Qualitative vs. quantitative research

The main difference lies in their purpose and type of data collected. Qualitative research explores ideas, experiences, and meanings (non-numerical), while quantitative research tests relationships between variables using numerical data.

Qualitative research collects non-numerical data such as interview transcripts, field notes, audio recordings, videos, and text. The goal is to gather rich, detailed information about experiences, perspectives, and behaviors.

Quantitative research collects numerical data that can be measured, counted, or ranked. This includes scores from surveys, experimental results, statistics, and other data that can be expressed as numbers.

Common methods include interviews (individual or focus groups), observations, case studies, ethnographic studies, and analyzing documents or artifacts. These methods aim for in-depth understanding rather than broad generalization.

Common methods include surveys (with closed-ended questions), experiments, collecting data from databases, and structured observations. These methods are designed to collect data that can be statistically analyzed.

Qualitative research answers questions like "Why?", "How?", or "What are the experiences of...?" It explores underlying reasons and motivations.

Quantitative research answers questions like "How many?", "How much?", "What is the relationship between X and Y?", or "Does A cause B?" It measures and tests relationships.

Qualitative Example: Conducting in-depth interviews with patients to understand their emotional experience of a new treatment.

Quantitative Example: Surveying 1000 patients to measure the average pain reduction score after receiving the new treatment, or conducting a randomized controlled trial to compare outcomes between treatment groups.

Qualitative Advantages: Provides rich, detailed insights; explores complex issues; useful for generating hypotheses and understanding context.

Qualitative Disadvantages: Findings may be subjective and harder to generalize; time-consuming data collection and analysis; depends heavily on researcher skill.

Quantitative Advantages: Findings can be generalized to a larger population; objective measurements; allows for statistical analysis and testing hypotheses; often faster to collect data from large samples.

Quantitative Disadvantages: May overlook context; doesn't explain "why" in detail; can be limited by predefined variables and questions.

Use qualitative research when you need to explore a topic in depth, understand perspectives, uncover new insights, or develop hypotheses (e.g., initial exploratory phase).

Use quantitative research when you need to measure variables, test hypotheses, establish relationships, or generalize findings to a larger population (e.g., confirming findings, measuring impact).

Yes! This is known as mixed methods research. Combining both approaches can provide a more comprehensive understanding of a research problem, using qualitative data to explore and understand, and quantitative data to measure and confirm.

Neither type is inherently "better". The most appropriate method depends entirely on your research question, objectives, and the nature of the phenomenon you are studying. They serve different purposes and often complement each other.