THE COMPARISON AND CONTRAST OF QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE

RESEARCH
A Narrative Report

“We were once clueless about how different the words qualitative and quantitative are
from each other. It was the second week of March when Sir Sherwin U. Ordanes, one of our
second-semester teachers, introduced the subject of "Practical Research" to us as well as its
importance, characteristics, processes, and ethics, which we, 11 STEM 4 students enjoyed so
much. We still did not have a research group at that time, but he still gave us the information we
need as future and first-time researchers. When our lesson became "Qualitative and Quantitative
Research", Sir Sherwin did not discuss qualitative research with us and despite it being the type
that all of us will soon conduct and defend, he still did not. And the reason for that is he wants us
to learn it ourselves, to figure it out on our own by different means, to research about that.
Second-semester subjects were still unavailable at Canvas at that time so, the five of us decided
to gather some background information regarding Qualitative and Quantitative Research using
the internet so that we could have ideas before we start our paper.”
Pauleen, the leader, after reading some articles and websites found on Google and Google Scholar,
has concluded that "Qualitative Research focuses more on individual experience rather than a
group of numerical data, the latter being the characteristics of Quantitative Research. However,
despite being different from each other, both cannot be achieved successfully if it's not for factual
information given by the respondents, arranged and analyzed by the researchers to achieve their
designated goal at the end of their paper.
Meanwhile, Sofhia, a member, has shared her idea that says, "Qualitative research is where we
gather information from observing situations or events that affect people, we can also use potential
respondents by using surveys or questionnaires, while qualitative is where we gather information
by capturing expressive information that is conveyed about beliefs, values, feelings, and
motivations that underlie behaviors."
And Patrick, another member, said to have learned that "Quantitative research relies on numerical
or measurable data while Qualitative Research relies more on personal documents that illustrate in
detail how people think or how they respond within the society." Natasha and Jewell have also
said almost the same thing, but still somehow confused. However, after our Title Defense on the
23rd of March, they have been enlightened better regarding this matter and could somehow figure
it out on their own. Research is an important subject that allows us to discover and learn as we
navigate through it. The process of collecting data and learning new things as we talk to our
respondents, and the potential it has for the development of our society. Qualitative and
Quantitative are two different types of research that are somehow still the same as each other. And
as the five of us try to overcome the challenges that this subject has given to us, we
are also eager to find out new knowledge, just like the comparison and contrast of the two. Being
clueless is not a sin. Staying clueless despite having the resources is.