Describe the phenomenon of pain.

According to Creswell (2009), quantitative  research is a “means for testing objective theories by examining the  relationship among variables that can be measured and analyzed using  statistical procedures.” Qualitative research, Creswell posits, is a  “means for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups  ascribe to social or human problems.”

Consider  the phenomenon of pain. Ethics committees and institutional review  boards do not allow researchers to inflict equal doses of pain on  subjects to examine their physiological response. In quantitative  research, pain can be measured physiologically by blood pressure,  changes in blood chemistry, muscle contractions, and pain scales (which  are still subjective, but at least quantifiable). Researchers using a  qualitative perspective may ask participants about their experience of  being in physical pain, whether being in pain has changed them in any  way, or what they have learned from experiencing physical pain. https://writingcenter.uconn.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/593/2014/06/Writing_the_Empirical_Journal_Article_BEM1.pdf