Quantitative And Qualitative Research Methods

Throughout the second half of the semester Professor Gerschick has gone into great detail about the similarities and differences that are found in both inductive and deductive research methods. Although both qualitative and quantitative research methods prove to be effective approaches in conducting social research, each of these methods also have faults that can steer research towards one method over another. Research sequence, sample types, method and role of theory are just some of the components that fall into distinguishing the methods (Gerschick). To being, it is important to recognize the particular approach that each method follows, qualitative research is inductive thus the process is one that follows a top down approach, meaning …show more content…
Qualitative research is mainly focused on words, typically research is sought through in-depth interviews, focus groups or observational studies. It should be noted that in qualitative research there are few subjects studied, typically five to ten informants because the work that surrounds this type of research is tedious and time consuming (Gerschick). Typically the analysis of the data collected is done via coding, one hour of audio can take up to transcribe and edit (Gerschick). Quantitative research is focused on numbers, which is gathered through surveys, indexes and scales (Gerschick). Concepts are typically what researchers are measuring and to make means of measuring a concept there are difference methods that are used. Quantitative research must measure concepts because it allows the researchers to define particular differences among people in terms of a quality in a question (Bryman, 164). Measurement also provides consistency in making such distinctions in concepts as well as creating a basis for measuring degree of relationship, among other concepts to gain a more accurate insight via correlation (Bryman, 164). Data analysis for quantitative research is via statistical analysis, there must be large quantities of samples for the math to work on in this realm of research. Without a significant amount of samples and data the number can be …show more content…
First is how the research is approach and how theory plays a role. In quantitative research the theory is the foundation of the matter being research while qualitative has the data build on the theory (Gerschick). Measurement is the most obvious, but causality is very important because quantitative researchers are constantly seeking an explanation (Bryman, 175). The dependent and independent variables allow researchers to be able to infer about the data after they analyze the data in depth with an adequate amount of research (Bryman, 175). The data in quantitative research is wide in range but not deep while quantitative is not wide in range but is deep a rich with in-depth information (Gerschick). Data analysis is very different between the two because while both are gathering information about a social aspect the researcher is studying, qualitative gathers and analyzes information through transcripts and coding; quantitative analyses the research through statistical analyses with a much larger sample (Gerschick). Although both have different approaches each must posses validity and reliability in order to be taken seriously. Validity and reliability allow the research to be agreed across the board with concepts and being further applicable on different social