Research - is the most widely

used tool to increase and brush-up the

stock of knowledge about something and
someone. In the field of marketing,
business, sociology, psychology, science &
technology, economics, etc.

two standard ways of conducting research,

qualitative research or quantitative
research. While the qualitative
research relies on verbal narrative like
spoken or written data, the quantitative
research uses logical or statistical
observations to draw conclusions.
 In a qualitative research, there are only a
few non-representative cases are used as a
sample to develop an initial understanding.
Unlike, quantitative research in which a
sufficient number of representative cases
are taken to consideration to recommend a
final course of action.

There is a never-ending debate on,

which research is better than the other, so
in this article, we are going to shed light on
the difference between qualitative
and quantitative research.
Comparison Chart

BASIS FOR QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE

COMPARISON RESEARCH RESEARCH

Meaning Qualitative Quantitative

research is a research is a
method of inquiry research method
that develops that is used to
understanding on generate numerical
human and social data and hard
sciences, to find facts, by employing
the way people statistical, logical
think and feel. and mathematical
technique.

Nature Holistic Particularistic

Approach Subjective Objective

Research Exploratory Conclusive

type

Reasoning Inductive Deductive

Sampling Purposive Random

Data Verbal Measurable

 BASIS FOR QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
COMPARISON RESEARCH RESEARCH

Inquiry Process-oriented Result-oriented

Hypothesis Generated Tested

Elements Words, pictures Numerical data

of analysis and objects

Objective To explore and To examine cause

discover ideas and effect
used in the relationship
ongoing between variables.
processes.

Methods Non-structured Structured

techniques like In- techniques such as
depth interviews, surveys,
group discussions questionnaires and
etc. observations.

Result Develops initial Recommends final

understanding course of action
Strengths and Limitation of Quantitative
Research

STRENGTHS LIMITATIONS
It uses robust It employs inflexible
instrumentation, which research design due to
may yield results that the rigidity and
can be generalized to a robustness of the
larger population and instrumentation
other research settings
It allows for a greater Participant have limited
accuracy of data participation on the
because variables are design and structure of
isolated, manipulated the questionnaire
and rigorously controlled
Results can be Numerical data do not
replicated, analyzed and provide detailed
compared to similar accounts of the
studies due to the use of
phenomenon and do not
robust instrumentation capture accounts of
human perception.
Numerical data allows Research is carried out
summary of huge in a laboratory setting
amount of information and do not in real world
and comparison across settings
categories over time
 Personal biases are Pre-selected options in a
avoided because questionnaire do not
quantitative data are necessarily reflect how
arrived at using participants truly feel
established procedures. about the question being
asked

Definition of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is one which
provides insights and understanding of the
problem setting. It is an unstructured,
exploratory research method that studies
highly complex phenomena that are
impossible to elucidate with the
quantitative research. Although, it
generates ideas or hypothesis for later
quantitative research.

Qualitative research is used to gain an

in-depth understanding of human
behaviour, experience, attitudes, intentions,
and motivations, on the basis of observation
and interpretation, to find out the way
people think and feel. It is a form
of research in which the researcher gives
more weight to the views of the
participants. Case study, grounded
theory, ethnography, historical and
phenomenology are the types of qualitative
research.

Definition of Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is a form of
research that relies on the methods of
natural sciences, which produces numerical
data and hard facts. It aims at establishing
cause and effect relationship between two
variables by using mathematical,
computational and statistical methods. The
research is also known as empirical
research as it can be accurately and
precisely measured.
 The data collected by the researcher can
be divided into categories or put into rank,
or it can be measured in terms of units of
measurement. Graphs and tables of raw
data can be constructed with the help
quantitative research, making it easier for
the researcher to analyze the results.