MOUNT KENYA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION

UNIT CODE: BHU4114

UNIT TITTLE: METHOD OF HISTORICAL
RESEARCH.
NAME: RUTH JOEL
REG NO: BEDA/2021/93957

THE TASK

1. Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative

research.
2. What is the purpose of literature review in research.
3. Explain the importance of sampling in research study.

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The responses

1) Distinguish between qualitative research and quantitative

research.

i. Qualitative research is a method of collecting data where by

the information collected shows the way of life of people in
an area where people live and it contains the views and
opinions, feelings and values of people while quantitative
research is also a method of data collection where by the data
collected shows the analysis of the data in measurements.
That is it is given in percentages, coefficients and other
statistical methods.
ii. In the qualitative research, the researcher poses “how?” and
“why?” questions to help him understand social life of a
community such as opinions, relationships, traditional
practices and interactions while quantitative research the
design of study follows the methodology procedure and
statistical measures to test hypothesis and make predictions.
iii. Qualitative research is based on purposive sampling where a
small sample size is selected with a view to get a thorough
understanding of the target concept while quantitative
research relies on random sampling where in a large
representative sample is chosen in order to extrapolate the
result to the whole population.
iv. In qualitative research an oral communication is done from
one person to another to collect the expected data while
quantitative research measurable data is gathered through the
systematic ways.
v. Qualitative research uses words, pictures and objects in the
data analysis where people are asked questions to answer
while quantitative research research uses numerical data
where by one may go to an area of people and ask the
population of children around.

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vi. Qualitative research is conducted with the aim of explaining
and discovering ideas used in the ongoing processes while
quantitative research, the researcher examine the cause and
effect relationship between variables in a study field.
vii. The methods of data collection in qualitative research is
interviews and focus groups while in conducting quantitative
research questionnaires are used and also observation.
viii. In doing a quantitative research the researcher in the field
has to use inductive reasoning to collect quality data while
quantitative research a researcher has to use deductive
reasoning to collect enough data.
ix. In qualitative research the initial understanding is developed
when collecting the data while quantitative research it only
recommends the final cause of action.
x. Qualitative research it is very simple and it can be used by
the unskilled researchers such as the community members to
participate in this type of research while quantitative research
can be used by skilled learners only who have gone to a class
of statistics.
2. What is the purpose of literature review in research.
a) Literature reviews allow you to gain familiarity with the
current knowledge in your chosen field as well as the
boundaries and limitations of the field.
b) A literature review helps the researcher to gain an
understanding of the existing research and debates relevant o
a particular topic or area of study and to present that
knowledge in the form of written report.
c) A literature review identifies areas of prior scholarship to
prevent duplication and give credit to other researchers in the
study field.
d) In doing a critical research it’s important to do literature
review because it helps the researchers to place their own
research within the context of existing literature making a
course for why further studies is needed.
e) The purpose of literature review is ti identify gaps in
research, conflict in previous studies and also to open

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 questions left from other researches so that they will not re-
occur in the current research.
f) A literature review saves time and reduce the task that could
have been covered during the research since the researcher
has gotten the exact research before going to the field of
study.
g) The purpose of conducting this kind of study is to develop a
theoretical frame work and methodology and also to provide
an overview of the key findings and debates on the topic one
is about to do research on.
h) A literature review helps the researcher to to adopt more
appropriate methodology for the research by examining the
strength and weakness of the existing research in the same
field.
i) The other purpose is to help the readers of the manuscript to
answer the following questions for the readers better chances
of publication. For examole;
i. What do the researcher know?
ii. What do they not know?
iii. What are the knowledge gaps of the researcher?
j) Lastly the purpose of conducting a literature review is to
ensure a researcher collects data accurately for allowing any
new methodology of the research than the existing ones.

3. Explain the importance of sampling in research study.

i. Sampling increases the accuracy and reliability of the
obtained result where by more accurate results are obtained
which are reliable to everybody at the same time reducing
the amount of sampling error.
ii. Sampling is the best and the cheapest method of collecting
data where by in large population it minimizes work by
random sampling where some members are picked for
research among the many.
iii. Sampling method of collecting data give the accurate data
since the picked sample are appropriate for the research in
the field for example when examining a disease in crops one
picks some of the affected stems and does a research.

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iv. Sampling method saves money by allowing the researcher to
gather the same answer from a sample that they would have
attained from the whole population. For example when using
non-random sampling method.
v. More data is collected by using the sampling method because
from a sample one is able to collect different features,
defects, the importance of the sample and more others thus
making the data to be in large quantities.
vi. In sampling the data collected is much organized into various
parts through the systematic sampling and makes it easier to
read and make clear conclusion.
vii.Sampling helps the researcher to allow conclusion which are
clear and easy to understand the research.
viii. Sampling helps to minimize the amount of time and days
that could have been used to do the research without
sampling. This is because sampling enables the research to
cover all the information in a given field without going
through the whole population.
ix. Helps to minimize the number of resistance and hostility that
the researcher could have faced when trying to get
information from the whole population