What Approach Should I Take: Qualitative or Quantitative
Dr. Nancy Agens, Head,
Technical Operations, Statswork
info@statswork.com

I. INTRODUCTION
In
practice,
collection
and
analyzing the data involves two
approaches: Qualitative and Quantitative
approach. Each approach has diverse kind
of objectives and statistical methodology.
Quantitative research Methodology is
useful in testing the assumptions and
theories which are already defined whereas
Qualitative research is useful in
understanding
the
concepts
and
formulating the theories. Experimental
research and surveys are the example of
quantitative research; Case studies and
interviews are the examples of qualitative
research. Thus, before performing any
analysis, one should look into the data type
whether it is qualitative or quantitative in
nature (John.w .cresswell, 2008; Bryman,
2004). In this blog, I will explain you the
main difference between the qualitative
and quantitative research and when to use
both.
II. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

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It focuses on testing the hypothesis we
claim about the problem.
Expressed by numbers, tables and
graphs
Needs many observations
The questionnaire should be in closed
form i.e. with multiple choice
questions
III. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH



It focuses on developing
formulating a hypothesis
Expressed by words or text
Needs few observations
and
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The questionnaire may be in an open
form i.e. respondents can write few
sentences about the question asked.
An important thing for using
qualitative or quantitative research is that
the method of Data Collection. If the data
are collected in quantitative manner, the
you should use quantitative analysis or
vice versa. Now, let’s look at how data is
being collected for both the methods.
IV. DATA COLLECTION METHODS
Quantitative Research: Quantitative data
collection involves four different types.
They are:
Experimental data: In this case, the
variables are known and are being
controlled to understand the causes and
effects.
Survey Data: Here, the data collection is
in the form of questionnaire but it should
be in closed form as mentioned earlier and
the survey can be done through any mode
such as direct, telephonic, or online forms.
Direct Observation: Here, the data is
collected by observing the respondent
either by letting them know about that or
not. In addition, the variables for the study
cannot be controlled in this type of data
collection.
Content Data analysis: It records the
number of times a certain word is present
in the textual data and analyze the pattern
of them.
Qualitative Research: Qualitative data
collection is also consists of four different
types of data collection. They are;
Data from Groups: Here, the data is
collected from a discussion about a certain
topic from a group of respondents and that
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can be taken for the further research about
the opinions.
Interview: In this case, the data is in the
form of open end questionnaire and the
people should respond it with a few
sentences in words.
Case Studies: Here, the data collection
involves a specific event, or group or an
organization.
Review of Literature: In this case, the
data is collected or surveyed from other
published works related to the study. Apart
from the data collection methods, a rule
thumb for selecting between qualitative
and quantitative research is that,
 If you wish to test something
(hypothesis testing) then go for
quantitative research
 If you wish to understand something
(concepts) then go for qualitative
research
Now let me explain the two
researches by means of an example. First
let us develop a research problem. Here I
am interested in studying the satisfaction
of students with their studies in the
University.
For Quantitative method, I will collect or
survey 400 samples of students from the
university and ask them to answer for the
satisfaction they got with their professors
teaching on a scale from 1-5. Then, with
the collected data, statistical data
analysis is performed and I can draw
conclusions. For example, the students got
satisfaction in their professors on an
average of 4.5.
For Qualitative method, I will select few
students say 30 students and ask for the
satisfaction in their studies with few open
ended questions. The students write their
opinion verbally and those are then used
for analyzing the patterns of satisfactions.
Let’s take an example where a
market researcher wants to identify the
relationship between the online purchasing
behaviour and use of shopping websites
using qualitative and quantitative method.
In Quantitative Research, the
hypothesis or the test problem can be
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written as there is no significant difference
between the customers who purchase an
item without adding it in a cart and the
customers who place an item in a cart and
leave the website. Then the data is
collected by conducting some interviews
regarding why the customers adds the
items in the cart and leaves without
placing an order? Then with the statistical
analysis, the conclusion can be drawn
(Creswell, 1999).
In qualitative research, the same
problem can be taken in several ways like
identifying the patterns of customers who
leaves a website without shopping with the
online survey data, or the reason for
leaving out without purchasing may be
there is no trial experience of the product
like we do in stores, etc. In this sense, a
sample of data can be collected and then
proceed with detecting the patterns of the
causes and effect of the study.
Here I will list out few merits and
demerits of quantitative and qualitative
research.
V. MERITS OF QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
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Since quantitative research is of
numeric in nature, the results cannot be
mis-interpreted.
The performance of statistical analysis
is easier to do
Time taken for data collection is low
The results can be generalized to the
population
VI. DEMERITS OF QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH

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Needs large sample for valid inference
Since the responses are numeric, the
meaning of the question may not be
fully achieved.
Create a bias problem
Questions should be asked in a write
way to avoid misleading results.
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VII. MERITS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
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It allows to explore in detailed manner
Questions make the study to avoid bias
in respondents
Develop the creativity or ideas for
improving the needs of the study
Requires small samples
VIII. DEMERITS OF QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
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Difficulty in classifying the answers
Generalization is not possible
It cannot be repeated because the view
of problem will change over the period
of time.
To sum up, quantitative methods
provide generalized results and it consider
as a valid one. But it doesn’t mean you
should use only the quantitative method.
The choice between the qualitative and
quantitative research is up to you. Make a
clear decision of choosing the research
method by defining the exact research
problem and the method of data collection
and go for the suitable Research
Methodology.
REFERENCES
[1] Bryman, A. (2004). Social Research Methods.
[Online]. Oxford: Oxford University Press Inc.
Available
from:
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=GYrUQgAA
CAAJ&dq=Bryman,+A.+(2004).+Social+research
+methods+(2nd+ed.).+Oxford:+Oxford+Universit
y+Press&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiEr4mG5s
jnAhXZ4zgGHQJCDSQQ6AEIKTAA.
[2] Creswell, J.W. (1999). Mixed-Method Research. In:
Handbook of Educational Policy. [Online].
Elsevier, pp. 455–472. Available from:
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780
12174698850045X.
[3] John.w .cresswell (2008). Research Desigh. [Online].
Available
from:
http://englishlangkan.com/produk/E
Book
Research Design Cressweell 2014.pdf.
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