The next step after a scientist has collected and organized data from a field study or an experiment, the data must be analyzed. Analyzing data is the process of determing whether data are reliable and whether they support or refute a given prediction. Scientists analyze data in many ways, including using statistics, interpreting graphs, determining relationships between variables, and comparing data. On the basis of these observations and analysis, the scientist using deductive reasoning makes predictions about future observations. Scientific methods follow a sequenced and structured format.
Qualitative research has all the key ingredients to be scientific.
Qualitative research uses all of the key elements found in the scientific method and therefore must be considered to be scientific. Qualitative research is a research methodology that is largely subjective in nature, relying on observations, interviews, and interpretations of phenomena to provide information to the researcher. An example of the qualitative research process would be a researcher observing a classroom over a period of time describing and interpreting the activities, interactions, and processes of the classroom, coupled with interviews with he teacher and students on their perceptions of the efficacy of the classroom environment. Qualitative research has increased in the past twenty years, and it is slowly gaining acceptance in the profession. Quantitative research is a field of research in which knowledge is thought to be ascertained only through observation and experimentation.