WHAT APPROACH SHOULD I TAKE: QUALITATIVE OR QUANTITATIVE An Academic presentation by Dr. Nancy Agens, Head, Technical Operations, Statswork Group
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TODAY'S DISCUSSION Outline of Topics
Merits of Quantitative Research
Introduction
Demerits of Quantitative
Quantitative Research
Research Merits of Qualitative
Qualitative Research
Research Demerits of
Data Collection
Qualitative Research
Methods Quantitative
Conclusion
method Qualitative method
Introductio nQuantitative research Methodology is useful in testing the assumptions and theories which are already defined. 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.
Quantitative Research 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.
Qualitative Research It focuses on developing and formulating a hypothesis Expressed by words or text Needs few observations 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.
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. Direct Observation: Here, the data is collected by observing the respondent either by letting them know about that or not. Content Data analysis: It records the number of times a certain word is present in the textual data and analyze the pattern of them. Contd..
Qualitative Research: Qualitative data collection is also consists of four different types of data collection. Data from Groups: Here, the data is collected from a discussion about a certain topic from a group of respondents and that 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.
Quantitative method
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. In Quantitative Research, the hypothesis or the test problem can be 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.
Qualitative method For Qualitative method a few students are selected 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.
Merits of Quantitative Research 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
Demerits of Quantitative Research 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.
Merits of Qualitative Research 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
Demerits of Qualitative Research 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.
Conclusio n To sum up, quantitative methods provide generalized results and it consider as a valid one. 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.
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