The qualitative evaluation It is a method that focuses on investigating subjective aspects of reality, instead of obtaining empirical data, as is the case with quantitative data. It is used both in the field of formal education and in the evaluation of intervention programs, action plans and other similar areas..
While quantitative evaluation focuses on statistically obtained data and objective measures, qualitative takes the opposite approach. Thus, its objective is to examine the individual experience of a person, or to "measure" aspects related to the five senses, emotions and value judgments..
For example, in formal education, qualitative assessment is used in developmental tests, in which students have to show that they have understood a topic by talking about it and its consequences. In them, the teacher has to subjectively assess whether or not the minimum learning requirements have been met..
For many decades, qualitative evaluation was relegated to the background precisely because of its lack of objectivity. However, in recent years it is becoming increasingly important, since it can help to understand some fundamental aspects of reality that quantitative does not allow to measure.
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Qualitative assessment focuses on understanding the least objective part of a process or experience. Thus, it takes care of the aspects that cannot be operationalized through statistical techniques, but that nevertheless can be just as important as other more specific aspects..
For example, on a quantitative level, a graphic design company can measure how much its annual profits have increased compared to the previous period; but on a qualitative level, their evaluation will have more to do with aspects such as the level of happiness of their employees, the beauty of their creations or the prevailing work environment.
In a formal educational setting, qualitative assessment uses tools such as creating projects or end-of-course assignments. Through these techniques, students can demonstrate in a practical way what they have learned, without ever having to objectively measure the knowledge they have internalized.
Quantitative evaluation uses statistics to extract a global result, which does not have to do with the development of an individual or a specific process, but in the whole. For example, using this system you can compare the overall effectiveness of two different types of therapy in treating an anxiety disorder..
Qualitative assessment, on the other hand, prioritizes the subjective experience of a single person rather than that of the whole. Continuing with the previous example, this process could help an individual to choose the form of therapy that best serves him on a personal level, regardless of which one is the most effective overall..
In addition to this, through qualitative evaluation it is possible to evaluate much more complex and internal aspects, such as one's own emotional state, a person's attitude towards a subject, or an individual's beliefs, which cannot be easily measured at a statistical level..
Just as the quantitative evaluation uses statistics to make its measurements, the qualitative one uses tools such as self-reports, personal interviews or subjective evaluations to obtain its results. In this way, the data obtained is of a completely different nature..
On the one hand, the results obtained through this type of tool cannot be generalized to other individuals or similar entities, but rather are totally specific to those who have used them. This implies that the results of a qualitative evaluation process are not easily replicable..
However, at the same time, these tools allow to know in greater depth the experience of a single individual, so they can be very useful in some specific contexts..
Despite the fact that in the past, qualitative evaluation was very discredited, due to the prevailing model of scientific thought, in recent years the tools extracted from this model have been used with increasing frequency. This is because it has begun to be seen as a complement to quantitative assessment..
In fact, the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative are practically the opposite of those of objective measurement. On the one hand, it allows to know in depth a subject, so it helps to detect problems that are not evident after a superficial analysis. This can help to achieve better results and to better understand reality..
At the same time, qualitative assessment makes it possible to measure aspects that are fundamental to the human experience, such as emotions, attitudes and beliefs, as well as deeper learning. All of these topics are extremely complicated to study using a more quantitative approach..
However, qualitative evaluation also presents a number of important problems. The most prominent is that it does not allow generalizations, so the results obtained from an investigation cannot as a general rule be applied to other similar cases.
In addition to this, the tools used in qualitative evaluation are usually more prone to generating errors of all kinds. For example, in a personal interview to assess whether a candidate is suitable for a position, factors such as the emotions of the interviewer that day, or the physical appearance of the person may come into play..
Qualitative assessment processes can be used both in formal educational contexts, as well as in a large number of different settings. Next we will see some examples to finish understanding this method.
- A philosophy teacher prepares a debate class, in which his students have to discuss topics such as ethics or politics based on what they have learned in class. The teacher will give each student a grade depending on what they say in their interventions.
- A psychoanalyst tries to discover the causes of the problems of one of his patients by asking him questions about his childhood, his emotions and the thoughts that go through his head.
- A company tries to find out if the coaching process for employees they have carried out has been effective, asking the workers if their mood and motivation have improved since it was carried out.
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