Research methods can be broadly categorized as fitting into two categories: quantitative and qualitative research paradigms.
Quantitative methods are often concerned with producing numerical data that aims to measure or quantify aspects of the social world.
Qualitative methods are concerned with the eliciting the meaning behind data through detailed examination and interpretation of social phenomena.
In some research project a mixed methods approach, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, may be used to provide a more complex picture across multiple scales and dimensions of inquiry (see Hesse-Biber 2014, pp. 363- 388).
There are similarities between qualitative and quantitative paradigms. They both:
The following table provides an overview of differences between qualitative and quantitative paradigms (Peake 2018):
Qualitative paradigm | Quantitative paradigm |
Advocates qualitative methods (words) | Advocates quantitative methods (numbers) |
Naturalistic and uncontrolled observation | Obtrusive and controlled measurement |
Subjective; point of view of the participants | Objective; point of view of the researcher |
Close to the data: the ‘insider’ perspective | Removed from the data: the ‘outsider’ perspective |
Theory emergent: Grounded, discovery-oriented, exploratory , descriptive and inductive | Theory testing: Ungrounded, verification-oriented, confirmatory, reductionist, inferential, and hypothetico-deductive |
Process-oriented | Outcome oriented |
Valid ‘real’, ‘rich’ and ‘deep’ data | Reliable: ‘hard’ and ‘replicable’ data |
Ungeneralizable: usually single case studies | Generalizable: usually multiple case studies |
Assumes a dynamic reality | Assumes a stable reality |
Answers ‘how’ questions: how does or how did something come about? | Answers ‘what’ and ‘why’, ‘when’, ‘where’ questions |
Methods: Interviews, focus groups, ethnographic research | Methods: surveys, experiments |
You analyse the data as you go along…so your data collection can lead you in new directions. | You collect the data then analyse it.
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