S/B/77. "It would be easy to fall into the trap of thinking that one research approach is 'better' than another. This would miss the point. They are just 'better' at doing different things". DISCUSS

Conclusion. The most important point to draw from the discussion is obviously that there is a right approach to every piece of research - there obviously isn't. Each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses and each is suited towards certain situations. The inductive approach is more suited towards qualitative research that is attempting to draw conclusions about situations where there is little data or where they may be great uncertainty or where a more 'three dimensional' understanding is required. Deductive researches can narrowly, but accurately, prove or disprove a theory or a supposition about a stated hypothesis. The ideal solution should of course be obvious now - not that these two approaches are not pitted against each other but gathered and combined in order to produce the best results. It does not require much imaginative thinking to try to see a research plan where inductive research develops a hypothesis through some form of qualitative research and then a larger scale deductive research approach attempts to determine if there is broader validity to it. This combined approach to research is the key to success in many cases. To summarise Duncan & Fiske (1977) It should be clear at this point that the emphasis on inductive research does not mean an abandonment of hypothesis testing but rather a benefit to it. Because without inductive research, there will be no hypotheses generated which can tested deductively