What Relationship between Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches in the Process and Results of Research? Example: The Gary Project

Abstract

The Gary research studied the evolution of pupils’ literary reading skills and their
teachers’ practices over the course of compulsory schooling in four French-speaking
countries. The research methodology was adapted according to the outcome of
analyses of the collected data. This combined qualitative and quantitative
approaches that shed light on the results in different ways. The research began
with an exploratory qualitative phase, which aimed to establish analytical tools for
processing substantial data, and led to a quantitative and statistical study which
benefited, in turn, from a qualitative approach.