BRM (Unit-2)

1. Quantitative research and Quantitative research

Quantitative research is expressed in numbers and graphs. It is used to test or confirm theories and
assumptions. This type of research can be used to establish generalizable facts about a topic.
 Surveys, experimental research, content analysis

Qualitative research is expressed in words. It is used to understand concepts, thoughts or experiences.

This type of research enables you to gather in-depth insights on topics that are not well understood.

 Interviews, ethnography, discourse analysis

The differences between Quantitative and Qualitative research

Quantitative and qualitative research use different research methods to collect and analyze data, and
they allow you to answer different kinds of research questions.

Quantitative research Qualitative Research

Focuses on testing theories and Focuses on exploring ideas and formulating a theory or
hypotheses hypothesis

Is analyzed through math and statistical Is analyzed by summarizing, categorizing and interpreting

analysis

Mainly expressed in numbers, graphs and Mainly expressed in words

tables

Requires many respondents Requires few respondents

Closed (multiple choice) questions Open-ended questions

Data collection methods

Quantitative and qualitative data can be collected using various methods. It is important to use a data
collection method that will help answer your research question(s).
 Quantitative data collection methods

 Surveys: List of closed or multiple choice questions that is distributed to a sample (online, in

person, or over the phone).
 Experiments: Situation in which variables are controlled and manipulated to establish cause-and-
effect relationships.
 Observations: Observing people in a natural environment where variables can’t be controlled.
 Content analysis: Systematically recording the presence of certain words or themes in a set of
texts to analyze communication patterns.

Qualitative data collection methods

 Interviews: Asking open-ended questions verbally to respondents.

 Focus groups: Discussion among a group of people about a topic to gather opinions that can be
used for further research.
 Ethnography: Participating in a community or organization for an extended period of time to
closely observe culture and behavior.
 Case studies: In-depth study about a person, group, event or organization.
 Literature review: Survey of published works by other authors.

When to use qualitative vs. quantitative research

 Formulating hypotheses: Qualitative research helps you gather detailed information on a topic. You
can use it to initiate your research by discovering the problems or opportunities people are thinking about.
Those ideas can become hypotheses to be proven through quantitative research.

 Validating your hypotheses: Quantitative research will get you numbers that you can apply
statistical analysis to in order to validate your hypotheses. Was that problem real or just someone’s
perception? The hard facts obtained will enable you to make decisions based on objective observations.

 Finding general answers: Quantitative research usually has more respondents than qualitative
research because it is easier to conduct a multiple-choice survey than a series of interviews or focus groups.
Therefore it can help you definitely answer broad questions like: Do people prefer you to your competitors?
Which of your company’s services are most important? 

 Incorporating the human element: Qualitative research can also help in the final stages of your
project. The quotes you obtained from open-ended questions can put a human voice to the objective
numbers and trends in your results. Many times it helps to hear your customers describe your company in
their own words to uncover your blind spots. Qualitative data will get you that.
2. Focus Group Interview

Focus group interview is a tool for qualitative market research where a group of people are selected and
asked about their opinion or perceptions about a particular topic. The environment is interactive where
the participants are free to discuss with each other.

Characteristics of a focus group interview:

• There is a trained moderator and a small group of respondents
• Participants are normally similar in terms or either demographics or psychographics or buying
behaviour/attitudes
• Participants are unknown to each other

Advantages of focus group interview in marketing:

• It is a tool for acquiring feedback about products or topics
• It provides information about various aspects of a product that is yet to be launched in the market so
that the product can be modified
• It gives insight into why certain opinions or perceptions are the way they are
• Easy to conduct, low cost and less time to get results
• Flexible; also since the moderator and the respondents are in direct communication, better insights

Disadvantages of focus group interviews:

• The conclusions from one group cannot be applied to other groups
• Valid information about the individuals cannot be obtained
• Things change before and after the discussion, and this cannot be accounted for
• Data analysis is difficult because of the possibility of randomness or chaos in the discussion
• The moderator should be properly trained, otherwise the results may not be what was intended
• Inability to generalize the results to a larger population
• No control over the group and what information will be produced

3. Depth Interviews

They generally use small samples and also conduct direct one to one personal interviews. A detailed
background is provided by the respondents and elaborate data concerning the respondents opinions,
values, motivation, expression, feeling etc are obtained. Even their non-verbal expressions are observed.
They take long time, therefore lengthy observations are involved.
These are conducted to customize individual responses. The questions will depend on what kind of
answers are given. Even interview climate influences the respondents. The success of interviews
depends on the rapport of the interviewers established with the respondents.

Advantages of Depth Interview

1. Lot of detail is provided.

2. Information obtained is comparatively more accurate.
3. Personal or intimate topic can also be discussed since the personal rapport is established
between the respondent and the interviewer

Disadvantages of Depth Interview

1. It is difficult to generalize since the interviewers are non-standardized

2. Since the success depends on the interviewer, there are chances of bias.
3. Data analysis takes a lot of time.