Your CIOS file request: COMGRADS hotline item

-
Received:  by CIOS Mailer; Thursday 10 Jun 1999 09:30:09
Date:          Thu, 10 Jun 99 09:18 -0400
To: "Multiple recipients of COMGRADS" 
From: rs7  at uakron.edu
Subject:       RE: Too Quiet! - length of time

>Speaking of completing one's dissertation - do you think that a =
>quantitative project should take less or more time to complete, compared =
>to a theoretical-qualitative study?

Hi Amir and y'all:

Not to sound noncommittal, but I think it depends a lot on the nature of
the project itself: the question(s) one digs into, the data identified as
sufficient, the analysis required to move from data to evidence. I
originally thought quantitative studies would take longer, simply by their
being "quantitative;" a faculty member, who had done both broad sorts, told
me that she found qualitative to often take more time. I spent two years
collecting data for my dissertation (the phenomenon was not rare, but I had
a developmental interest) and primarily used qualitative
(interaction-based) analysis. Now, the project could have been framed to
use quantitative methods and still required the two years of data
collection (given a developmental interest). So I personally don't think a
particular methodology necessarily leads to a "shorter" or "longer" time
plan for project completion. Other factors are also involved.

Cheers,
Bob

Robert C. Swieringa, Ph. D.
Visiting Instructor
School of Communication
University of Akron
108 Kolbe Hall
Akron, OH 44325

Messages: (330) 972-7954
----------------
For information about participating in this conference, send
SHOW HOTLINES by itself in the body of email addressed to: 
Comserve at CIOS.ORG