Dr. James Reswick Summary

Dr. James Reswick wrote an editorial for the Journal of Rehabilitation and Development to explain what he learned about research over a long, distinguish career. 1,2 Recognized in 1976 with election to the National Academy of Engineering, Reswick spent the majority of his career working in the adaptive technology field. This engineering foundation defined how he viewed valid research for many years. However, after assuming duties as Associate Director at the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, Reswick began to see various research types as valid.
Although Reswick briefly described these various research types, his most important discussion points concerned scientific, participatory action, quantitative and qualitative research methods. For scientific research, Reswick emphasized replication as the key factor (Reswick, 2004). Under these conditions, replication could only happen if the research findings were found both valid and reliable. According to Reswick, once validity and reliability confirmation happened one could then classify the research as scientific (Reswick, …show more content…
Many quantitative research studies need tools capable of precise and accurate measurements (Reswick, 2004). While tools for qualitative research do not require precision and accuracy since collection involved surveys, research, and interviews (Reswick, 2004).
Finally, quantitative and qualitative research differ with the outcomes generated (Reswick, 2004). With the outcome from quantitative research, the hypothesis is either proven true or false (Reswick, 2004). On the other hand, qualitative research outcome produces a grounded theory based on data (Reswick, 2004). In addition, Reswick argued this grounded theory would yield reliable and valid data. Once this grounded data was determined as valid and reliable, Reswick considered the process as scientific (Reswick,