QUALITATIVE & QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Editor: Stephen Murray

OVERALL FRAMEWORK

KEEP IN MIND THAT …

• Qualitative research generally deals in words, images and the subjective

• Quantitative research generally deals in numbers, logic and the objective

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

• Research used in range of activities from exploratory designs to means of completing explanations

• Qualitative research assumes that people have meaningful actions or experiences that can be interpreted

Agenda

➢Definition

➢ When to use?

➢Types➢FOCUS GROUPS➢IN DEPTH INTERVIEW➢PROJECTIVE TECH.

➢Pros&Cons

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

POPULARITY COMES FROM:

*ECONOMICAL *FLEXIBLE*OPENS A DOOR TO “WHY, HOW”*RICHNESS OF DATA*BEST TO START WITH...

QUALITATIVE RESEARCHFOCUS GROUPS

Characteristics:• 6-12 people• Lead by a trained moderator• in-depth discussion on 1 particular topic or

concept• Relaxed, informal atmosphere

Agenda

➢Definition

➢ When to use?

➢Types➢FOCUS GROUPS➢IN DEPTH INTERVIEW➢PROJECTIVE TECH.

➢Pros&Cons

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH DESIGN Qualitative Research: • Examples• Case studies on effect of vocational training in Papua • Ethnographic studies on indigenous populations in Oaxaca, Mexico Qualitative Research Types: • Case studies • Developmental research • Historical research • Ethnograph studies

• Characteristics of Case Studies: • It gives very detailed information about individuals / group / community• It may give a detailed explanation of a complete life cycle or part of it• Number of cases studied may be small but the number of variables studied are

usually more in-depth (e.g. if compared to a survey)• Case Studies:

• Purpose: to do an in depth study

• In brief: Background, current status and/or environmental factors that interact for each group (individual, institution or community)

QUALITATIVE RESEARCHIN-DEPTH INTERVIEW

Characteristics:• A well trained interviewer+interviewee• Interviewee is exposed to set of probing

questions• Usually face to face• Interviewer encourages the interviewee to talk

more

Goal:• To collect as much as memory, attitudinal and

behavioral data from the subject

Agenda

➢Definition

➢ When to use?

➢Types➢FOCUS GROUPS➢IN DEPTH INTERVIEW➢PROJECTIVE TECH.

➢Pros&Cons

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW

Applications:

-Interviews with professionals-Interviews with witnesses-When detailed probing is needed-Discussion of sensitive, confidential issues-When strong, social norms exist-Interviews with competitors

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH SURVEY

SURVEY METHOD:

• STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE • GIVEN TO A SAMPLE OF A POPULATION• DESIGNED TO GAIN SPECIFIC INFORMATION

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH - SURVEY

Traditional Telephone

Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing

Mail Interview

Mail Panel

In-Home

By appointment

Random Personal Interviewing

E-mail Internet

Survey Methods

Telephone

Personal

Mail

Electronic

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH - EXPERIMENTATION

EXPERIMENTATION METHOD:

• Scientific investigation in which

• an investigator manipulates and controls one or more independent variables and

• observes the dependent variable for variation concomitant to the manipulation of the independent variables.*

COMPARISON OF QUALITATIVE-QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

CHARACTERISTICS QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE

Research Objectives

Discovery of new ideas,insights and

feelings

Validation of facts,estimates,

relationships

Type Of Research Usually exploratory

Descriptive and causal

Type Of QuestionsOpen-ended,semi-structured,

unstructured, probing

Mostly structured