There are two types of research that can be conducted in research studies, these are qualitative and quantitative (Newman, 2011). Qualitative research is a process that uses detailed oriented methodology that tries to achieve a profound knowledge or understanding of specific incident and circumstance, wh...
Qualitative and quantitative methods allow researchers to investigate, explore and inquire the nature of the phenomenon being studied. It is important that the researcher develops a clear understanding of the problem and design a plan to investigate it (Cresswell, 1998, para. 1). There are a variety of research methods; nevertheless, it is important to consider which research method is appropriate for the study. Qualitative research focuses on human experiences while quantitative research relies on numbers, measurements, and testing. Nevertheless, qualitative and quantitative methods use similar approaches to conduct research and collect data. For example, observations and interviews are approaches used in both research designs; however, the approaches are used and viewed otherwise. This will be discussed later in the paper.
Quantitative research expresses data in a numerical fashion and its main focus is to supply information and to determine relationships between variables (Guts, 2014). It is the most widely used research because it gives hard results and is quite easy to understand (Guts, 2014). Quantitative research can shape our behavior. For example, wearing a seatbelt in the car. People wear their seatbelts in the car because one, it is the law. Two, it became a law because of research that has been done, saying that wearing seatbelts protects the body more effectively when in car accidents than not wearing a seatbelt. The data is expressed numerically by showing statistics on people’s health when they have been in an accident either with a seatbelt on or off. Quantitative research is helpful when learning about unknown facts such as the importance of wearing a seatbelt.
Quantitative research is research focused on data collections and measurability (Criswell, 2015). According to Newman and Benz (1998), it focuses on the common ideas that all people seem to agree on. Such as that apples come in three colors or that the majority of young people 18-25 have some experience with social media.
Studies using quantitative research analyze phenomena by trends and frequencies (Al-Busaidi, 2008). The sample size is important. A small sample could change the outcome. It could be an overrepresentation of a small subgroup within the specific population. The risk of sampling errors decrease as the sample size becomes larger. How the sample size is determined and the way participants are invited into the research is included within the write up. The data collected can be from a multitude of methods including interviews, questionnaires, attitude scales, or observational tools. When asking questions, the choices are typically closed-ended with fixed answers. The data analysis for quantitative studies includes complex language and statistical tests. The researcher identifies what statistical method was used and the results. It is commonly understood that if the research descriptive in design use descriptive statistics; while correlational studies, quasi-experimental and experimental studies use inferential statistics. Tables, charts, and graphs are displayed within the resu...
The “[r]esearch designs are types of inquiry within qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches that provide specific direction for procedures in a research design” (Creswell, 2014, p. 12). Following Bryman (2012, p. 45), the literature differentiates between the five research designs: experimental, cross-sectional, longitudinal, case study, and comparative.
Quantitative research may be seen as the less contentious of the two because it is more closely aligned with what is viewed as the classical scientific paradigm. Quantitative research involves gathering data that is absolute, for example numerical data so that it can be examined as unbiased as possible. The main idea behind quantitative research is that it is able to separate things easily so that they can be counted. The researcher generally has a clear idea of what is being measured before they start measuring it, and their study is set up with controls. Qualitative research on the other hand is a more subjective form of research, in which the research allows themselves to introduce their own bias to help form a more complete picture. Qualitative research may be necessary in situations where it is unclear of what is exactly being looked for in a study, while quantitative research generally knows exactly what it is looking for. Questionnaires and surveys are quantitative socio-legal research, because it is the collection of numerical data, or data that can be easily being turned into a numerical form. In terms of analysing quantitative data, Excel is the b...
Research can be quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research is objective and involves measuring the phenomena under investigation. Qualitative research is subjective, explores experiences and feelings, and involves the recording of phenomena that cannot easily be quantified (Toates, 2010, pp. 5-6). Both are empirical since they involve data collection (OU, n.d.).
Quantitative: Is data that can be measured using numerals a good example is a tally which at the end the total numbers are show in numerical figures.
According to Smith (1983) quantitative research is to explain, predict and develop laws that can be universally applied and Qualitative research is the interpretation and understanding of what people give to their situation. The researchers clearly stated the purpose of their studies, aim, objectiv...
The father of quantitative analysis, Rene Descartes, thought that in order to know and understand something, you have to measure it (Kover, 2008). Quantitative research has two main types of sampling used, probabilistic and purposive. Probabilistic sampling is when there is equal chance of anyone within the studied population to be included. Purposive sampling is used when some benchmarks are used to replace the discrepancy among errors. The primary collection of data is from tests or standardized questionnaires, structured interviews, and closed-ended observational protocols. The secondary means for data collection includes official documents. In this study, the data is analyzed to test one or more expressed hypotheses. Descriptive and inferential analyses are the two types of data analysis used and advance from descriptive to inferential. The next step in the process is data interpretation, and the goal is to give meaning to the results in regards to the hypothesis the theory was derived from. Data interpretation techniques used are generalization, theory-driven, and interpretation of theory (Gelo, Braakmann, Benetka, 2008). The discussion should bring together findings and put them into context of the framework, guiding the study (Black, Gray, Airasain, Hector, Hopkins, Nenty, Ouyang, n.d.). The discussion should include an interpretation of the results; descriptions of themes, trends, and relationships; meanings of the results, and the limitations of the study. In the conclusion, one wants to end the study by providing a synopsis and final comments. It should include a summary of findings, recommendations, and future research (Black, Gray, Airasain, Hector, Hopkins, Nenty, Ouyang, n.d.). Deductive reasoning is used in studies...
Quantitative is based on empirical research, critical interpretation of data in forms of numbers. Mostly, quantitative research uses deductive approach, which begins with a theory, generalizes and tests theory or hypothesis. Quantitative is suitable for researcher aiming at answering questions, operational definitions, an experiment of time series to see how things are changed in number, casual explanation and deductive reasoning. Quantitative research data is based on questionnaires collected from descriptive information, attitude survey, explanatory survey through an interview, form filling, portal, email. (Sue, 2017; University of Surrey, 2017)
The definition and the aim of quantitative research is gathering the information from many individuals so that it has the ability to make generalisation (Ranjit Kumar, 2014). Compared with qualitative research (interview), it might not take a long time to gather all the sample, as researcher conduct it at the same time if they wish. In addition, it might not make respondents really tired, compared with the interview. As the term mentions,
Qualitative data analysis is the process of transforming data into information, information into understanding and understanding into knowledge (Davenport & Prusak, 1998). Furthermore, qualitative data analysis can be described as a blend of scientific studies and artistic style to create an innovative product. The research acts as the primary research tool, and must be able to sustain composer throughout the entire study. In addition, the researcher must be able to pay attention to the small details of the study, without losing sight of the big picture of the study (Chenail, 2012).
...ve and quantitative methods to conduct a successful research. But, both qualitative and quantitative research is based on assumptions, and both when carried out accurately provide good research.