Qualitative and quantitative research methods are two broad types of research analysis. Every research that you have ever conducted or studied can be categorized as either qualitative or quantitative study. Understanding these two types of studies separately is a task that is executed when scholars study the basics of conducting research. Yet, many researchers fail to grasp the essence of these types leading to research questions that don’t define the purpose accurately.
This post will discuss these two types of studies in detail, so you can understand the purpose of conducting these studies as well as the process of doing so.
What is Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is characterized by studying non-quantifiable qualities of a subject of study. So, you will be looking at the reasons for a subject or a process related to it using qualitative research methods. Many cause-and-effect studies also take the style of qualitative research. An example of qualitative research will be to investigate the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic.
What is Quantitative Research
Quantitative research measures the quantity of the research subject. In this research style, the researchers concern themselves with assessing the magnitude of a certain phenomenon, theory, or school of thought. The focus remains on getting numbers and stats to verify their hypothesis. Note that a deep understanding of statistical methods is necessary to conduct this type of research.
Unlike qualitative research, quantitative research gathers information from a large sample of the population. An example question for the quantitative research method would be the monetary impact of COVID-19 on the International travel industry. You can see that this research question asks about the hard facts stated in monetary terms.
Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
Research paper publications publish a combination of both types of studies. Pick up a copy of your favorite research journal and analyze its content. You will see that it will include at least one qualitative and one quantitative research in every edition. Here are the major differences that will tell the two research types apart.
Research Question
You can guess the research question from its title. However, you may not fully appreciate the verb or angle of the research question using the title. In case the research title doesn’t say much about the nature of the research, you must study the introduction to find out the research question.
In the research question, you will want to look at the angle. Qualitative research usually uses the words why and how. On the contrary, quantitative research will explore the magnitude using phrases like how much or to what extent. When you are conducting the research, you must ensure to stick to relevant research questions to indicate the nature of your research.
Purpose of Research
The scope of qualitative research is forward-looking. It only seeks to establish new theories, connections, and concepts. You wouldn’t see qualitative studies exploring or proving already established principles. It will focus on veiled or undiscovered subjects.
Quantitative research always seeks to explore already theorized principles. It gathers data to prove or discredit information from previous studies or concepts. So, when scientists try to assess the change in brain structure owing to living in a noisy environment, they indulge in quantitative studies.
Research Methodology
The methodology of studying the subject also differs among these studies. For starters, you only have to gather numerical data with quantitative research. So, you must a research methodology that helps you gather stats and figures. On the other hand, qualitative research relies on subjective pieces of information including behaviors and connections. You will develop an observation-style research methodology to gather such data.
Popular methods of research for quantitative research include surveys based on Likert-scale or questionnaires, historical records, polls, and observation of trends. Qualitative research relies mostly on focus group discussions, observation, and controlled experiments. Mostly, these experiments are conducted to conclude communication and social behaviors.
Sample Size
The sample size of studies also differs in qualitative and quantitative studies. Quantitative studies depend on numbers that remain within the hypothesized range. The success of these studies is judged by their replicability. One way to verify this replicability is increasing the number of collected results. To satisfy the parameter of replicability, quantitative studies must gather data from a large sample size.
Now, the size of these samples varies from one research question to another. However, traditional studies could take data from hundreds to thousands of participants. The introduction of technology in the data industry has increased this figure and most technology-assisted quantitative studies now take a minimum sample of thousands of participants.
Data Type
As we have discussed earlier, the data required in quantitative studies is numerical. These studies need hard, undeniable facts in numbers to prove the hypothesis. The ultimate goal is to prove the objectivity of these concepts using facts and figures.
Qualitative research only presents the relationship between different variables and doesn’t have to be objective. These studies are subjective and open to be proved or disproved using later quantitative studies. To establish a theory or present a fact, the supporting evidence doesn’t need numbers and figures. Instead, you can do well with explanations and definitions.
Wrapping Up
This blog post talks about qualitative versus quantitative research paper publications. These two are the fundamental research types that are used in research and development work. The first of these two, qualitative research builds a narrative and establishes theories based on observations and experiments. The latter type of research tries to prove these theories and concepts with hard-to-defy facts and figures. The strength of quantitative research lies in the numbers that support it. A higher number of verifiable results will increase the strength of the conclusion obtained by quantitative research. On the other hand, the facts presented in qualitative research do not demand numbers to support it. The evidence can be a non-quantifiable fact, a quality, or a behavior. Qualitative research is proved by arguments or pieces of evidence.
