How Does Subjectivity Differ in Qualitative and Quantitative Research?
Location
DeSantis Room 1047
Format Type
Plenary
Format Type
Paper
Start Date
17-1-2020 9:45 AM
End Date
17-1-2020 10:05 AM
Abstract
The subjectivity is an important phenomenon to investigate regarding both a researcher’s conceptualization and its role in qualitative and quantitative research processes. Researchers’ understanding of subjectivity can affect their research process. How the researchers are aware of and conceptualize the subjectivity in research is a remarkable problem to investigate. In this context, we conducted a phenomenological case study to examine novice researchers’ conceptualization of subjectivity in qualitative and quantitative research. To achieve this purpose, we conducted semi-structured interviews with five doctoral students in mathematics education in various universities in Turkey. Our phenomenological analysis showed that some novice researchers think that subjectivity has a role in both quantitative and qualitative research processes, some considered that subjectivity is a matter particularly in qualitative research. The ones who possess the latter perspective identified that the nature of the research questions (i.e., closed-ended) and standardized data collection procedure and analysis restricted the researchers’ subjective involvement. On the other hand, who thinks that subjectivity exist in both qualitative and quantitative research addressed the background, experiences and worldviews of the researchers. More specifically, they stated that the unique characteristics of each researcher influence how s/he interpret the theory and literature and how s/he interprets the results considering their understanding of the theory. As summarized here, in this presentation, we will share the novice mathematics education researchers’ understanding of subjectivity and how their understanding differs in qualitative and quantitative tracks of the education research, particularly in mathematics education, which is an important aspect of contemporary qualitative research.
Keywords
Subjectivity, Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Novice Researchers
How Does Subjectivity Differ in Qualitative and Quantitative Research?
DeSantis Room 1047
The subjectivity is an important phenomenon to investigate regarding both a researcher’s conceptualization and its role in qualitative and quantitative research processes. Researchers’ understanding of subjectivity can affect their research process. How the researchers are aware of and conceptualize the subjectivity in research is a remarkable problem to investigate. In this context, we conducted a phenomenological case study to examine novice researchers’ conceptualization of subjectivity in qualitative and quantitative research. To achieve this purpose, we conducted semi-structured interviews with five doctoral students in mathematics education in various universities in Turkey. Our phenomenological analysis showed that some novice researchers think that subjectivity has a role in both quantitative and qualitative research processes, some considered that subjectivity is a matter particularly in qualitative research. The ones who possess the latter perspective identified that the nature of the research questions (i.e., closed-ended) and standardized data collection procedure and analysis restricted the researchers’ subjective involvement. On the other hand, who thinks that subjectivity exist in both qualitative and quantitative research addressed the background, experiences and worldviews of the researchers. More specifically, they stated that the unique characteristics of each researcher influence how s/he interpret the theory and literature and how s/he interprets the results considering their understanding of the theory. As summarized here, in this presentation, we will share the novice mathematics education researchers’ understanding of subjectivity and how their understanding differs in qualitative and quantitative tracks of the education research, particularly in mathematics education, which is an important aspect of contemporary qualitative research.