There are lots of different ways to conduct proper social science research, and there are several crucial steps, which cannot be ignored and have to be taken anyway. These steps are the following: picking out a proper research topic, evaluation of possible research strategies, and making clear and strong conclusions.
In this paper, quantitative and qualitative research strategies will be used in order to investigate the topic where the issues of drug addiction are concerned. Both qualitative and quantitative research strategies are considered to be crucial for the research topic, however, each of them has its own peculiarities, pros, and cons.
This is why another purpose of this paper is to evaluate what kind of research strategy is more effective and better in regards to the topic of drug addiction. With the help of real life examples, evaluation of statistical data, and taking into consideration past researches concerning rug addiction, it is possible to provide the analysis of the effectiveness of qualitative and quantitative strategies.
During rather a long period of time, the theme of drug addiction has been discussed from different perspectives: drugs distribution, the differences of age between drugs’ users, possible treatment and prevention of drug addiction, etc. All these issues are under hot consideration even now, this is why proper choice of a research strategy may considerably influence further discussions of the topic and its influence on the reader.
However, before start conducting research, it is crucially important to find out the differences between such issues like a perspective, a research strategy, and a research method. Each of the above-mentioned points has a concrete connection to the field of investigation, this is why it is better to have a clear idea of what each of them means in order not to make a mistake hereinafter.
A perspective is one of the possible ways to regard and evaluate a topic under consideration, and be able to classify the content of the topic of into proper sense groups. The point is that perspectives may be quite large, this is why it is possible to create several subgroups and explain why this or that group of issues can be united.
However, some people still think that a perspective and a category is one and the same thing but with different titles. In comparison to categories, which can be chosen as one category to an item, there can be several perspectives for one and the same issue. This is why, in any research, it is better to concentrate more on perspectives than on categories.
A research method is one more compound of a good investigation and analysis of the issue. The essence of any research method is closely connected to the purpose of any research: to present new knowledge, to explain new material, and to prove that the idea under consideration makes sense of further investigation.
There are lots of different types of research methods, and each of them has its own peculiarity that can be properly used to analyze the chosen issue. Descriptive research, action research, historical research, or library research – the list of such research methods can be continued. It is necessary that properly chosen research methods and perspectives will be the significant parts of a successful research strategy.
A research strategy is considered to be a plan of steps and actions that aim at improving the work, and provide a researcher with a chance to achieve real success. Usually, a research strategy has several obligatory steps: choosing a topic, deciding on the writing style, and gathering information.
There are two possible types of a research strategy: one of them is qualitative research, and the other is quantitative research. As it can be guessed, qualitative research is all about words, evidences, and analysis. The major features of this research strategy are inductivism, constructivism, and interpretivism (Bryman, 2008). Another type of research strategy is quantitative research.
According to Bryman (2008), this strategy has deductive and objective features, and may cooperate with other natural science models, which are inherent to research processes. So, without a proper research strategy, it is impossible to present a proper investigation and prove the validity of research. Research can be either qualitative or quantitative, or both qualitative and quantitative. And the effectiveness of these two research strategies is under consideration till now.
The difference between a perspective, a research strategy, and a research method is quite obvious: perspectives and methods are the major constituents of one research strategy. This is why it is necessary to choose appropriate methods and analyze the issue from appropriate perspectives in order to present a really good research strategy.
The research strategies, in their turn, which are chosen to investigate the topic, can be of two types: qualitative and quantitative, and right now we will evaluate the effectiveness of one of them, discussing the problem that bothers lots of people nowadays, the problem of drug addiction.
Without any doubts, people cannot just stop making mistakes, this is why human mistakes are always under deep researches and discussions. Drug addiction is one of the mistakes, which lots of people can make and cannot be able to solve it.
This is why to conduct good research and evaluate how terrible this problem can be – this is one of the possible steps to start with. “Drug addicts in prison, women and drug addiction, drugs and driving, etc” (Council of Europe, 2005, 11) – such a frequent spread of drugs should promote a huge interest to investigate the problem of drug addiction once again and choose the best research strategy.
To investigate the problem of drug addiction, qualitative and quantitative research strategies will be used. With the help of quantitative methods, like numerous surveys, interviews, enumeration of cases of drug addiction, and possible estimation, it is possible to achieve such results: (1) to limit extent of drug use within population, (2) to point out the number of drug-related diseases, (3) to mention the demand of treatment, and, finally (4) to clear up prevalence of drug use.
The idea of a qualitative research strategy is almost about the same methods, but several more steps, like observation and grouping, should be added to them. Due to such adding, the qualitative research strategy allows (1) to analyze the reasons of drug use, (2) to describe risk behaviour, (3) to evaluate the effectiveness of policy responses, and (4) to inform and supplement quantitative research method.
According to such definitions of the aims of qualitative and quantitative research strategies, it is possible to admit that the ideas of qualitative research are better for those, who are eager to comprehend and respond to drug use, and the ideas of quantitative research provide only with certain numbers and statistics, without clear explanation.
So, the first difference between how qualitative and quantitative research strategies may undertake research on the topic of drug addiction is about the explanation of drug addiction, its reasons, and outcomes. Quantitative research will be more effective in this case. Another difference between these two research strategies is connected to the questions, which can be given at the end of the investigation.
Such questions like “What?” and “Why?” will be answered during the qualitative method, and the questions like “How many?”, “When?”, “How often?”, and “Where?” – are inherent to the quantitative method. Taking into consideration such difference, quantitative research strategy will be better for the discussion of the chosen topic. Finally, let us evaluate the outcomes of the two research strategies; this very evaluation will help to clear up what kind of research strategy will be better in drug addiction research.
Qualitative information is considered to be time consuming and really educative for people of any age and gender. Quantitative data is regarded as more effective and permitting to compare and contrast. However, the latter can miss lots of contextual details, which may considerably influence the outcomes of the investigation. This is why researchers should focus on qualitative research strategy more and be able to formulate both qualitative and quantitative information on the grounds on this very strategy.
Drug problems appear due to many different factors: “overwhelming power of the drugs themselves… consequences of faulty genes… medical disease…” (Levinson, 2002, 96) In order to achieve really worthwhile results and get a clear picture of why drug addiction takes place nowadays and how it is possible to prevent its spreading, attention to quality and reliable information should be paid more.
Lots of people do not want to concentrate their attention on numbers only. They can be surprised and amazed of how many people are already drug addicted, however, they do not comprehend what can make so many people to use or contribute drugs.
So, qualitative research will be more effective and provide readers with a chance to evaluate the situation, underline positive and negative aspects of the current problem, and make use of the received information. It is also necessary to admit that lots of qualitative researches require further investigation, and people should compare past data with present data in order to influence the results in future.
To my mind, to investigate the research topic where drug addiction is concerned, a qualitative research strategy will be better in comparison to a quantitative one.
Such choice is determined by several factors: (1) drug addiction should be investigated on a psychological level, this is why numbers are not always effective in this case; (2) the reasons of drug addiction and its outcomes may be better explained by means of qualitative information, not quantitative; (3) qualitative research strategy provide with a chance to understand the problem from different perspectives, and the same action is impossible with a quantitative research strategy.
The topic of drug addiction requires context-bound investigation, the analysis of case studies, and the ability to comprehend the reasons. All these issues may be explained by means of a qualitative research strategy, this is why in this case such strategy is considered to be a better one for discussion drug addiction issue.
Reference List
Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. New York: Oxford University Press.
Council of Europe. (2005). Drug Addiction, Part 78. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Levinson, M. H. (2002). The Drug Problem: A New View Using the General Semantics Approach. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.