Week 5: Qualitative vs Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analysed using mathematically based methods (in particular statistics). Qualitative research seeks to answer questions about why and how people behave in the way that they do. It provides in-depth information about human behaviour.

Qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its subject matter. This means that qualitative researchers study things in their natural settings, attempting to make sense of, or interpret, phenomena in terms of the meanings people bring to them. (Denzin and Lincoln)

Simply put, quantitative research is all about numbers and figures. It is used to quantify opinions, attitudes, behaviors, and other defined variables with the goal to support or refute hypotheses about a specific phenomenon, and potentially contextualize the results from the study sample in a wider population (or specific groups).

The differences between two types of Research Categories are discussed and students are made aware of the strategies applied in both the paradigms.

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