The Differences in Quantitative & Qualitative Research
Scientific research can be classified under two broad categories: qualitative research and quantitative research. Quantitative research relies on statistical tests and can be easily replicated. It is the preferred type of research in the physical sciences. Qualitative research is a valuable tool in social sciences such as psychology and anthropology because it provides a deeper, more rounded view of the subject matter, which often cannot be analyzed as thoroughly and methodically as a proton.
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Research Topics and Samples
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Qualitative research is a valuable tool for initial forays into certain areas of study because it can provide a richer view of unknown phenomena than statistical tests. Qualitative research methods such as unstructured interviews and focus groups do not yield data than can be statistically examined, but are fertile sources of information for theory development. Quantitative research is the default for most research topics in which enough research has been done to generate and substantiate one or more working theories in the field.
Methods of Gathering Data
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The quantitative approach to methodology and data collection is highly systematized and formulaic. The key component of quantitative research is the operationalization of key variables -- how concepts such as "attractiveness" and "intelligence" are quantified by experimenters so that they can run statistical tests on their differences between groups. Qualitative research takes a different approach, relying on subjective, multifaceted descriptions of the key variables rather than numbering and labeling them.
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Analysis and Interpretation of Data
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The analysis and interpretation of quantitative data is driven by the concept of statistical significance. Differences in the data obtained from different samples are either statistically significant or not -- if they are, then the experimental manipulation is believed to have been successful and the hypothesis is supported. The interpretation of qualitative data is by necessity much more subjective, as the experimenter offers potential explanations that best fit the results.
Strengths and Weaknesses
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The primary strength of quantitative research is that it is objective, systematized and rigorous, making it easier to compare with similar studies and attempt to replicate. If other experiments fail to replicate, then the validity of the experiment is in question. This is not possible in qualitative research because the experimenter's personality is intertwined in the data. Quantitative research's main weakness is that it must ignore other potentially important aspects of a concept in order to focus on the effect of a single manipulation.
The main advantage of qualitative research is its open-ended structure that allows the experimenter to move from topic to topic, focusing on any unusual occurrences as they arise. Qualitative research's main weakness is that the subjective nature of the data makes it less generalizable and the experiment impossible to replicate.
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References
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