Question

Compare and differentiate between a qualitative and quantitative research model.

Answer 1

Qualitative (‘qual’) research is often used for exploring. It helps researchers gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.

Qualitative data collection methods vary using unstructured or semi-structured techniques. Common methods include focus groups, individual interviews, observation or immersion, and diary studies. The sample size is typically small, and respondents are selected to fulfill a given quota.

Quantitative (‘quant’) research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables, and generalize results from a larger sample population. Quantitative research uses measurable data to formulate facts and uncover patterns in research.

Quantitative data collection methods are much more structured; they include various forms of surveys – online surveys, paper surveys, mobile surveys and kiosk surveys, face-to-face interviews, telephone interviews, longitudinal studies, website interceptors, online polls, and systematic observations.

In terms of the actual data, here are some of the key differences:

• Qualitative data is not countable. It’s chunks of text, photos, videos, and so on. Quantitative data can be counted as it’s numerical.
• Qualitative data is usually unstructured, which means it’s not ordered or grouped logically. You can turn qualitative data into structured quantitative data through analysis methods like coding.
• Most of the time qualitative data will be collected from a smaller sample size than quantitative data, becuase generally you’re not looking for statistical significance with qualitative research.
• Qualitative data is quite rich, and can give you directional insights about people’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, and so on. Quantitative data can help to give you more confidence about a trend, and allow you to derive numerical facts.