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QUANTITATIVE AND/OR QUALITATIVE METHODS IN THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION
Author(s) -
Brink T. L.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
zygon®
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-9744
pISSN - 0591-2385
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9744.1995.tb00084.x
Subject(s) - qualitative property , qualitative research , quantitative research , epistemology , computer science , quantitative analysis (chemistry) , management science , sociology , social science , machine learning , engineering , chemistry , philosophy , chromatography
. Qualitative research methods are essential to provide richness, but they are vulnerable to distortion of data by theory. The quantitative approach is necessary for the precision of hypothesis testing, but, by itself, this method is too critical to be creative. Religious studies should use both methods in alternate phases, with the qualitative approach creating new hypotheses and the quantitative approach critically testing them.