Research is the most widely used tool to increase and brush-up the stock of knowledge about something and someone. In the field of marketing, business, sociology, psychology, science & technology, economics, etc. there are two standard ways of conducting research, i.e. qualitative research or quantitative research. While the qualitative research relies on verbal narrative like spoken or written data, the quantitative research uses logical or statistical observations to draw conclusions.
In a qualitative research, there are only a few non-representative cases are used as a sample to develop an initial understanding. Unlike, quantitative research in which a sufficient number of representative cases are taken to consideration to recommend a final course of action.
There is a never-ending debate on, which research is better than the other, so in this article, we are going to shed light on the difference between qualitative and quantitative research.
| Basis for Comparison | Qualitative Research | Quantitative Research |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Qualitative research is a method of inquiry that develops understanding on human and social sciences, to find the way people think and feel. | Quantitative research is a research method that is used to generate numerical data and hard facts, by employing statistical, logical and mathematical technique. |
| Nature | Holistic | Particularistic |
| Approach | Subjective | Objective |
| Research type | Exploratory | Conclusive |
| Reasoning | Inductive | Deductive |
| Sampling | Purposive | Random |
| Data | Verbal | Measurable |
| Inquiry | Process-oriented | Result-oriented |
| Hypothesis | Generated | Tested |
| Elements of analysis | Words, pictures and objects | Numerical data |
| Objective | To explore and discover ideas used in the ongoing processes. | To examine cause and effect relationship between variables. |
| Methods | Non-structured techniques like In-depth interviews, group discussions etc. | Structured techniques such as surveys, questionnaires and observations. |
| Result | Develops initial understanding | Recommends final course of action |
Qualitative research is one which provides insights and understanding of the problem setting. It is an unstructured, exploratory research method that studies highly complex phenomena that are impossible to elucidate with the quantitative research. Although, it generates ideas or hypothesis for later quantitative research.
Qualitative research is used to gain an in-depth understanding of human behaviour, experience, attitudes, intentions, and motivations, on the basis of observation and interpretation, to find out the way people think and feel. It is a form of research in which the researcher gives more weight to the views of the participants. Case study, grounded theory, ethnography, historical and phenomenology are the types of qualitative research.
Quantitative research is a form of research that relies on the methods of natural sciences, which produces numerical data and hard facts. It aims at establishing cause and effect relationship between two variables by using mathematical, computational and statistical methods. The research is also known as empirical research as it can be accurately and precisely measured.
The data collected by the researcher can be divided into categories or put into rank, or it can be measured in terms of units of measurement. Graphs and tables of raw data can be constructed with the help quantitative research, making it easier for the researcher to analyse the results.
The differences between qualitative and quantitative research are provided can be drawn clearly on the following grounds:
An ideal research is one, which is conducted by considering both the methods, together. Although, there are some particular areas which require, only one type of research which mainly depends on the information required by the researcher. While qualitative research tends to be interpretative, quantitative research is concrete.
