Saturday, August 30, 2008

Quantitative vs Qualitative Research

As you know, there are two main types of research: quantitative and qualitative.

What is the difference between the two? In brief, quantitative research deals with numerical data that you will analyse. On the other hand, qualitative research is about your observations of behaviour, processes and the like; and these are described in great detail.

Which one would you choose for your research? My strong recommendation is to consider doing qualitative research only if you have the writing prowess. Otherwise, avoid it and do a quantitative research supported by some qualitative data that you collect from interviews or open-ended questions.

To help you decide, perhaps an understanding of these two types of research will help. Visit:

http://wilderdom.com/research/QualitativeVersusQuantitativeResearch.html

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/siegle/research/Qualitative/qualquan.htm

A good explanation that appeared on UTube can be viewed below:

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