On Becoming a Pragmatic Researcher: The Importance of Combining Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methodologies

The last 100 years have witnessed a fervent debate in the USA about quantitative and qualitative research paradigms. Unfortunately, this has led to a great divide between quantitative and qualitative researchers, who often view themselves as in competition with each other. Clearly, this polarization has promoted purists, namely, researchers who restrict themselves exclusively either to quantitative or to qualitative research methods. Mono‐method research is the biggest threat to the advancement of the social sciences. Indeed, as long as we stay polarized in research, how can we expect stakeholders who rely on our research findings to take our work seriously? Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore how the debate between quantitative and qualitative is divisive and, hence, counterproductive for advancing the social and behavioural science field. This paper advocates that all graduate students learn to utilize and to appreciate both quantitative and qualitative research. In so doing, students will develop into what we term as pragmatic researchers.     

Critical Analysis of Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Business and Management Study

There are two kinds of research traditions-qualitativeand and quantitative in business and management study and both of them have their own merits and demerits. In the practicalsituation we should choose the most suitable method based on the requirements, even adopting the mixed method.     

Hiding in Plain Sight: Insights about Health-Care Trends Gained through Open Health Data

ABSTRACT

The open data movement constitutes an approach to achieving accountability for government organizations. Government agencies at the Federal and State levels have released open health data consisting of de-identified patient outcomes, costs and ratings. We applied big data analytics to understand patterns and trends in open health data. We envision the use of this data by concerned citizens to understand trends in health expenditures. We have built an open-source tool, BOAT (Big Data Open Source Analytics Tool, https://github.com/fdudatamining) to facilitate analytical exploration of open health data sets. We used BOAT to analyze data from the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System and determined that there has been a significant increase (40 percent) in the incidences of mental health issues amongst adolescents from 2009–2014. We analyzed costs for hip replacement surgery for 168,676 patients is in New York State, and showed that 88% of these patients had surgery costs of less than $30,000. This figure helps in understanding the decision by The California Public Employees’ Retirement System to cap hip replacement reimbursements at $30,000, resulting in significant savings. Our tool could enable researchers, hospitals, insurers and citizens to obtain an unbiased view on health-care expenditures, costs and emerging trends.     

Latent Variable Modeling of Longitudinal and Multilevel Data

An overview is given of modeling of longitudinal and multilevel data using a latent variable framework. Particular emphasis is placed on growth modeling. A latent variable model is presented for three-level data, where the modeling of the longitudinal part of the data imposes both a covariance and a mean structure. Examples are discussed where repeated observations are made on students sampled within classrooms and schools.     

Nonstandard Work Schedules and Partnership Quality: Quantitative and Qualitative Findings

This article questions existing findings and provides new evidence about the consequences of nonstandard work schedules on partnership quality. Using quantitative couple data from The Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (NKPS) (N = 3,016) and semistructured qualitative interviews (N = 34), we found that, for women, schedules with varying hours resulted in greater relationship dissatisfaction than for men. Men with young children who worked varying hours had less relationship conflict and spent more time with children. Parents used nonstandard schedules for tag‐team parenting or to maintain perceptions of full‐time motherhood. The lack of negative effects, particularly for night shifts, suggests that previous findings—largely U.S. ones—are not universal and may be attributed to wider cultural, industrial relations, and economic contexts.     

A Study of An Alternative School for Pregnant and/or Parenting Teens: Quantitative and Qualitative Evidence

In response to multiple problems faced by pregnant and parenting teens, many alternative school-based comprehensive programs have been established throughout the United States. By collecting data from a sample of enrollees of such a school-based comprehensive program and comparing them with data collected from a sample of non-enrollees, the present study systematically evaluates the program. The results of the study seem to suggest that the program participants were more likely to have higher educational aspiration, better reproductive health outcomes, higher contraceptive use, and more breast-feeding practice and intention than those of their non-participating counterparts. The implications of the study findings for comprehensive school-based program for pregnant and/or parenting teens are discussed.Ruhul Amin is a Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Disparities Solutions and Senior Research Scientist in the Institute for Urban Research, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21239. Dorothy C. Browne is the Director of the Institute for Urban Research, Jamir Ahmed is a research assistant at the Center for Health Disparities Solutions and Takanori Sato is research assistants at the Institute for Urban Research, Morgan State University, Baltimore, MD 21239.     

Gender Socialization Practices Among Bisexual and Other Nonmonosexual Mothers: A Longitudinal Qualitative Examination

Though social scientists have researched sexual-minority parenting practices regarding the gender socialization of children, to date this research has focused exclusively on sexual-minority parents in same-gender relationships, and almost exclusively on the experiences of gay and lesbian parents. This article addresses the gender socialization parenting practices of 25 nonmonosexual sexual-minority women who are in different-gender relationships through analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews that took place over the course of 1 year. Our findings indicate that the experiences of these participants differ from both those reported in previous literature on sexual-minority parents in same-gender relationships, as well as heterosexual parents in different-gender relationships. Specifically, participants do not report sexual identity stigma as restricting the degree of cross-gender socialization in which they engage, nor do they report a gender normative influence from their male partners. Findings are discussed in the context of a socioecological framework.     

Normative Embourgeoisement among Manual Workers: a Reexamination Using Longitudinal Data*

This research examines the validity of the normative embourgeoisement perspective—the familiar notion that manual workers are becoming middle class in their cognitive orientations. Data are used from ten national surveys between 1956 and 1976 to examine changes in middle class identification among manual and nonmanual workers. Contrary to some earlier research which examined only two time periods, the results indicate that middle class identification among manual workers has increased over time at a faster rate than among nonmanual workers. Thus, there is greater similarity between manuals and nonmanuals in their middle class identification. Contrary to the arguments of normative embourgeoisement, however, the socioeconomic status (i.e., education, income, and occupational prestige) gains of manuals relative to nonmanuals do not account for this increased similarity. The research shows the need to apply longitudinal tests to dynamic theoretical perspectives, and the potential problems involved in such tests when only two periods are examined.     

Measuring and Modeling Cohabitation: New Perspectives From Qualitative Data

Almost all our knowledge about cohabitation in the United States rests on analysis of nationally representative, large‐scale surveys. We move beyond this work by drawing on 115 in‐depth interviews with a sample of young men and women with recent cohabitation experience. These data allow us to address two issues of central interest to family studies. First, we use our qualitative data to assess the measurement of cohabitation in surveys and the census. We find that current measurement strategies are probably underestimating cohabitation, and we may need to find new ways to measure cohabitation. Second, we employ qualitative findings to address issues relating to how we empirically model union formation. We find that the movement into cohabitation is not akin to marriage. It is often not a deliberate decision. Couples do not appear to be deciding between cohabitation and marriage; rather, their decision seems to center around whether to remain single or cohabit. These results have important implications for our analysis and understanding of cohabitation.     

Divorced Parents’ Qualitative and Quantitative Reports of Children's Living Arrangements

We use data from a sample of divorced parents in Wisconsin (N = 1,392) to examine how parents describe their children's living arrangements. When the children spend substantial time in both parents’ homes, both parents are less likely to use the phrase live with to describe living arrangements. When children spend most nights with their mother, mothers are more likely than fathers to state that the children live with their mother. Together, these findings suggest that family researchers no longer can rely on simple questions to capture complex living arrangements. We need clearer and more careful question wording and, in some instances, follow‐up questions to accurately describe where children live.     

Combining Parallel and Exploratory Factor Analysis in Identifying Relationship Scales in Secondary Data

Common methods used in the literature to identify factors within exploratory factor analysis have been shown to be potentially problematic. This brief report illustrates a state of the art approach in identifying factor structure by adding parallel analysis before exploratory factor analysis. Parallel analysis enables researchers to have a high degree of confidence of the number of factors to extract before exploratory factor analysis. The procedure is illustrated by using items from the National Survey of Families and Households used to identify relationship scales.     

Handling Missing Values in Longitudinal Panel Data With Multiple Imputation

This article offers an applied review of key issues and methods for the analysis of longitudinal panel data in the presence of missing values. The authors consider the unique challenges associated with attrition (survey dropout), incomplete repeated measures, and unknown observations of time. Using simulated data based on 4 waves of the Marital Instability Over the Life Course Study (n = 2,034), they applied a fixed effect regression model and an event‐history analysis with time‐varying covariates. They then compared results for analyses with nonimputed missing data and with imputed data both in long and in wide structures. Imputation produced improved estimates in the event‐history analysis but only modest improvements in the estimates and standard errors of the fixed effects analysis. Factors responsible for differences in the value of imputation are examined, and recommendations for handling missing values in panel data are presented.     

Income Comparison as a Determining Mechanism of Class Identification: A Quantitative and Simulation Study Using Japanese Survey Data

This paper questions whether personal income comparison explains the distributive gap between income and class identification by exploring the following two issues: empirical validity of income comparison as the determinant of class identification, and theoretical validity of income comparison for the distributive gap. For the first issue, we conduct a statistical analysis using data from the Social Stratification and Social Mobility surveys (1975–2005), and the Stratification and Social Psychology-I survey (2010). We find that the criteria for choosing reference groups changed historically from residential proximity to occupational equality. In addition, income comparison with sensitive to lower-income possessors and a distorted perception of income difference significantly affected class identification, except for the year of 1985. The simulation analysis employed to examine the second issue clarified that income comparison with the above-mentioned features yields a less skewed distribution compared to that of class identification. The data also indicates that the empirical conditions of income are satisfied for realization of this result. Thus, we could ascertain empirical and theoretical validity of income comparison as explanation for the distributive gap between income and class identification.     

Preliminary Results of a Longitudinal Study of Collegiate Alcohol Abuse

Abstract

Objective: Hookah smoking is a popular form of tobacco use on university campuses. This study documented use, attitudes, and knowledge of hookah smoking among college students. Participants: The sample included 943 university students recruited between February 2009 and January 2010. Respondents (M age = 20.02) included 376 males, 533 females, and 34 who did not report sex. Methods: An anonymous online questionnaire was completed by respondents. Results: In this sample, 42.9% of college students had tried hookah, and 40% of those individuals had used it in the past 30 days. Students perceived fewer negative consequences of hookah smoking compared with cigarette smoking. Age, sex, racial background, marijuana/cigarette use, and perceptions of side effects were significantly associated with hookah use. Conclusions: University students are misinformed regarding the health consequences of hookah smoking. Programs aimed at education, prevention, and intervention for hookah use are needed to address this growing public health concern.     

Schizoid Personality Traits Among the Homeless Mentally III: A Quantitative and Qualitative Report

This paper examines the interplay among schizoid personality traits, chronicity of homelessness, and engagement in treatment in a homeless mentally ill population. Both qualitative and quantitative information will be provided about a sample of 125 homeless mentally ill individuals receiving psychiatric treatment in a comprehensive services drop-in clinic. Naturalistic observations and a case vignette suggested that schizoid traits were prevalent and may have been playing a role in treatment engagement and chronicity of homelessness. This hypothesis was tested using quantitative research methods. The results showed that schizoid personality disorder and schizoid personality traits were prevalent in the sample. The presence of schizoid traits was positively correlated with chronicity of homelessness. Further, two schizoid traits (being content without sexual involvement with others, and lacking close friends or confidants) were positively correlated with remaining in treatment at 3 months. Implications of these findings for future research and treatment design will be discussed.     

Schizoid Personality Traits Among the Homeless Mentally Ill: A Quantitative and Qualitative Report

This paper examines the interplay among schizoid personality traits, chronicity of homelessness, and engagement in treatment in a homeless mentally ill population. Both qualitative and quantitative information will be provided about a sample of 125 homeless mentally ill individuals receiving psychiatric treatment in a comprehensive services drop-in clinic. Naturalistic observations and a case vignette suggested that schizoid traits were prevalent and may have been playing a role in treatment engagement and chronicity of homelessness. This hypothesis was tested using quantitative research methods. The results showed that schizoid personality disorder and schizoid personality traits were prevalent in the sample. The presence of schizoid traits was positively correlated with chronicity of homelessness. Further, two schizoid traits (being content without sexual involvement with others, and lacking close friends or confidants) were positively correlated with remaining in treatment at 3 months. Implications of these findings for future research and treatment design will be discussed.