[Air-l] Re: Air-l digest - Number Fetishism

[Uwe Matzat]

Dear Alex Kuskis, dear colleagues,

thank you very much for enlighting us about the difference between 
quantitative and qualitative research. I always had the impression 
that both could learn from each other and that the method should 
be chosen that fits best to the research problem and to what kind 
of insights one is looking for. 

Now I know better. I especially like the sentence

"There are two main types of user research: quantitative (statistics) 
and qualitative (insights). Quant has quaint advantages, but 
qualitative delivers the best results for the least money. 
Furthermore, quantitative studies are often too narrow to be useful 
and are sometimes directly misleading. "  

I think this is a very fair and well-elaborated summary that should 
finish the whole academic discussion that went on during the last 
decades. Things can be so easy. ;-)

Thank you once more, Alex.

Kind regards,
Uwe

PS: I wonder whether this is the spirit of the next AIR conference in 
Sussex? After Toronto, I get more and more a strange feeling. Is 
this the culture clash between cultural studies against science? I 
wouldn't like that. 

On 4 Mar 04, at 12:01, air-l-request at aoir.org wrote:
> 
> Message: 3
> From: "Alex Kuskis" <akuskis at ican.net>
> To: <air-l at aoir.org>
> Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 19:30:24 -0500
> Subject: [Air-l] Number Fetishism
> Reply-To: air-l at aoir.org
> 
> This is for our friend from Oz who is so keen on quantitative 
analysis
> to the exclusion of all else.........Alex Kuskis Alertbox, March
> 1, 2004: Risks of Quantitative Studies Summary: Number fetishism
> leads usability studies astray by focusing on statistical analyses
> that are often false, biased, misleading, or overly narrow. Better
> to emphasize insights and qualitative research. There are two main
> types of user research: quantitative (statistics) and qualitative
> (insights). Quant has quaint advantages, but qualitative delivers
> the best results for the least money. Furthermore, quantitative
> studies are often too narrow to be useful and are sometimes
> directly misleading. 
> 
> http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040301.html

=======================================
Uwe Matzat
Sociology Section
Sub-Department of Technology and Policy
Department of Technology Management
Eindhoven University of Technology
P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven
The Netherlands
phone: +31 40 247-8392
email: u.matzat at tm.tue.nl
http://www.tue-tm-soc.nl/~matzat/
=======================================