The researchers used a mixed methods approach drawing from two Swedish datasets – one a content analysis and the other a survey. Sweden is one of the top 10 countries in terms of Internet access, skills, and usage and has a history of high Internet news. Therefore the preconditions for online participation are favorable, suiting the researchers aim to track development over time in order to take stock of participatory journalism.
Data concerning the facilitation of comments on news sites was based on a yearly longitudinal study spanning from 2007 to 2013. The study focused on the four largest, nationwide news sites in Sweden: Aftonbladet, Svenska Dagbladet (SvD), Expressen and Dagens Nyheter (DN). The data was based on quantitative content analysis. 8,459 news items were analyzed for various variables – two of them being whether comments and blog links were allowed for the specific news item. In order to be able to accurately study changes over time it was necessary to collect the data at roughly the same time period every year.
When conducting a study over a long time-period and gathering a large sample it is necessary to use quantification in order to draw conclusions and generalizations about the data. However, that method also has some major limitations which is why in this particular paper the researchers decided to use mixed methods. The main methodological problems of the study were also paradoxically the mixing of different methods, although it was also necessary because of the type of data and the broad study subject.
One should keep in mind that planning a quantitative experiment is a complex process where the steps have to be followed carefully. One formulates a hypothesis (which is actually a special feature of quantitative research method – not qualitative), selects a sample population and designs an experiment from which the data will be gathered. Then, beforehand, the type of analysis is chosen – one that suits the hypothesis and manages to grasp the phenomenon which you want to measure. Often this is followed by a pilot experiment which shows the shortcomings and directs the experiment to a new direction. Finally, the experiment is conducted by following the plan closely.
Ilias Bergström and colleagues conducted a study of body ownership illusions with he help of immersive virtual reality. They had a sample of 36 university students in total, all of whom were Caucasian. I found it extremely interesting, that the external habitus virtual avatar had such a big impact on the behavior and frequency of movement in a drumming task. At first I wondered why to choose specifically an African drum, but the researchers justified it well by arguing for the little amount of particular technique needed for producing a sound. I'm also highly curious to see how the results of the study can be implied to "use" in behavioral sceneries. For example, the suggestion of "empathy machine" is extremely fascinating, since there are a lot of behavioral disorders.
Which are the benefits and limitations of using quantitative methods?
From what I have understood, quantitative method means applying statistical methods to the study and making generalizations based on the statistics. It doesn't examine a single case but rather shows causalities among a big group of examinees. However, quantitative doesn't necessarily answer to the questions of why the results are what they are, what is actually behind the numbers. Quantitative method isn't necessarily the best option when trying to examine the phenomenon as a whole.
Which are the benefits and limitations of using qualitative methods?
Compared to quantitative method, qualitative is a more descriptive method of research. Qualitative method is not able to measure the frequency or generalities that well, its aim is more to narrate the phenomenon. The weaknesses of qualitative methods are sometimes in the data gathering methods. For example, in the case of ethnographic research: if one decides to go with unstructured interview, there exists a risk that the researcher's own perceptions and expectations color the outcome of the transcribe.
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