Research, Qualitative

Differences between Qualitative and Quantitative Research

Qualitative research, like quantitative research, its better known relative, has its own defining characteristics. Each genre of research originates from a scholarly tradition. Quantitative research (QR) grows from the natural sciences and agriculture, and qualitative research (QLR) from the social science and humanities.

In essence, the QLR tradition seeks to understand the perspective of participants in particular social and cultural contexts by discovering the meanings held by those persons; the QR traditions strive to produce highly generalizable statements of behavior and to predict future actions in situations. The two traditions take different stances in regard to data gathering, analysis, and validity. QR is very concerned with controlled data gathering using standardized measurement applied to persons who are representative of the population. Randomization is the tool for doing that, and distance between participants and researcher is carefully controlled. Objectivity is the global term summarizing that tradition. Findings are presented as statements of probability about the likelihood that, under certain conditions, something would not happen by chance.

In qualitative research, on the other hand, the investigator is at the center of the process as the data gatherer, analyzer, and interpreter of the findings. QLR believes subjectivity is always present and cannot be separated from the participants, situation, or researcher. Thus, the investigator's task is to manage bias so that participants' voices are revealed. A basic premise is that meaning is negotiated and constructed by people in social situations. Selection of participants is based on what they can reveal about the interactions going on in the situation. Description is important, but interpretation is the investigator's primary task. Claims that findings in one context are predictive of other situations are inappropriate. Each situation is unique. The results are presented so that the participants can understand and use the information.

Attributes of Qualitative Research

A list of attributes of qualitative research follows:

• Insider perspective
• Participant selection
• Voice
• Data collection—derivation of themes and discovery of process
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• Disclosure
• Rich description (context, persons)
• Interpretation
• Alternate explanations-discrepant case
• Triangulation/multiple sources, methods
• Credibility and trustworthiness
• Theory

The attributes of qualitative research in conjunction with the broad statements about QR and QLR underscore the outlines of the genre. Each is discussed below.