OBJECTIVES

At the end We will able to;

 Understaned the deference b/n quantitative and qualitative

research.
 Differentiate study designs quantitative and qualitative research
 Compere and contrast qualitative and quantitative research in
terms of sampling size, data collection tools sampling methods
and data analysis.
 Understand the use of qualitative and quantitative research.
Introduction

Quantitative and qualitative research are complementary methods that you can combine in your
surveys to get results that are both wide-reaching and deep.Simply put, quantitative data gets you
the numbers to prove the broad general points of your research. Qualitative data brings you the
details and the depth to understand their full implications

Quantitative research methods are designed to collect numerical data that can be used to measure
variables.  Quantitative data is structured and statistical; its results are objective and conclusive.
It uses a grounded theory method that relies on data collection that is systematically analyzed.
Quantitative research is a methodology that provides support when you need to draw general
conclusions from your research and predict outcomes. Surveys are a great tool for quantitative
research as they are cost effective, flexible, and allow for researchers to collect data from a very
large sample size

Qualitative research is a methodology designed to collect non-numerical data to gain insights. It

is non-statistical and unstructured or semi-structured. It relies on data collected based on a
research design that answers the question “why.”

Qualitative data collects information that seeks to describe a topic more than measure it.  This
type of research measures opinions, views, and attributes vs. hard numbers that would be
presented in a graph or a chart.   Qualitative research methods usually involve first-hand
observation, such as interviews or focus groups. It is market research usually conducted in
natural settings, meaning that researchers study things as they are without manipulation—there
are no experiments and control groups. Qualitative researchers seek to delve deep into the topic
at hand to gain information about people’s motivations, thinking, and attitudes. While qualitative
approaches bring depth of understanding to your research questions, it can make the results
harder to analyze

To get the best results from these methods in your surveys, it’s important that you understand the
differences between them. Let’s have a look

Definition of Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Definition of Qualitative Research

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.

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.

Common qualitative methods include interviews with open-ended questions, observations

described in words, and literature reviews that explore concepts and theories.

Qualitative research is also at risk for certain research biases including the Hawthorne effect,
observer bias, recall bias, and social desirability bias.

Definition of Quantitative 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

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.

Common quantitative methods include experiments, observations recorded as numbers, and

surveys with closed-ended questions.

Quantitative research is at risk for research biases including information bias, omitted variable
bias, sampling bias,

The definition of quantitative research

Quantitative research methods are designed to collect numerical data that can be used to measure
variables.  Quantitative data is structured and statistical; its results are objective and conclusive.
It uses a grounded theory method that relies on data collection that is systematically analyzed.
Quantitative research is a methodology that provides support when you need to draw general
conclusions from your research and predict outcomes.

Surveys are a great tool for quantitative research as they are cost effective, flexible, and allow for
researchers to collect data from a very large sample size.
The definition of qualitative research

Qualitative research is a methodology designed to collect non-numerical data to gain insights. It

is non-statistical and unstructured or semi-structured. It relies on data collected based on a
research design that answers the question “why.”

Qualitative data collects information that seeks to describe a topic more than measure it.  This
type of research measures opinions, views, and attributes vs. hard numbers that would be
presented in a graph or a chart.  

Qualitative research methods usually involve first-hand observation, such as interviews or focus
groups. It is market research usually conducted in natural settings, meaning that researchers
study things as they are without manipulation—there are no experiments and control groups.

Qualitative researchers seek to delve deep into the topic at hand to gain information about
people’s motivations, thinking, and attitudes. While qualitative approaches bring depth of
understanding to your research questions, it can make the results harder to analyze.

When to use qualitative vs. quantitative research

Quantitative data can help you see the big picture. Qualitative data adds the details and can also
give a human voice to your survey results.

Let’s see how to use each method in a research project.

 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? What ad is most appealing?
 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
The differences between quantitative and qualitative
research
When collecting and analyzing data, quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics,
while qualitative research deals with words and meanings. Both are important for gaining
different kinds of knowledge.

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

Qualitative vs. quantitative research

Quantitative research Qualitative Research

Focuses on testing theories and hypotheses
Analyzed through math and statistical
analysis
Mainly expressed in numbers, graphs and
tables
Requires many respondents
Closed (multiple choice) questions
Key terms: testing, measurement, objectivity,
replicability
Focuses on exploring ideas and formulating a
theory or hypothesis
Analyzed by summarizing, categorizing and
interpreting
Mainly expressed in words
Requires few respondents
Open-ended questions
Key terms: understanding, context, complexity,
subjectivity

Comparison Chart
 Basis for
Qualitative Research Quantitative Research
Comparison
Qualitative research is a method of Quantitative research is a research method
inquiry that develops understanding that is used to generate numerical data and
Meaning
on human and social sciences, to find hard facts, by employing statistical,
the way people think and feel. 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
Words, pictures and objects Numerical data
analysis
To explore and discover ideas used in To examine cause and effect relationship
Objective
the ongoing processes. between variables.
Non-structured techniques like In-
Structured techniques such as surveys,
Methods depth interviews, group discussions
questionnaires and observations.
etc.
Result Develops initial understanding Recommends final course of action

The description of qualitative and quantitative research methods using the

following subheadings:
A. Research design
B. Sampling size
C. Sampling method
D. Data collection tools
E. Data analysis
A, Research design

Quantitative design methods

Quantitative designs typically fall into four categories: experimental, quasi-experimental,

descriptive, or correlational. Let’s talk about these different types. But before we begin, we need
to briefly review the difference between independent and dependent variables.

The independent variable is the variable that is being manipulated, or the one that varies. It is
sometimes called the ‘predictor’ or ‘treatment’ variable.

The dependent variable is the outcome (or response) variable. Changes in the dependent
variables are presumed to be caused or influenced by the independent variable.

Experimental

In experimental designs, there are often treatment groups and control groups. This study design
looks for cause and effect (if A, then B), so it requires having control over at least one of the
independent, or treatment variables. Experimental design administers the treatment to some of
the subjects (called the ‘experimental group’) and not to others (called the ‘control group’).
Subjects are randomly assigned—meaning that they would have an equal chance of being
assigned to the control group or the experimental group. This is the strongest design for testing
cause and effect relationships because randomization reduces bias. In fact, most researchers
believe that a randomized controlled trail is the only kind of research study where we can infer
cause (if A, then B). The difficulty with a randomized controlled trial is that the results may not
be generalizable in all circumstances with all patient populations, so as with any research study,
you need to consider the application of the findings to your patients in your setting. 

Quasi-experimental

Quasi-Experimental studies also seek to identify a cause and effect (causal) relationship,
although they are less powerful than experimental designs. This is because they lack one or more
characteristics of a true experiment. For instance, they may not include random assignment or
they may not have a control group. As is often the case in the ‘real world’, clinical care variables
often cannot be controlled due to ethical, practical, or fiscal concerns. So, the quasi experimental
approach is utilized when a randomized controlled trial is not possible. For example, if it was
found that the new treatment stopped disease progression, it would no longer be ethical to
withhold it from others by establishing a control group.

Descriptive
Descriptive studies give us an accurate account of the characteristics of a particular situation or
group. They are often used to determine how often something occurs, the likelihood of
something occurring, or to provide a way to categorize information. For example, let’s say we
wanted to look at the visiting policy in the ICU and describe how implementing an open-visiting
policy affected nurse satisfaction. We could use a research tool, such as a Likert scale (5 = very
satisfied and 1 = very dissatisfied), to help us gain an understanding of how satisfied nurses are
as a group with this policy.

Correlational

Correlational research involves the study of the relationship between two or more variables. The
primary purpose is to explain the nature of the relationship, not to determine the cause and effect.
For example, if you wanted to examine whether first-time moms who have an elective induction
are more likely to have a cesarean birth than first-time moms who go into labor naturally, the
independent variables would be ‘elective induction’ and ‘go into labor naturally’ (because they
are the variables that ‘vary’) and the outcome variable is ‘cesarean section.’ Even if you find a
strong relationship between elective inductions and an increased likelihood of cesarean birth, you
cannot state that elective inductions cause’ cesarean births because we have no control over the
variables. We can only report an increased likelihood.   

Qualitative design methods

Qualitative methods delve deeply into experiences, social processes, and subcultures. Qualitative
study generally falls under three types of designs: phenomenology, ethnography and grounded
theory.

Phenomenology

In this approach, we want to understand and describe the lived experience or meaning of persons
with a particular condition or situation. For example, phenomenological questions might ask
“What is it like for an adolescent to have a younger sibling with a terminal illness?” or “What is
the lived experience of caring for an older house-bound dependent parent?”

Ethnography

Ethnographic studies focus on the culture of a group of people. The assumption behind
ethnographies is that groups of individuals evolve into a kind of ‘culture’ that guides the way
members of that culture or group view the world. In this kind of study, the research focuses on
participant observation, where the researcher becomes an active participant in that culture to
understand its experiences. For example, nursing could be considered a professional culture, and
the unit of a hospital can be viewed as a subculture. One example specific to nursing culture was
a study done in 2006 by Deitrick and colleagues. They used ethnographic methods to examine
problems related to answering patient call lights on one medical surgical inpatient unit. The
single nursing unit was the ‘culture’ under study.

Grounded theory
Grounded theory research begins with a general research problem, selects persons most likely to
clarify the initial understanding of the question, and uses a variety of techniques (interviewing,
observation, document review to name a few) to discover and develop a theory. For example,
one nurse researcher used a grounded theory approach to explain how African American women
from different socioeconomic backgrounds make decisions about mammography screening.
Because African American women historically have fewer mammograms (and therefore lower
survival rates for later stage detection), understanding their decision-making process may help
the provider support more effective health promotion efforts

Study design differences

Quantitative
 Experimental – cause and effect (if A,
then B)
 Quasi-experimental – also examines
cause, used when not all variables can
be controlled
 Descriptive – examine characteristics
of a particular situation or group
 Correlational – examine relationships
between two or more variables
Qualitative
 Phenomenological – examines the lived
experience within a particular condition or
situation
 Ethnographic – examine the culture of a
group of people
 Grounded theory – using a research
problem to discover and develop a theory

B, Sampling size

Qualitative research uses data in the form of words, phrases, descriptions or ideas. It is time-
consuming and therefore only has a small sample size. Quantitative research uses data in the
form of numbers and can be visualised in the form of graphs. It requires large sample sizes to
be meaningful

Qualitative sample size guideline

#1: Segmentation of participants

In qualitative research, because the goal is to understand themes and patterns of a particular
subset (versus a broad population), the first step is segmentation. You may also know of this as
“persona” development, but regardless of what you call it, the idea is to first bucket your various
buyer/customer types into like-categories. For example, if you’re selling sales software, your
target isn’t every single company who sells products. It’s likely much more specific: like mid-
market sized VP-level sales execs who have a technology product and use a cloud-based CRM.
If that’s your main buyer, that’s your segment who you would focus on in qualitative research.

Generally, most companies have multiple targets, so the trick is to think about all the various
buyers/consumers and identify which underlying traits they have in common, as well as which
traits differentiate them from other targets. Typically, this is where quantitative data comes into
play: either through internal data analysis or surveys

#2: Figure out the appropriate study design

After you’ve tackled your segmentation exercise and know how to divide up your participants,
you’ll need to think through the qualitative methodology that is most appropriate for answering
your research questions. At InterQ Learning Labs, our whole coursework is based around
contextual research. This means that you want to set up your studies to be as close to real life as
possible. Is your product sale done through a group discussion or individual decision? Often,
when teams decide on software or technology stacks, they’ll want to test it and talk amongst
themselves. If this is the case, you would need to interview the team or a team of like-minded
professionals to see how they come to a decision. In this case, focus groups would be a great
methodology

#3: Your sample size is completed when you reach saturation

So far we’ve covered how to first segment your audiences, and then we’ve talked about the
methodology to choose, based on context. The third principle in qualitative research is to
understand the theory of data saturation.

Saturation in qualitative research means that, when interviewing a distinct segment of

participants, you are able to explore all of the common themes the sample set has in common. In
other words, after doing, let’s say, 15 interviews about a specific topic, you start to hear the
participants all say similar things. Since you have a fairly homogenous sample, these themes will
start to come out after 10-20 interviews, if you’ve done your recruiting well (and sometimes as
soon as 5 interviews). Once you hear the same themes, with no new information, this is data
saturation.

Sample size in quantitative studies

1. The larger the sample, the more representative

2. The larger the sample, the smaller the sampling error.
3. Descriptive studies and correlational studies require
large samples.
4. Quasi–experimental and experimental studies use
Smaller samples than descriptive and co -relational
Studies
Sample size in quantitative studies (Non-Experimental/
Descriptive Studies)

Level of confidence

 Probability of value of parameters will fall within

specified range, closely connected with the level of
significance for statistical tests.
 For example, we can be ‘95% confident’ that the true
mean value lies somewhere within a valid 95%
confidence level, corresponds to significance testing at
the 5% level (P < 0.05) of significance.
 Likewise, we can be ‘99% confident’ that the true mean
value lies somewhere within a valid 99% confidence
level, corresponds to significance testing at the 1% level
(P < 0.01) of significance

Precision

A measure of how close an estimate is to the true value of a

population parameter. Or it can be thought of as the amount of
fluctuation from the population parameter that we can
expect by chance alone in sample estimates
Degree of Precision
- This is presented in the form of a confidence interval
(Range of values within which confidence lies). For
example, a survey of a sample of patients indicates that
35 per cent smoke.
- We can accept that the figure for the wider population
lies between 25 and 45 per cent, (allowing a margin for
random error (MRE) of 10% either way)
Smaller the allowed margin for random error, the larger
the sample must be

N.B Qualitative research uses data in the form of words, phrases, descriptions or ideas. It is
time-consuming and therefore only has a small sample size. Quantitative research uses data in
the form of numbers and can be visualised in the form of graphs. It requires large sample sizes
to be meaningfu

C, Sampling method

QUANTITATIVE VERSUS QUALITATIVE SAMPLING

Quantitative researchers strive to collect large amounts of data using random selection methods.
The rationale for this premise is drawn from inferential statistics and assumes that samples are
drawn from a particular population. The larger the random sample drawn from a given
population, the less variation in each selected sample and the more representative of the given
population.(1) Analysis performed on these data can be descriptive (eg, descriptions of the
sample) or inferential (e.g., an estimation of population parameters derived from the sample).
Numerical data are used to describe the sample, examine relationships, and determine cause and
effect relationships between variables.(2)
Quantitative data and findings have been criticized for being reductionistic and removed from
human experience. In contrast, qualitative methods seek to represent holism and to provide
contextual knowledge of the phenomenon being studied. One goal of qualitative research is to
increase understanding of a phenomenon as opposed to generalizing data extrapolated from the
sample to the population at large. Rather than having a quantitative research outcome of
generalized findings, qualitative researchers have an onus of richly describing the findings so
they can be transferred to other situations. The qualitative researcher's responsibility includes
providing enough description about the context of the sample so that others may adequately
judge whether the findings apply to their own situations.

Quantitative research is generally concerned with probability-based approaches, qualitative

research typically uses nonprobability purposeful sampling approaches

Sampling in quantitative research focuses on maximizing the statistical representativeness of a

population by a chosen sample, sampling in qualitative research generally focuses on the complete
representation of a phenomenon of interest

Qualitative Sampling Techniques

Qualitative Methodology

In qualitative research, there are various sampling techniques that you can use when recruiting
participants. The two most popular sampling techniques are purposeful and convenience
sampling because they align the best across nearly all qualitative research designs. Sampling
techniques can be used in conjunction with one another very easily or can be used alone within a
qualitative dissertation. Here we will describe the two most popular techniques in a bit more
detail.

There are additional sampling techniques, such as snowball and quota sampling, that qualitative
researchers can use, but the majority of qualitative researchers utilize one of the sampling techniques
described above

QAUANTATIVE METHDOLOGY
It is mainly used in quantitative research. If you want to produce results that are representative of
the whole population, probability sampling techniques are the most valid choice.
...
Probability sampling methods

 Simple random sampling. ...

 Systematic sampling. ...
 Stratified sampling. ...
 Cluster sampling
D. 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).

Many data collection methods can be either qualitative or quantitative. For example, in surveys,
observations or case studies, your data can be represented as numbers (e.g. using rating scales or
counting frequencies) or as words (e.g. with open-ended questions or descriptions of what you
observe).

However, some methods are more commonly used in one type or the other.

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 subjects in a natural environment where variables can’t be
controlled.

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.
 Literature review: Survey of published works by other authors.

E.Data Analyze
Qualitative or quantitative data by itself can’t prove or demonstrate anything, but has to be
analyzed to show its meaning in relation to the research questions. The method of analysis differs
for each type of data.

Analyzing quantitative data

Quantitative data is based on numbers. Simple math or more advanced statistical analysis is used
to discover commonalities or patterns in the data. The results are often reported in graphs and
tables.
Applications such as Excel, SPSS, or R can be used to calculate things like:

 Average scores
 The number of times a particular answer was given
 The correlation or causation between two or more variables
 The reliability and validity of the results

Analyzing qualitative data

Qualitative data is more difficult to analyze than quantitative data. It consists of text, images or
videos instead of numbers.

Some common approaches to analyzing qualitative data include:

 Qualitative content analysis: Tracking the occurrence, position and meaning of words or
phrases
 Thematic analysis: Closely examining the data to identify the main themes and patterns
 Discourse analysis: Studying how communication works in social contexts

Summary

 Generally speaking, quantitative research seeks to understand the relationship between

variables through testing hypotheses. Qualitative research hopes to understand a
phenomenon through the use of interviews and real-world observation. Both types of
research are valid; however, certain research topics are better suited to one approach or
the other. It is important to understand the differences between these two types of
research so that you will be able to effectively analyze any articles that you read. 
Because you will understand the different advantages and disadvantages of each
approach, you will be better prepared to critique the articles you read

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