Professor Parks is conducting a research study in which he is asking individuals to rate their satisfaction with their first yea
r of college. His questionnaire is based on a scale on which students respond to questions by choosing one of the following descriptors: "5. very satisfied; 4. somewhat satisfied; 3. not very satisfied; 2. not at all satisfied." Professor Parks is gathering __________.
First of all, the scale is wrong because it has 5 elements and not 5 values assigned. Second, this kind of questionaries are called scales and they assign a certain value to a certain response based on experience, opinion, behavior or any psychological characteristic you want to analyze. Quantitative data is identified for it's traduction to numbers. While qualitative data is characterized by its argumentary value. You can't translate qualitative arguments into data. Because they use different research tools and methods of analysis.
