Title: Problems in Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Methods | Synonym
Headings: Problems in Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Methods
Problems in Research: Quantitative & Qualitative Methods
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1 Quantitative Research: Lack of Detail
2 Quantitative Research: Missing Variables
3 Qualitative Research: Subjectivity
4 Qualitative Research: No Generalization

Content: Subjectivity
Subjectivity -- one of the hallmarks of qualitative research -- is also one of its major flaws. The subjective nature of the information that can be gleaned from such methods as interviews and case studies means that they are open to misinterpretation and observer bias. For example, if you are performing an interview to investigate whether prisoners had abusive childhoods, observer bias could occur, in that the interviewees could exaggerate the negative aspects of their childhoods for sympathy or justification. Subjectivity is also an issue when analyzing data, because in qualitative research, data must be interpreted. Researchers could unwittingly interpret the data in a way that suggests what they wish to show. This can’t be done as easily with quantitative, numerical data. 4 Qualitative Research: No Generalization
As a result of its subjective nature, its level of detail and its relatively small sample size, you cannot generalize qualitative findings to the population at large. Quantitative research can easily generalize data, because it can convert its finding into percentages and other mathematical expressions that can be extrapolated. Unfortunately, the detailed answers that qualitative research produces make them difficult to generalize to the population at large.