quant qual methods
good example of using mixed research method. I will record it here in case I'll need to explain it to students again next year.
The research is aimed to establish the relation between the glucose in blood (how much sugar people eat) and how old they look.
In the first part of the research, quant. approach to data gathering is used in order to establish the set of glucose levels of the participants. In the second, the qualitative method is used to establish how old the participants look.
The second part is not so obvious. In it researches are after particular figures, the age, which intuitively leads one to think that it is the quant. method that should be used. But if examined more closely the goal of this part of the research in fact leads to a qualitative framework. Researchers aim to determine not the real age of the participants, but THE WAY THEY LOOK in the eyes of public. Clearly, a subjective interpretation of objective reality is evident, of interest is exactly what people think, a strictly social matter, the fuzzy stuff, not rigid. So, the second part of research is qualitative.
If looked at generally, the research is done to establish the relation, between two factors, the levels of sugar and the perceived age of participants. Overall, the goal demands large scale of data in order to establish the relation, it leads to statistical means and therefore on a big scale, the research is of quantitative nature with a qualitative twist.