Quantitative and Qualitative research are two research methods that are used to get data from participant about a certain subject. While the two types of research both get information from a participant they both do this very differently.
Quantitative research aims to measure and quantify information, using numerical and statistical analysis. Its main focusing is quantifying info, the most common method of measure is surveys. Quantitative research focuses on closed questions for example yes and no questions, therefore there is a clear distinction and no information is left up to researchers interoperation.
advantages -researchers are able to measure and analyse data.
clear relationship between variables.
objective, standardised, empirical data.
disadvantages -answers are restricted to a yes or no.
context of the experiment is ignored.
large population has to be used in order to gain generalisable results.
Qualitative research on the other hand focuses more on open ended questions, for example “How does the colour red make you feel?”. Qualitative research looks at info that often describes emotional and subjective responses using words, rather than numbers. Qualitative research is usually taken place on small groups of participants as it examines the subject in more depth and can be time consuming.
advantages - leads to more in-depth insights into subjects
does not require surveying large no. of people
using online focus groups it can be significantly less costly.
disadvantages -does not give a specific measure
does not allow for extrapolating results.
