Quantitative

versus
Qualitative
Approaches
Qualitative Research
M. Phil Education
At the start of your
research project.
After you have decided upon your
research question, you need to decide
what approach you are going to take:
Quantitative?
Qualitative?

Ask yourself are you seeking to prove
or disprove a theory? Or are you trying
to generalise your findings to a
population?
If so this will be a deductive approach,
a quantitative approach
Or are you hoping to elicit some
understandings on what people think or
feel about an issue? Is the topic an area
that there is little information and so you
must undertake an initial, exploratory
study?
If so, this will be induction, a qualitative
approach




Deductive Theory
Theory

Hypotheses

Data Collection

Findings

Hypotheses Confirmed or Rejected

Revision of Theory
Induction
[General research question]

Observation




Theory Formulation
Home Exercise
Deductive theory:
Test the theory that people who
have never done research before
will attend a research methods
course to do research in the future
Inductive theory:
Why do people do a research
methods course?
What is your theory on this?


What other information have you
gathered?
Any demographics?
Quantitative and
Qualitative Methods
Quantitative:
Deductive
Tests
hypotheses
Positivism
Objectivism
Employs
measurement
Macro
Detached
researcher
Qualitative:
Inductive
Produces
theories
Phenomenology
Constructionism
Does not employ
measurement
Micro
Involved researcher
Quantitative and
Qualitative Methods
Quantitative:
Measures objective
facts
Focuses on
variables
Value free
Reliability is key
Independent of
context
Many cases
Statistical analysis
Qualitative:
Constructs social
meaning
Focus on interactive
processes
Values are present
Authenticity is key
Context constrained
Few cases
Thematic analysis
Common errors:
Open ended questions
in surveys
Sometimes people say that they use
thematic analysis to analyze open
ended questions on a
questionnaire/survey. This is incorrect!
Thematic analysis is a very specific
form of analysis where the data is
searched for recurring themes and
theory then built from it.
For open ended questions, you post-
hoc code. Quantitative by its nature,
quantifies, so after you have
collected your answers, you attach
codes to responses. And so you can
count the types of responses you
received.
Common errors:
Generalising in
qualitative research
Sometimes youll come across people
saying that the qualitative study was
small scale and so the findings cannot
be generalised to a population. This
shows lack of understanding!
Qualitative research never seeks to
generalise. It is important that when
reporting findings that you use the
terminology and methods appropriate
to the approach - e.g. dont use
hypothesis pertaining to qualitative
and if using statistical analysis in
quantitative, ALWAYS make sure your
sampling is random! [Sampling is the
most important step in quantitative
work, yet so many get it wrong]
Main Steps in
Quantitative Research:
1. Theory
2. Hypothesis
3. Research design
4. Devise measures of concepts
5. Select research site(s)
6. Select research
subjects/respondents
7. Administer research instruments/
collect data
8. Process data
9. Analyse data
10. Write up findings and conclusions
Main Steps in
Qualitative Research:
1. General research question
2. Select relevant site(s) and subjects
3. Collection of relevant data
4. Interpretation of data
5. Conceptual and theoretical work
6. Tighter specification of the research
question
7. Collection of further data
8. Conceptual and theoretical work
9. Write up findings
Examples of
Quantitative Research
Methods:
Experiments
Social surveys
Cross-sectional
Comparative (cross-national)
Longitudinal
Content Analysis
Secondary Statistical Analysis
Official Statistics
Demography
Epidemiology
Field stimulations
Structured Interviews and Observation.
Examples of
Qualitative Research:
In-depth Interviews
Focus Groups
Ethnography/Field Research
Historical-Comparative Research
Discourse Analysis
Narrative Analysis
Media Analysis

Worth noting
Quantitative and qualitative research are often
cast as opposing fields.
But sometimes they blur - qualitative research
may employ quantification in their work or may be
positivist in their approach. Some quantitative
may employ phenomenology.
Both can be also be combined in a project
Qualitative can facilitate quantitative research (1)
can provide hypotheses
(2) fill in the gaps, help interpret relationships
Quantitative can facilitate qualitative through
locating interviewees and help with generalising
findings
Together they can give you a micro and macro level
versions and so you can examine the relationships
between the two levels. They can complement
each other.
Final words
To make it easier to understand
the two different approaches, I
sometimes tell students to think
of TV detectives.
Induction - this is the method that
CSI use. They find the evidence
and then produce the theory on
what happened.
Deductive logic - this is your
more traditional detective. They
have a hunch that someone
murdered someone else and
seek to prove it. Think Columbo,
Murder She Wrote or even
Inspector Morse.