01.Introduction
1.1 What is Qualitative Research?
It is an explorative research
method that seeks to uncover the reasons behind human activities and behaviors
in order to comprehend the "why" and "how" of these things.
- Type of data used: Non-numerical.
- Methodology: The research process is mostly subjective, involves small samples, and follows an inductive ("bottom-up") methodology.
- Examples of methodologies: In-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and case studies.
examples:
Surveying
people on why they travel to their workplace in strange ways (for example, on
camels) in order to get a clear picture of their life and motivations.
Description
of a football game using descriptions of spectacular actions during the game,
the crowd's excitement, and how nerve-wracking the last two minutes were.
1.2. What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative research refers to
the study of numeric data to prove certain facts, theories and draw some
general patterns. This type of research seeks answers to quantitative questions
like "How many?", "How often?" or "What percentage?".
• Data:
Quantitative data includes numbers, statistics and measurable parameters.
• Methodology:
Quantitative research is very objective, requires large samples, and applies
the deductive approach to testing existing hypotheses to prove their ability to
generalize to a wider population.
• Common
Techniques: Structured surveys that have pre-established multiple choice
questions (for example from 1 to 5); laboratory experiments; closed questions.
Examples :
Conducting an
experiment to check how lack of sleep influences memory using numeric test
scores of two groups of people - sleep deprived and well-rested.
Talking about
a specific football game using only numbers: emphasizing the result of 45-23, 7
fouls and 70% passes completed.
Qualitative Research is research
that deals with understanding the depth of context of an issue, while
quantitative research deals with the overall statistic of an issue. Most
researchers would conduct both forms of research in order to gain full knowledge
of a problem.
|
Feature |
Quantitative |
Qualitative |
|
What it
uses |
|
Words, quotes, and pictures |
|
Goal |
|
To explore ideas and understand
behavior |
|
Questions |
|
"Why?" or
"How?" |
|
Tools |
Surveys, polls, multiple-choice |
Interviews, observations, open
discussions |
|
Number of
People |
Large groups |
Small groups |
02.How to Choosing Qualitative vs Quantitative Methods for
Your Research?
When deciding whether to use
quantitative or qualitative research, the most critical rule to bear in mind is
the following: Your research question will tell you which approach to take.
2.1. When Should
Quantitative Methods Be Applied?
Quantitative methods should be
applied in case your objective is to quantify, test, or prove something for a
big number of respondents. Use a quantitative approach in case:
- Your question starts with how many, how often, what
proportion.
- You want to test your theory, examine causation, or
predict trends.
- You plan to generalize to a whole population, meaning
that your sample size needs to be quite big (60+ respondents).
Examples:
Hypothesis
testing: In case you need to know if
sleep deprivation affects memory, your study will be quantitative. You will
have to split your sample into sleep deprived and well-slept respondents,
expose them to memory tasks, and statistically compare their precise test
scores.
Monitoring
preferences: A marketing company seeking knowledge about the preferences of
their clients would conduct a quantitative survey among their randomly selected
customers. The analysis of their responses regarding their price elasticity
through a rating scale will allow the marketers to understand statistics in
order to develop their strategy of products.
2.2. When To Use The
Qualitative Approach
Qualitative method should be used
when your aim is to explore, interpret, and delve into experiences of a
particular population.You should use the qualitative approach if you:
§ Need
to answer explorative questions "how this happened?" and "why
this happened?"
§ Are
researching an issue where there is not much information available prior to
research, i.e., the variables to measure are unknown.
§ Are
looking for in-depth understanding of unique cases or behaviors of a certain
number of people (from 1 up to 50 people).
Examples:
Examination
of abnormal behavior: When investigating people's commuting habits, a
quantitative questionnaire could simply ask them to check "car,"
"bus," or "bicycle." Yet, when you try to investigate an
issue called "outlier," such as those who commute in very peculiar
ways, such as by riding camels, then you need qualitative interviews to uncover
the whole essence of their lives.
Exploration
of delicate social questions: While investigating delicate issues, such as
femicide, conducting qualitative and deep interviews allows one to discover the
roots and subjective experience of the family or survivors.
2.3. The Third Option: Mixed Methods
You do not have to pick just one
approach. In fact, many scholars employ a technique known as Mixed Methods,
which combines both techniques, playing to their strengths and minimizing their
weaknesses.
Examples:
The
"Why" behind the "How Many": Suppose your quantitative
research at your school revealed that the number of girls dropping out has
sharply declined. To get to know why, you can conduct a qualitative focus
group, which may tell you that the girls see the school climate now as very
encouraging.
Sequencing:
You can begin with conducting a qualitative focus group to find out how people
discuss a certain issue, and based on the results of that discussion design a
quantitative survey that would be sent to thousands of people.
03. Advantages
of Qualitative vs Quantitative Methods
3.1. Advantages of Quantitative
Research
§ Designed in such a way that
information is gathered very fast from hundreds and thousands of people.
§ Gives an overall picture of what
the situation looks like and enables one to identify patterns and be able to
generalize about a bigger population.
§ Because of its use of standard
mathematics and statistical procedures, the methods used are always clear and
thus give very accurate results.
§ Mathematics does not change whether
one conducts the study or another individual conducts it; this makes it more
objective since it is not influenced by individual biases.
§ It is easier and quicker to
collect, store and process numeric information using computers.
§ Presents straightforward figures,
in the form of tables and graphs, with very little interpretation needed, thus
making it very reliable to decision-makers.
3.2. Advantages of Qualitative
Research
§ While figures help you understand
the situation, qualitative research digs deeper to understand why it happened
and how it did so.
§ You are able to concentrate on a
particular number of people, maybe even just one person, in order to gain an
in-depth understanding of his/her individual situation.
§ It is great when you want to find
out something that is not easily measurable, such as emotions, attitudes,
connections, and personal convictions.
§ You do not have to understand all
there is to know about the topic you study in advance since you are going to
find new data and adjust your questions accordingly.
§ It does not just focus on the
common man but seeks out "outliers" (i.e., people who act in a
different way) so as to find out something more.
§ It gives rise to the stories you
can feel and identify with because of quotations and personal experience
04. Limitations of Qualitative vs Quantitative Methods
4.1. Limitations of
Quantitative Research
§ As much as numbers give you
information about the change or how many individuals performed the action, they
do not provide any insight into why and how it happened.
§ The methodology of generalization
of broad patterns makes it difficult to notice details. At times, facts and
numbers become hard to understand without the knowledge of the situation behind
them.
§ Predesigned survey (such as
multiple choices) classifies people in simple groups; hence it fails to include
unusual or opposite cases.
§ One needs to know beforehand what
is being searched for to conduct the survey or experiment. For this reason,
unexpected results become difficult to obtain.
§ Hard to measure intangible items
such as relationships, feelings and attitudes of the respondents.
§ The survey does not give one a
means of verifying whether the respondent understood the question or what drove
him/her to select an answer.
§ Sometimes quantitative experiments
are carried out in controlled environments such as laboratories
4.2. Limitations of Qualitative Research
§
Since
you normally have a small number of people to interact with, it becomes
difficult for you to say with certainty that your findings are valid for the
whole population.
§
Managing
pages and pages of stories collected from an interview is way more difficult
compared to managing calculations.
§
The
validity of the findings is completely dependent on how competent the
researcher is. The lack of mathematics means that there is higher likelihood of
biased research findings.
§
Since
the researcher does not have any mathematical framework to analyze the
findings, then another researcher could easily give completely different
interpretations on the same material.
§
Since
the findings cannot be verified through statistics and are highly dependent on
the interpretations, then many decision makers will shy away from qualitative
research findings fearing manipulation.
§
Engaging
into issues in detail through face-to-face interviews poses several ethical
dilemmas and may affect the subjects emotionally.
05. Conclusion
Therefore,
the selection of the research method should depend on your particular research
question. Qualitative research is based on the analysis of words and open-ended
questions in order to answer the "why" and "how" questions
concerning human behavior through the study of small groups and obtain
comprehensive information about human experience although the subjective
conclusions are hard to generalize for broader samples. Quantitative research
utilizes numbers and statistics in order to test a theory or idea through broad
facts and trends that are derived from a large sample size although the
underlying context and reasoning remain unseen. Finally, since each approach
compensates for shortcomings of the other one, researchers tend to use both
together in the form of mixed methods.
07. References
Ali, A., Varma, U., & Pandya,
S. (2024). Qualitative vs quantitative: The difference in the key sections of
doctoral dissertations – A comparative analysis and a summary of findings.
International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 19, Article 7. https://doi.org/10.28945/5330
Gammon, C. (n.d.). Quantitative
& qualitative research traditions: Different but complementary [PowerPoint
slides]. Thesis and Dissertation Services, Texas A&M University-Commerce.
https://inside.tamuc.edu/academics/graduateSchool/documents/thesis--dissertation-services/Quantitative%20vs.%20Qualitative.pdf
Qualitative vs. quantitative
research. (n.d.). Adapted from Medium.
https://www.ou.edu/limclass/5043/reading/mod08/qualitative_quantitative.pdf
Simister, N., & James, D.
(2020). Quantitative and qualitative methods. INTRAC for Civil Society.
https://www.intrac.org/app/uploads/2017/01/Quantitative-and-qualitative-methods.pdf
Song, Z. (2023). Analysis of the
similarities and differences between qualitative and quantitative research.
Journal of Sociology and Ethnology, 5(1), 102–105.
https://doi.org/10.23977/jsoce.2023.050115
The research process (4th Canadian
ed.). (n.d.). [Chapter 4 Summary]. Wilkinson4e_SSG_Chapter4.pdf.
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