Lesson 5:

QUANTITATIVE and
QUALITATIVE
Research
Three Kinds of Research Paradigm
1. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH- research that
relies on the collection of qualitative data.
2. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH- research that
relies primarily on the collection of
quantitative data.
3. MIXED RESEARCH- research that involves
the mixing of quantitative and qualitative
methods of paradigm characteristics
*PARADIGM
•Typical example or pattern of
some thing; or model
1. Criteria: PURPOSE
Qualitative: To understand and interpret social
interactions
Quantitative: To test hypotheses, look at cause
and effect, and make predictions.
Mixed: To complement one set of results with
another, to expand a set of results, or to discover
something that would have been missed if only a
quantitative or a qualitative approach had been
used.
2. Criteria: GROUP STUDIED
Qualitative: Smaller and not
randomly selected
Quantitative: Larger and randomly
selected
Mixed: Multi-groups
3. Criteria: VARIABLES (anything
that has a quantity or quality)
Qualitative: Study of the whole, no
variables
Quantitative: Specific variables
studied
Mixed: Mixture of variables
4. Criteria:
TYPES OF DATA COLLECTED
Qualitative: Words, images, or
objects
Quantitative: Numbers and statistics
Mixed: Mixture of data, words and
images
4. Criteria:
TYPES OF DATA COLLECTED
Qualitative: Words, images, or
objects
Quantitative: Numbers and statistics
Mixed: Mixture of data, words and
images
5. Criteria:
FORM OF DATA COLLECTED
Qualitative: Collect qualitative data
such as open-ended responses
Quantitative: precise measurement
Mixed: Multiple forms
6. Criteria:
TYPE OF DATA ANALYSIS
Qualitative: Identify patterns,
features, themes, holistic features
Quantitative: Identify statistical
relationships.
Mixed: Qualitative and quantitative
7. Criteria:
OBJECTIVITY AND SUBJECTIVITY
Qualitative: Subjectivity is expected
Quantitative: Objectivity is critical
Mixed: Commonsense realism and
pragmatic view of the world. (i.e.
what work is ‘real’ or true.)
8. Criteria:
ROLE OF RESEARCHER
Qualitative: Researcher and their biases may be
known to participants in the study, & participant
characteristics may be known to the researcher
Quantitative: Researcher & their biases are not
known to participants in the study, & participant
characteristics are deliberately hidden from the
researcher (double blind studies)
Mixed: multi role of researcher
9. Criteria: RESULTS
Qualitative: Particular or specialized
findings that is less generalizable.
Representation of insider viewpoint.
Quantitative: Generalizable findings that
can be applied to other populations
Mixed: Corroborated findings may
generalize.
10. Criteria: SCIENTIFIC METHOD
Qualitative: Inductive/Exploratory or
bottom-up: the researcher generates a
new hypothesis and theory from the data
collected.
Quantitative: Deductive/Confirmatory or
top-down: the researcher tests the
hypothesis and theory with the data.
Mixed: Deductive and Inductive
11. Criteria:
MOST COMMON RESEARCH
OBJECTIVES
Qualitative: Describe, explore,
discover, & construct.
Quantitative: Describe, explain, &
predict.
Mixed: Multiple objectives.
12. Criteria:
FINAL REPORT
Qualitative: Narrative report with
contextual description & direct quotations
from research participants.
Quantitative: Statistical report with
correlations, comparisons of means, &
statistical significance of findings.
Mixed: Eclectic and pragmatic
Thank You!