qualitative/quantitative - quantitative research produces quantifiable results, typically published in tables and charts based on data typically collected by questionnaires. In the early days of communication research, the technique of conducting large-scale surveys was pioneered by Paul Lazarsfeld at the prestigious Columbia Bureau. With the development of cultural studies in Britain and France and its later spread to the USA, quantitative research has generally taken second place to qualitative methods. In part this is because qualitative methods (based on in-depth interviews (structured or unstructured), participant or non-participant observation and similar methods) are deemed to produce greater insight into audiences' media use, their reasons for its use and the meanings they generate for it; in part I suspect that it is a matter of fashion, no self-respecting academic wishing to be seen as a mere number-cruncher.

See also:

ethnographic research

Section on audience research

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