Sociology – Paper 1 – Methods of research | e-Consult
Paper 1 – Methods of research (1 questions)
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Strengths of quantitative approaches:
- Allows for statistical generalisation to larger populations.
- Provides clear, replicable procedures and objective measurement.
- Facilitates the testing of hypotheses and theory development.
Limitations of quantitative approaches:
- May oversimplify complex social phenomena by reducing them to numbers.
- Risk of ignoring context, meaning and participants’ perspectives.
- Potential for measurement bias if instruments are poorly designed.
Strengths of qualitative approaches:
- Provides in‑depth understanding of social processes, meanings and experiences.
- Flexibility to adapt to emerging findings during data collection.
- Enables exploration of topics where little prior knowledge exists.
Limitations of qualitative approaches:
- Findings are often not statistically generalisable.
- Subjectivity in data interpretation can affect reliability.
- Time‑consuming data collection and analysis.