Quantitative and qualitative research

Introduction

In this blog post, I am going to explain the difference in qualitative and quantitative research, provide examples and reflect upon the types of research by highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the types of research.

What is qualitative research?

Qualitative research is when you gather information in a more in-depth and explanatory way. this means you ask your target audience "open-ended" questions, which is when you allow the customers to give their opinion in a more detailed manner and they are able to have a choice on what they wish to write/respond. Qualitative data cannot be measured.

 

Qualitative research looks at more of the "Why" and "How" of information as well as the other factors (what, when, when). This is because the data that the researchers wish to collect must be more detailed and explore the reason behind the concepts.

Example of qualitative research

One example of qualitative research can be for marketing/advertising purposes. e.g. a restaurant chain could be launching a new menu which be launched at a "niche" target market.

By carrying out qualitative research on a small sample of the target group, the company could make sure that they launch the correct products and according to the tastes and demographics of the target market.

A few methods of qualitative research that they can carry out this context are;

• carry out taster sessions for signed up existing customers
• hand out free samples and get tasters to fill in a survey/questionnaire which asks open-ended questions
• offer the menu to a professional/experienced taster and input the responses in a review.

The advantages of qualitative research are;

• you can find a more in depth explanation and the reason of your target audiences choices. This will help to alter and edit the factors that may go wrong
• it may be more cheaper than quantitative research as it focuses on a small sample group and will not need as much equipment
• the participants are able to provide their own opinions through data.

The disadvantages of qualitative research are;

• it isn't measurable and you are not able to put the information into a statistical graph or chart
• you can't take assumption on a small group of the target market, as there may be other demographics which will affect the answer
• sometimes the open-ended responses are not truthful or fully answered as people may prefer to select options rather than write a sentence.

What is quantitative research?

Quantitative research is data which is in the form of numerical figures, statistics, ratios, etc. This is data that can be measured and gathered into a model/graph. Quantitative research usually asks the target audience questions which have choices (e.g. tick-boxes or multiple choice) and the answers are usually in figures or numerical form.

Quantitive research is not concerned with the why, but the ‘how many’, "who" and ‘what’.

Examples of quantitative research

One example of quantitative research can be for media purposes. e.g. a research group may be wishing to look at which type of media forms influence customers the most (e.g. social networking, internet, television, radio, etc).

They may wish to find this information so they can use the mediums to channel their advertising/promotional material. The forms or methods of quantitative research that they can carry out can be;

• questionnaires to the target audience stating numerical or choice questions. This will help gather personal data for the researcher and put their information into graphs and charts.
• they could find the information using secondary sources, e.g. internet, journals and books to help find information which has already been gathered
• a taster/sample session to help a small sample of customers try out different methods and to see which one sis the most effective/popular/occurring.

 

The advantages of quantitative research are;

• the data collected from quantitative research can be easily interpreted. This is because the data is in figure form, so the information can be gathered and converted into different factors (e.g. ratios, percentages, fractions, etc.)
• the data can be put into graphs and charts, which is an advantage because it can be easily read and downsized to help the data more "understandable".
• "Quantitative research can be used to test hypotheses in experiments because of its ability to measure data using statistics." (1)

The disadvantages of quantitative research are;

• the purpose and context of the research is ignored and it may not be clear to the interpreter of the finalised data.
• another disadvantage is that a large sample of the population must be studied; the larger the sample of people researched, the more statistically accurate the results will be.
• this also creates another disadvantage because that means quantitative research is more expensive, as more materials are needed.

Bibliography

(1) http://www.ehow.co.uk/info_8091178_advantages-disadvantages-qualitative-quantitative-research.html (15/12/2012)

http://samsia-research.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/types-of-research-qualitative.html (15/12/2012)

http://samsia-research.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ao1-types-of-research-quantitative.html (15/12/2012)