Evaluation Research, Coursework Example

Evaluation  Research method is often used in the Social Sciences. It is essentially the means by which a specific object is assigned an assessment of worth or merit. As this often takes place in a political or group environment setting some see this as threatening. i.e. it has the basis of forming a conclusion or assessment on a specific object or subject matter. The generic goal of this method approach is that of gaining constructive feedback from a variety of audiences.

Qualitative research, like that of evaluative, lends itself to applications in the Social sciences.  This involves techniques like that of interviews, questionnaires and surveys together with associated empirical research.  The research similarly often involves group study sessions. Qualitative research has a number of different focal points but in essence attempts to address a perspective of the attitude of people towards their behavioural traits, their value systems, their lifestyle and culture and their needs or desires.  The idea of this research method is to add shape or abstraction to unstructured states. In summary qualitative research seeks to answer questions by the collection of evidence and accompanying research in an orderly and systematic way.

Quantitative Research tends to be scientific based using mathematics and statistics and is really the opposite of the qualitative approach. It is similar to evaluative research in that it studies specific objects and tries to resolve a hypothesis in mathematical or scientific terms.   In this sense it is rigid and lacks the flexibility of qualitative research.  It often uses the basis of hypothesis as a determinant to prove or disprove as the case may be.  Experiments tend to be around a fairly fixed or standard format approach.  (Creswell, J.W. 2009)

Mixed Methods Research  is where a combined research method approach is adopted. This tends to follow one of the following formats:

• Design of a single approach | the merging of both qualitative and quantitative method approaches in order to enhance a specific result;
• Design of mixed approach | Here a specific distinction has to be shown between the different research approaches being utilized.

Mixed methods does not specifically correlate to Evaluative research other than it takes a hybrid approach of qualitative and quantitative  research techniques in order to deal with less specific subject matter.

References

Creswell, J. (2009). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches. London: Sage Publications.