Chapter 5 described the key components of qualitative and quantitative analysis. This chapter describes how to think critically about data analysis in terms of an awareness of the assumptions behind both quantitative and qualitative analysis and whether these two approaches are as different as sometimes assumed. In particular, it explores the issues of deductive and inductive approaches, the role of chance, the notion of a population, and the problem of generalisability.
