Discussion

1. Identify characteristics of quantitative and qualitative methodologies you look for when finding scholarly resources.

The  quantitative and qualitative methodologies are very different but both  are indispensable when conducting research. The quantitative method is  all about data collection and functioning within a pre-determined  system, information is usually gathered through surveys or  questionnaires that are formatted with close-ended questions so data can  be treated numerically. Scholars explain that this method is preferred  when large amounts of data are required to test out a theory, it is  most efficient when information is easy to quantify (Basias &  Pollalis, 2018). Using the quantitative research method is invaluable  because it provides hard numerical data on whatever concept they are  studying.

Qualitative  analysis is more of an abstract method compared to its counterpart but  it is just as important to master. This method is based on studying  concepts that cannot be properly quantified, so it is more of a  situational analysis. The researcher is made to ask open-ended questions  that can be answered in a very unpredictable manner. It is often  referred to as word-based research (Basias & Pollalis, 2018)  Qualitative research is used when dealing with new phenomena or concepts  that have not been well documented. When finding scholarly sources, it  is important to identify both methodologies depending on what the  researcher’s topic is.

2. Why is it important to analyze sources critically? 3. What is the difference between scholarly sources and news media? When is it appropriate to use each type?

It  is important to analyze sources critically because some of them can  contain insufficient or even false information. It is especially  important to analyzes sources critically when referencing a news article  because the depth of the provided information varies widely. The reason  behind this is that news articles are written to be understood by as  many people as possible, so the depth of the analysis in these articles  can often be insufficient for a scholarly paper. It is appropriate to  use a news article as a source when the topic is current and does not  have any scholarly research on it. Nevertheless, whenever there are  scholarly sources available, it is recommended to use them instead of  news articles.

Reference

Basias,  N., & Pollalis, Y. (2018). Quantitative and qualitative research in  business and technology: Justifying a suitable research methodology.Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 7, 91-105.