Qualitative Research vs Quantitative Research


In order to differentiate  qualitative and quantitative we must define each one separately.

Qualitative:  Interpretive techniques that seek to describe, decode, translate, and otherwise come to terms with the meaning, not the frequency, of certain phenomena; a fundamental approach of exploration, including individual depth interviews, group interviews, participant observation, videotaping of participants, projective techniques and psychological testing, case studies, street ethnography, elite interviewing, document analysis, and proxemics and kinesics.

Quantitative: the precise count of some behavior, knowledge, opinion, or attitude.

Now that we define the qualitative and quantitative research we can begin to differentiate them. One of the main difference is that qualitative describes a research and quantitative is more a count and quantity of a research involving numerical data. Another difference is that researcher in qualitative are searching without knowing what they are looking for when in contrast the quantitative researcher already know in advance what there looking for.

 Also, another noticeable difference is that qualitative researcher  seek a more deeper level of understanding and they participate in data collection which allows them to make changes as they go. Quantitative research in the other hand are limited with the ability to re-interview the participants to adjust any information as they go on with the research and  information collected.

In conclusion, qualitative research and quantitative research are different for so many reasons and one is more reliable than the other one it comes to accuracy. So many studies prefer the use of quantitative research over quantitative research due to the possibility of too many human errors in the use of data collection using the qualitative research method.

    Business Research Method, D. Cooper and P. Schindler, 11th Edition

   Wilderdom.com, J. Neill, (2007)