In my opinion to fully answer this assumption, you firstly need to define what is meant by science. According to science made simple, the word comes from the Latin ‘Scientia’ meaning knowledge. Wikipedia refers to it as a systematic enterprise that builds and organises knowledge in forms of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
So which out of qualitative and quantitative research is more scientific? Firstly, Quantitative research is based on measuring variables for individual’s participants to obtain scores, usually numerical values that are submitted to statistical analysis for summary and interpretations (Gravetter & Forzano, 2009) Whilst, Qualitative research is based on making observations that are summarised and interpreted in narrative report, (Gravetter & Forzano 2009).
Most would argue that quantitative research is more scientific as seen in the definition of science; that forms of knowledge must be testable. Quantitative research is empirically testable and is based on assumptions and measured by testing hypotheses. It is also deductive and follows Karl Poppers Principle of Falsifiability, which is ‘the belief that for any hypothesis to have credence, it must be inherently disprovable before it can become accepted as a scientific hypothesis or theory’. This principle allows results to be testable and increases reliability and validity due to deductive methods being either valid or invalid. When using deductive methods in science, it is necessary for the conclusion to follow from the premises or hypothesis. For example, a statement will be made which will lead to a researcher putting forward a hypothesis, which the conclusion must be deduced from.
Others may argue that qualitative research is more scientific, as seen above in the definition of science; we should be looking how to gain knowledge. Qualitative research does not use a hypothesis so therefore does not work on the idea of assumptions. Instead it uses a research question, which allows for rich data to be obtained that then can be explored further. This allows the researchers to be able to explore research questions more freely without having to stick to assumptions. Qualitative data unlike quantitative data uses inductive methods, which means that it uses an individual instance and then generalizes it; unlike deductive reasoning the conclusions are not initial and usually have some degree of support.
However, both quantitative and qualitative research have major flaws. Firstly quantitative data works on assumptions, which can sometimes be biased the researcher only interested in what they are looking for and can ignore other elements that might influence the results. This is where it would be better to use qualitative research gain further knowledge. Qualitative research had the disadvantage of being quite subjective, such as using observations and interviews. This also means it runs the risk of not being reliable or following the falsification principle, which may not necessarily allow the results, to be good as evidence.
In my opinion, you need both equally for scientific research. Qualitative research allows for exploring and gaining further knowledge and providing research questions. Whilst quantitative research provides the foundations for valid arguments that can be empirically tested using hypotheses that are often generated from research questions.
http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/science-definition.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
http://www.experiment-resources.com/falsifiability.html
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I think the best research design is a mixed methods of both quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative methods produce results which a hypothesis can be derived from, and quantitative methods go on to test that hypothesis, so both methods are incredibly useful.
Quantitative methods are best used for studies which gather numerical data and use statistical analysis methods to understand the results.
Qualitative methods should be used when you want an in-depth understanding of a person’s actions or personality. Here, one-on-one methods (such as interview, observation, case study)can be used to fully understand why people act the way they do-which is the most important factor of psychology in my opinion.
Useful information on mixed method designs incorporating qualitative and quantitative methods can be found in “Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches” by John W Cresswell (2nd edition).
You seem to follow the mindset of Patton (1990) where he believes that researchers should combine these methods to produce a better study but I have to disagree with this as I think both methods are incompatible (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) as I believe both are diametrically opposed constructs. These two methods were studied on the relationship they had with the researcher (Borg & Gall, 1989) and found that the direction for the study (research question/methods used) was down to the perspective of the researcher. And how can qualitative research be seen as scientific when its subjective? This causes bias and the fact that the hypothesis’ are formed around the results of the study blatantly ignores validity.
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You may have a point that both seem to be dramatically opposed constructs and that qualitative data can be seen to be subjective. However, I would disagree with you that qualitative research cannot be scientific because it is subjective. As I put in my blog the definitions of science is about gaining knowledge as the word comes from the Latin ‘Scientia’, it does not mean that it cannot be subjective. Isaac Newton discovered the laws of gravity when he sat under and apple tree and an apple fell on him. Yes later it was looked at again using objective experimental methods but at that time the idea of gravity would have been put forward using subjective evidence.
I don’t quite understand what you mean when you put, ‘This causes bias and the fact that the hypothesis’ are formed around the results of the study blatantly ignores validity.’ From what I understand of Validity it is the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. It is vital for a test to be valid in order for the results to be accurately applied and interpreted. I am assuming that you are arguing that results from qualitative research are not valid. I don’t necessarily agree with that, I would agree more that they lack reliability rather than validity.
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newtongrav.html
http://psychology.about.com/od/researchmethods/f/validity.htm