Qualitative And Quantitative Research

Introduction

A research design refers to the whole research plan namely, aim and objectives of the study, methods of collecting data and analytical techniques used so as to ensure that the data is able to answer the research question (Roberts, Sitas & Greenstein 2003:10-11). There are two types of research design, namely, qualitative and quantitative. It is important to note that research design for qualitative and quantitative is overall the same as both designs originate from an idea they seek to understand phenomena and the world around. However, discrepancies are evident mainly with regards to data collection and also what the research seeks to achieve (Greenstein, Roberts and Sitas, 2003: 14). The objectives of this essay are to discuss key elements of qualitative and quantitative research designs, including the distinction between them. The distinction between these two research designs will also be compared with scientific and non-scientific approaches. Empirical examples illustrating the usefulness of the two designs are also given. This essay will focus on the key characteristics on aspects of data being used and its collection techniques, how it’s used and analysed as discussed by Popper (1989), Ragin (2000), Flyvbjerg (20010, Janesick (2000), De Vaus (2001), Denzin (2000) and Greenstein, Roberts and Sitas (2003).

Discussion

Although the key elements of these two types of research design are essentially identical, there are some notable differences in terms of how data is collected and analysed. The key elements include theoretical framework, research questions, research approach (participants/sample), methods to be used (observation, focus groups interview, experiments, in-depth interview, case studies and surve...

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... stage without distorting original responses. In general, qualitative research focuses on discovering and understanding the experiences, perspectives of thoughts by exploring meanings and reality. Qualitative research design encompasses direct practical interaction of the participants and the researcher creating a conducive environment for the exploration and extraction of data. According to Janesick (2000) qualitative research uses inductive because themes and patterns are generated from the collected data, field notes, documents and interviews. Thus, this makes qualitative research to be useful to gather grounded data. Moreover, Janesick also points out that qualitative researcher have open minds but not open minds because they formulate questions to guide the study and those questions are under constant revision during the study to suit the discussion and study.