Difference between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Doing research is considered to be one of the most essential things that could allow an individual to pursue his interest to learn something new. To challenge your limits and to enhance your problem-solving skills, research serves as the finest way that you can look for.

From professionalism to time management, performing research can help a person to learn some valuable skills for life.

In a nutshell, the main purpose of research is to conduct the information into proper action, gather the evidence for strong theories and methodologies, and make a valuable contribution in developing a certain level of knowledge in an academic field.

Narrowing it down to different types of researches and their methods – In this article, we are going to talk about the two most used methods of research. Yes, you guessed it right – qualitative and quantitative research methods.

WHAT IS QUALITATIVE RESEARCH? – A QUICK GLANCE:

Basically, qualitative research relies on the data that is obtained by first-hand observations. This includes the interviews, questionnaires, participant and observation recording, surveys, and first-hand groups. The type of data collected in qualitative research is usually non-numeric making research easier.

This means that qualitative research involves the collection and analysis of non-numerical data. Furthermore, this may include the text, video, and audio to thoroughly understand the concepts, opinions, and experiences. Also, qualitative research focuses on the questions of why via social settings.

WHAT IS QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH? – AN OVERVIEW:

Another direction in which the researches can take a turn is quantitative research that focuses on calculating the collection and analysis of data. This type of research is formed from the deductive approach where the scrupulous focus is completely over the testing of the theory and philosophies.

You can understand quantitative research as the type of methodology that deals with numbers, logic, and the objective stance. Focusing on numeric and unchanging data with details, quantitative research is conducted to attain a far better vision of any topic with an enhanced understanding of the social world.

MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH:

This could become difficult for the student or an individual to perform research. If he is not having any prior information about the research methodologies. In this guide, we have broken down the major differences that separate the qualitative and quantitative research methodologies from each other.

In a nutshell, the purpose of conducting qualitative and quantitative research is to allow the person to deal with words, meaning, systematically measurable variables, and test hypotheses.

This comprehensive guide would help you to walk through the major difference between qualitative and quantitative research. And it would become easier for you to conduct qualitative or quantitative research in the future. Let’s get down to the business and find some factors that differ both the type of researches from each other.

Below is a formatted table that would help you understand some key dissimilarities between quantitative and qualitative research.

This chart clearly defines how quantitative and qualitative researches differ from each other. Now have a look at the data collection methods as both the researches have got different methodologies for their completion and findings. Data collection methods would help you to find correct answers to your research questions.

For instance, while conducting qualitative research, surveys, observations, and case studies, data would be presented in the form of words and sentences. On the other hand, while conducting quantitative research, your conclusion would be in the form of numbers and counting frequencies. Below, we have broken some methods that are commonly used in different studies.

Quantitative research – data collection methods:

• Surveys: This is a list of multiple-choice questions that are distributed among a certain group online or even onsite
• Experiments: These are the situations in which the variables are controlled by the established environment and a certain activity is done to find out the answers
• Observations: Uncontrolled variables with the observation of subject in the natural environment

Qualitative research – data collection methods:

• Interviews: Open-ended questions being asked to the respondents
• Focus groups: Discussion among people for opinions to conduct further research
• Literature review: An authorized survey of published works by other authors

When you should use qualitative vs. quantitative data?

One of the most common techniques to decide whether to use the qualitative or quantitative research methodology – a rule of thumb is used.

• You can use quantitative research if you want to approve or confirm something – this refers to the theories and hypothesis
• You must use qualitative research if you want to absorb or understand some concept, thoughts, or experiences

One can use a blend of both the research types to show his final results in terms of quantitative and qualitative data. Understand the scenario in this way;

You would have to conduct a survey to ask the students, “How satisfied you are with the teachers and study program?” Students would further be asked to rate the question out of 10. This is a quantitative research approach.

This approach is a qualitative one. You would have to arrange an interview session with the students and would have to get into the process of open-ended questions. The entire process is wordy and detailed therefore it will be considered qualitative research.

THE FINAL TAKEAWAY:

With the help of this long and comprehensive guide written by the expert writers of Assignment Master. You must have understood the differences that separate both the researches as well as the quantitative and qualitative from each other. Using both of them smartly for your research assignment is now completely up to you and finally up to the topic for which you are doing the research.