Links:
http://theandme15.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-4-quantitative-research-part-2.html?showComment=1444600934778#c2588401709274835299
Visar inlägg med etikett Theme 4. Visa alla inlägg
Visar inlägg med etikett Theme 4. Visa alla inlägg
söndag 11 oktober 2015
fredag 2 oktober 2015
Theme 4: Reflection
This week was about the concept of quantitative methods, what defines them, how they are used and the differences compared to qualitative methods. As an example of a wholly quantitative paper we were given: IEEE VR 2012 - Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality
by Ilias Bergström and his colleagues.
I must admit that this week felt quite underwhelming compared to the previous subjects (which could be seen as a relief). Not as much to ponder and figure out; ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ are words I’ve heard and used before, now I can use them with a bit more clarity though. As I see it now (after the lecture and seminar), quantitative is in its purest form about numbers, things you can measure and calculate. It is about gathering data with a specific goal in mind, having prepared what you want to find out - focusing on singular points and then finding connections between these. Qualitative methods on the other hand is for going into depth but also branching out into unknown territory, when numbers just won’t suffice. When dealing with human interaction and designing for the human mind, finding flaws and improvements are a lot easier with qualitative methods. Might also be good when designing the test itself, even if the end result is using quantitative methods to reach conclusions.
An example brought up in the seminar where qualitative methods trump over quantitative is if you want to find out how living as a homeless person in London is. Creating a questionnaire probably won’t suffice as you won’t get detailed enough information for writing a conclusion about your findings. You might have to interview the homeless, live like one and integrate into their community to actually learn something - and that information gained is qualitative, something more than statistics.
At the lecture I learned that the experiment of Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality was only using quantitative methods to reach the final result. They did however use interviews (qualitative) during the creation process of the experiment to iterate and develop it. I also found it interesting that since Ilias Bergströms experiment others have continued with other similar projects exploring the adaptation of a virtual body. Like being projected into a muscular man versus a weak and fragile man had a significant impact on a weightlifting exercise. We were also introduced to something called “Statistics hell” by Andy Field which could prove to be a good resource in the future, mostly to refresh my memory from the course: Probability and Statistics.
Lastly on the seminar we came to the conclusion that replicating a quantitative method is nigh impossible because of the ever shifting circumstances of the human world. Time, place, tools, competence, resources, etc. all play a role in that particular experiment which makes it unique!
torsdag 24 september 2015
Theme 4: Quantitative research
For this theme I chose the paper: Emotion regulation, procrastination, and watching cat videos online: Who watches Internet cats, why, and to what effect? from the journal: Computers in Human Behavior. As the title implies it is about finding out why there is such a big fuss about cats, who is watching them, and how it affects the individual.
- Which quantitative method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?
The method used for this paper was an online questionnaire (spread through Facebook and Twitter) which took approximately ten minutes to fill in. The questions were about the individual himself and his association with cats, his behaviour, and then to what extent the subject viewed cats online. Almost 7000 users answered the questionnaire. The several benefits with this method that I can think of are: The ease distributing these surveys, with the possibility of an exponential growth of test subjects (through sharing with friends/family). Since it is online and within a friendly setting such as Facebook or twitter, the users might feel more inclined to answer truthfully as to uphold their secondary internet persona. Because it’s a short and simple test, it is easier to accept - ergo more people will take it.
Some limitations could be: It is harder to get a definitive answer when only asking and not studying the users up close while they perform said act of watching cats. While they might answer in a certain way, there is no evident proof that the user really is affected as he describes. Furthermore there might not be enough options in the answers to give of an accurate answer.
- What did you learn about quantitative methods from reading the paper?
I learned that quantitative methods are great for researching large groups of people, getting data that is easy to analyze and come to conclusions with. You can ask a broad range of questions that might correlate to one another, and then puzzle together which of them are truly connected, through statistical analysis. It is also easy to show for the reader, connecting the dots with numbers where quantitative analysis would have a hard time.
- Which are the main methodological problems of the study? How could the use of the quantitative method or methods have been improved?
I do not see any great problems with the study, they set out to find the truth about cats online and I think their method is appropriate for the job. There could be the fact that, since the participants taking the test are volunteering (not being randomly chosen) the demographic might become skewed - giving of a false representation of the love for cats online. They do not however want to find the ratio of cat lovers to indifferent people and thus volunteering could still work. Rephrasing the abstract to include this fact is appropriate, telling us that we are mostly dealing with the effects on people already with an affection for internet cats.
Short reflection of IEEE VR 2012 - Drumming in Immersive Virtual Reality
This paper seems like a nice blend of qualitative and quantitative methods, going both into depth with exploring the subjects emotions and perception while also retaining mathematical analysis of numerical data. There is a lot of attention to details in this experiment, rapporting every single instrument and method used. I do find it fascinating how fast we adapt to living in another body and I wonder how this ties into historically determined and natural perception. The fact that people could sense that different bodies were better for specific jobs is really interesting, like being the embodiment of a samurai when learning to fight with a katana.
- Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?
The way you answer is often simplified for the statistical purposes (yes/no or checkboxes), therefore participating in such a study will not demand much of the participant. Quantitative methods are best used when you want to gather a lot of raw data. By nature it is numerical and therefore easier to measure and reach conclusions with.
- Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?
When you want to study something in depth, qualitative methods offer a more cohesive analysis of each test subject. It does create a greater strain on the researcher as the information gathered might be harder to analyse. It could also be harder to come up with a definitive answer as the data is often from a smaller selection of people and interpreted by the researcher himself. A lot more theory could be involved when deciphering the extracted data.
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