A brief note on research approaches (research methods) for teaching purpose

A brief note on research approaches (research methods) for teaching purpose (information from perplexity.ai)

My question: "Briefly highlight the main ideas of the three types of research approaches in social science, i.e., qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches with regard to the following topics: (1) favored research philosophy, (2) favored research methods, (3) favored research method design quality criteria, (4) typical research ethics issues encountered, and (5) favored researcher's role in research project."

The reply: "Here is a brief highlight of the main ideas of the three types of research approaches in social science: qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods, addressing the five specified topics:

1. Qualitative Research:

   • Favored Research Philosophy: Constructivism or interpretivism, emphasizing subjective meaning, context, and social construction of reality.

   • Favored Research Methods: Methods such as in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observations, and open-ended questions.

   • Favored Research Method Design Quality Criteria: Trustworthiness criteria including credibility, dependability, confirmability, and transferability.

   • Typical Research Ethics Issues: Issues mainly revolve around informed consent, confidentiality, and respecting participant perspectives.

   • Favored Researcher's Role: The researcher plays an active, interpretive role, often interacting closely with participants to co-construct meaning.

2. Quantitative Research:

   • Favored Research Philosophy: Positivism, focusing on an objective reality that can be measured and quantified.

   • Favored Research Methods: Structured methods like surveys, experiments, and statistical analysis of numerical data.

   • Favored Research Method Design Quality Criteria: Validity, reliability, generalizability, and objectivity.

   • Typical Research Ethics Issues: Issues related to ensuring data integrity, avoiding bias, and protecting participant anonymity.

   • Favored Researcher's Role: The researcher aims to remain detached and objective, minimizing influence on the study outcomes.

3. Mixed Methods Research:

   • Favored Research Philosophy: Pragmatism, combining strengths of both qualitative and quantitative paradigms to address complex questions.

   • Favored Research Methods: A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods such as sequential explanatory, exploratory, or convergent designs.

   • Favored Research Method Design Quality Criteria: Integration of rigor from both qualitative and quantitative criteria, triangulation, and validation.

   • Typical Research Ethics Issues: Challenges managing complexities of dual methods, ensuring ethical considerations for each phase.

   • Favored Researcher's Role: A flexible role where the researcher designs and integrates multiple methods to enrich understanding and validation.

These key points summarize the distinct philosophical underpinnings, methodological preferences, quality standards, ethical concerns, and roles of researchers in each approach. Let me know if a more detailed comparison or further elaboration is desired.

The synthesis is drawn from recent academic guides and reviews on social science research approaches."

A collection of blog notes on using chatgpt for research purpose.