Doctoral Writing Center
Research Types: Qualitative and Quantitative
Your research for your dissertation will either be: (a) qualitative or (b) quantitative (or you might use a mixture). Let’s explore the differences between each and determine what will work best for you.
What is the main difference?
Qualitative research will collect words/experiences from people to gain further insight into a particular topic (think, open-ended interviews, focus groups, observations, and more).
Quantitative research will collect numbers in order to test a theory or a hypothesis you identified (think, close-ended interviews/surveys, experiments, and more).
Qualitative
Gain further insight into a topic
Smaller sample is acceptable
Analyze data through statistics/equations
Quantitative
Test a theory or hypothesis
Larger sample is required
Analyze data through coding and a type of analysis (narrative, discourse, thematic)
Would the type of research I choose affect other decisions?
Yes, your research type will also impact your research question, research design, data collection instrument, and data analysis choices. Let’s look at some examples below.
Research Questions
Your research questions will vary depending upon the type of research you are doing. Think about what questions you would have to ask to get the type of data you are focusing on.
Qualitative research:
As you are trying to further understand a particular topic or phenomenon, consider:
(a) Starting your questions with what or how
(b) Use verbs such as: generate, identify, explain, experience, and explore
To know more, please click here.
Quantitative research:
As you are trying to test a hypothesis or theory, first ensure you are able to identify and name your variables. Then please consider:
(a) Starting your questions with how many, how often, how frequently, what percentages, what proportion
(b)Use verbs such as: do, use, influence, effect, exceed
To know more, please click here.
Research Design
Identify the design of your research, or the strategy you will use to combine all the components to answer the research questions.
Qualitative research:
First determine what you are planning to do with the relationships you have indicated: (a) describe, (b) test, (c) identify cause-and-effect.
Common approaches: Ethnography, Narrative Research, Phenomenology, Grounded-Theory, Case Studies, Action Research
To know more, please click here.
Quantitative research:
First determine how you wish to control the variable(s) in the study.
Common approaches: Descriptive, Correlational, Quasi-Experimental, Experimental
To know more, please click here.
Data Collection Instruments
First ask yourself, which instrument will help you to gather the information needed to answer your research question(s).
Qualitative research:
Remember that you would be collecting words for qualitative research, which means you would be using open-ended questions (where applicable).
Common options: Surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, ethnography, archival documents/government records
To know more, please click here.
Quantitative research:
Remember that you would be collecting numbers for quantitative research, which means you would be using close-ended questions (where applicable).
Common options: Surveys, experiments, observations
To know more, please click here.
Data Analysis Methods
After collecting the data, you will then need to determine how you will analyze it to determine the patterns or relationships that exist within it.
Qualitative research:
The data you will have collected will be in word or image form. To determine how this information forms patterns, we generally code the information with a particular approach for analysis in mind.
Common options: Content analysis, narrative analysis, discourse analysis, thematic analysis, grounded-theory, interpretive phenomenological analysis
To know more, please click here.
Quantitative research:
The data you will have collected will be in numerical form. To determine how this information forms patterns, we will use statistical analysis. First identify an application (SPSS, Excel, etc.) and then identify your technique.
Common options: Regression analysis, linear programming, data mining, validated assessments
To know more, please click here.
Analyzing the data: Here are tips for how to analyze the data you collect. Click here.