This guide provides an overview of quantitative and qualitative social science research methods. The table below provides an outline of some of the attributes of each.
You can find evidence for clinical decision making in quantitative and qualitative research studies.
Quantitative research, also called "Empirical Research," refers to any research based on something that can be accurately and precisely measured. Quantitative research will include studies that have numerical data.
Qualitative research derives data from observation, interviews, or verbal interactions and focuses on the meanings and interpretations of the participants. and can be used to gain a better understanding of or a new perspective on a topic. The findings in qualitative studies are not based on measurable statistics but rather on data gathered through interviews and observation. The analysis of qualitative research is interpretative, subjective, and impressionistic.
Quantitative and qualitative methods are the two main categories of empirical research.
|
Quantitative
|
Qualitative
|
| Perspectives |
- experimental
- statistical
- positivist
|
- naturalistic
- ethnographic
- phenomenological
- anthropological
- interpretive
- constructivist
|
| Focus or Goals |
- describe with statistics
- test theories
- show relationships
- predict
- obtain a single true reality
|
- develop understanding and meaning
- describe naturally occuring behavior
- describe multiple realities
|
| Design |
- structured
- predetermined
- specific
- contrived
|
- emergent
- evolving
- flexible
- natural
- holistic
|
| Techniques |
- experiments
- questionnaires
- surveys
- structured observations or interviews
|
- observations
- open-ended interviews
- field research
- case studies
|
| Data Analysis |
|
- interpretive
- inductive
- ongoing
- searching for themes
- text analysis
|
Adapted from: McMillan, J. H. (2012). Educational research: Fundamentals for the consumer (6th ed.). Pearson.
