• Qualitative and quantitative research
• Differences between qualitative and quantitative
• Types of qualitative and quantitative research
• Quantitative Research Example
• Qualitative research example

We explain what a qualitative research is and what a quantitative research is, their differences and main characteristics.

All sciences require some kind of investigation, be it qualitative or quantitative.

Qualitative and quantitative research

An investigation is an exploration of the information available on a topic, in order to obtain some kind of conclusions once the information has been obtained and analyzed. But there are different types of research. By classifying them according to their methodology of work, a distinction is made between two main forms: qualitative research and quantitative research.

A quantitative investigation is one that uses numerical magnitudes to express its work, through experimental or statistical techniques, the results of which are then mathematically representable. Its name comes from amount or quantification, that is, numbering.

They are the type of investigations focused on the cause and effect of things, as in most of the natural Sciences. They provide descriptive results that can then be generalized.

A qualitative research is one that collects the existing discourses on the subject and then carries out a rigorous interpretation. It does not require numerical, statistical or mathematical procedures, but it obtains data descriptive through a possible variety of methods.

Is he method of research used in the social Sciences. Does not pose hypothesis a prioriInstead, you use induction to get answers to your own questions asked on the fly. Its name comes from quality, that is, of the attributes of something.

Differences between qualitative and quantitative

The main differences between these two modes of research have to do with focus. Although both obtain descriptive results, the quantitative one uses experimental methods in which chance intervenes to a great extent, as a guarantee of objectivity of the results. In addition, to represent them requires numbers and idioms formal.

On the other hand, in the qualitative, the methods are analytical, inductive. Your goal is to obtain conclusions from the same perspective with which the trouble. Its results are expressed through a speech interpretive verbal, an explanation that takes into account the context.

In this sense, a qualitative research is multimethodic and not part of a hypothesis to check, but to address a problem. It could be said that the quantitative values ​​objectivity (the object), while the qualitative values ​​subjectivity (the subject).

Other differences are:

• In its methods of obtaining information, the quantitative uses statistics, descriptions mathematics and formulas; the qualitative one uses stories, narrations, explanations and questionnaires.
• The quantitative one uses large, random samples, while the quantitative one is selected and representative. Their sampling methods also differ: the former employs standardized and numerical methods, the latter flexible and narrative.
• The conclusions obtained in a quantitative investigation are final, formal and appear at the end of the study; in a qualitative one, they are provisional, changeable, and are continually being reviewed throughout the work.
• Regarding the type of science in which they are used, the quantitative ones are of general use for the exact Sciences, while the qualitative ones are in common use for the social sciences and humanities.

Types of qualitative and quantitative research

An experimental quantitative investigation must repeat events in a controlled environment.

There are different types of research of each type, such as:

Quantitative investigation:

• Descriptive Often equivalent to the initial stage of scientific investigation, in which the results obtained from the observation direct from the reality, around a hypothesis.
• Analytics. Make comparisons between numeric data (variables, statistics, etc.) of the different groups studied, as they occurred during the sampling stages.
• Experimental. Those that depend on the repetition and verification of natural events in a environment controlled, in order to obtain generalizable conclusions.

Qualitative research:

• Ethnographic. Based on participant observation, that is, on a kind of objective testimony (worth the contradiction), he tries to obtain conclusions regarding the different human groups of his interest. It is usually used in human sciences such as anthropology.
• Participatory research. It tries to relate a series of specific events with the participation that different human groups have in its sphere, in order to find the objective or subjective link between the two.
• Investigation action. Goes one step ahead of the description, proposing ways to act or participate in the problem studied and often give it a solution, considering the researcher as an actor and not a spectator.

Quantitative Research Example

A common example of quantitative research is drug testing. Take a population study, different concentrations of the drug are supplied in determined, controlled and regulated doses, in order to objectively measure the result, and thus determine a margin of effectiveness of the product.

This result has nothing to do with the perspectives of the subjectsNot with what they think, not with who they are, but with the response obtained after the administration of the drug. Then, the results will be expressed in percentages (%) and will be referred to based on the amount of tests done on a randomly chosen population.

Qualitative research example

Qualitative research can probe political opinions.

A common example of qualitative research, by contrast, is a political opinion poll. While it also employs a random population (in the sense that interview people on the street), they do choose which questions to ask based on the topics they want to address.

These questions will be answered subjectively by each interviewee, accumulating a database of responses that must then be interpreted by the researcher, who will be able to obtain certain conclusions regarding the voting intentions of the population by extrapolating the sample to the whole.

The results also allow you to conclude certain trends, whether or not they are the ones that later prevail at the time of voting. The result will be partial, subjective, and will influence its own compliance, since the publication of the survey can guide the vote of the total electoral population in some way.