comparative value priorities of chinese and new zealand

There are arguments for employment of qualitative methods in support of quantitative
methods, and I have included focus group studies in the project. Ratner and Hui (2003)
believe reifying the cultural aspect of psychology, as it exists for individuals, requires
qualitative methods. Qualitative methods should elicit extended descriptions from
subjects and then elucidate the aspects of psychological phenomena through a
contextual, interpretive (hermeneutical) analysis. For example, the particular qualities of
romantic love, depression, or problem solving might be explained through such an
analysis. Ratner and Hui also state that qualitative methodology tends to exclude
superficial, artificial, fragmented, simplistic tests and responses. This may be true in the
better planned and managed studies, but qualitative methods do not necessarily prevent
these problems, and sometimes over-generalise from anecdotal evidence. Some authors
accuse positivistic and quantitative researchers of embracing a “fetish of converting
psychological phenomena to numbers and analyzing these according to mechanical
statistical tests”. Maybe, maybe not, we can carry out good and bad research using
either qualitative or quantitative methods. Both the SVS and the LBDQXII were
developed from extended investigations and descriptions of the phenomena to be
measured, and then years of study were carried out to develop empirical surveys
designed to operationalise these phenomena. This investigation is still going on, and this
study is part of it.
I selected this approach for several reasons. My education and experience, my
undergraduate degree and post-graduate work and my first job were in the area of
quantitative, field studies in social science using survey research methods. I have found
the method to produce useful results that have proven valid upon application in actual
business situations. Survey research is cost-effective in terms of time and money,
providing access to large numbers of potential subjects at the lowest cost. The major
theorists in the discipline employ this method and have been successfully, and have
produced useful information for the past thirty years. Having chosen a method, I then
selected survey instruments.
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