QUALITATIVE AND

QUANTATIVE
COMPARED

Gay, L.R. 1996. Educational Research:

Competencies for Analysis and Application. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall
 Overall Purpose
 Qualitative  Quantitative
Explain, gain insight Explain, predict, and or
and understanding of, control phenomena
phenomena through through focused
intensive collection of collection of numerical
narrative data data
 Hypothesis
 Qualitative  Quantitative
Tentative, evolving, and Specific, testable, and
based on particular stated prior to particular
study study
 Review of Related Literature
 Qualitative  Quantitative
Limited, does not Extensive, does
significantly affect significantly affect
particular study particular study
 Research Setting
 Qualitative  Quantitative
Naturalistic (as is) to the Controlled to the degree
degree possible possible
Natural setting refers to the
fact that the variables being
investigated are studied
where they naturally occur,
as they naturally occured,
not in researcher controlled
environment under
researcher controlled
condition, as is the case
with quantitative studies.
 Approach to inquiry
 Qualitative  Quantitative
Inductive, subjective, Deductive, objective,
holistic, process outcome oriented
oriented
 Sampling
 Qualitative  Quantitative
Purposive: Intent to Random: Intent to select
select “small,” not “large,” representative
necessarily sample in order to
representative, sample generalize results to
in order to acquire in- population
depth understanding
 Measurement
 Qualitative  Quantitative
 Nonstandardized,  Standardized,
narrative, ongoing numerical, at the end
 Design and Method
 Qualitative  Quantitative
 Flexible, specified only in  Structure, inflexible,
general terms in advance of specified in detail in
study. advance of study
 Involve intervention,
 Involve nonintervention, manipulation, and control
minimal disturbance.  Descriptive
 Historical  Correlational
 Ethnographic  Causal-comparative
 Case study  Experimental
 Data Collection Strategies
Qualitative Quantitative
 Document collection  Nonparticipant
 Participation ovbservation
observation  Semistructured, formal
 Unstructured, informal interviews
interviews  Administration of tests
 Taking of extensive, and questionnaires
detailed fieldnotes
 Data Analysis
Qualitative Quantitative
 Raw data are words Raw data are numbers
 Performed at the end of
 Essentially ongoing,
involves synthesis study, involves statistics
Synthesis: The process or
result of building up
separate elements especially
ideas, into a connected
whole, especially into a
theory or system
 Data Interpretation
 Qualitative Quantitative
 Conclusion tentative, Conclusions and
reviewed on an ongoing generalizations
basis, generalizations formulated at the end of
speculative or study, stated with
nonexistent predetermined degree of
certainty
 Transferable
 Trends
 More-structured qualitative research
 Increased application of both inquiry strategies
in same study
 Qualitative Analysis
 In a simplified nutshell, qualitative analysis
involves making sense out of an enormous
amount of narrative data. Given a “bunch” of
fieldnotes, transcripts, documents, and so
forth, the question is what do they SAY?
 Qualitative Analysis
 Thus, the qualitative researcher looks for
categories, patterns, themes which will
facilitate a coherent synthesis of the data. This
synthesis including relevant illustrative
examples and quotations, eventually represents
the researcher’s overall understanding of what
the data mean.