Quantitative vs qualitative_research

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?

TypesFOCUS GROUPSIN DEPTH INTERVIEWPROJECTIVE TECH.

Pros&Cons


POPULARITY COMES FROM:

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


• Identification of a given question; opportunity or information requirements

• Interest in obtaining insights for motivational /social (group) or emotional and attitudinal (individual) factors

• In IR: primary data of events or personalities supporting explanations and argument

• (Cf. In marketing: for new product launch, new service

development or repositioning current product

QUALITATIVE RESEARCHFOCUS GROUPS

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

concept• Relaxed, informal atmosphere• 1-3 hour duration

Goal:• Learn and understand what people say

and why?

Agenda

Definition

When to use?


Pros&Cons



ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

SynergySpontaneitySpeedSecurityFlexibilityInexpensive

RepresentativenessMisjudgement Lack of analysisModerator Subjectivity

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

• 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)

• 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)

• Developmental Research: • Conducted to research on the development of individuals / group / institution /

community • TWO TYPES: Cross-sectional and Longitudinal

• Historical Research: • Used to gain information on an event, development and/or previous educational

experience• Process may involve studying previous situation, checking on current situation, and to

predict if the same situation will occur again • Conclusion on previous event is done based on collected facts and evidences to answer

why and how the event and repercussions occurred• Useful to solve questions that involve sensitive issues • Important for systematically & objectively collecting and defining facts and evidences

• Procedure for Historical Research:

• Define the problem • Specify source of evidence • Collect evidence / reference materials • Primary source / original (observation or witnesses of events or authentic objects – e.g. artifacts, speech

text, records etc.) • Secondary source (materials or information collected from primary sources – e.g. paintings, films, news

reports, documents • Critique of evidences

– External critique: confirming if collected sources are genuine and reliable (authenticity of paintings, signatures, chemical analysis etc.) – Internal critique: conducted after authenticity of source of information is confirmed – involves evaluation of collected evidences– is it

important? Required?

• Able to explain the researched phenomenon? • Prepare the report

• Ethnographic Research:

• In-depth study of natural behaviours in a culture or social group • Purpose – to understand relationships between behaviour and culture

– Example: In education – to understand schooling process (e.g., immigrant children) Involves widespread observations (participant & nonparticipant)

• Here often starts research without hypothesis – hypothesis is developed in the process of observations, and the researcher explores and test his hypothesis

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?


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

QUALITATIVE RESEARCHIN-DEPTH INTERVIEW


Concentrated issue - maximum probingFree exchange of informationEasier to arrangeBest for intimate, sensitive issuesFlexibility

ExpensiveTime consumingExhausting for InterviewerInterviewer errorsRespondent bias or reliability

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE

Definition:*• These are unstructured prompts or

stimulus that encourage the respondent to project their underlying motivations, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings onto an ambiguous situation

• They are all indirect techniques that attempt to disguise the purpose of the research

Agenda

Definition

When to use?


Pros&Cons

*Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_marketing_research

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

Projective Techniques

Word Association Sentence Completion Tests

Cartoon Tests Role Playing

Third-Person TechniquesPicture Interpretation /Story

Telling

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

Types:1. Word Association Customers are required to show response

to the concept they are told within 2-3 sec.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCHPROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

*Source: http://www.nielsenbuzzmetrics.com/images/uploaded/NikeBAM.gif

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH PROJECTIVE TECH.

2. Sentence Completion Customers are required to complete

sentences or stories in their own words

• People who are concerned about ecology …• When I think of a city …• I drink a Coca-Cola, usually when .• Starbucks reminds me of…

QUALITATIVE RESEARCHPROJECTIVE TECH.

3. Cartoon Tests

QUALITATIVE MARKETING - PROJECTIVE TECH.

• Hth• Hntfyf• hngfhn

Let’s see if we can pick up some house

wares at Walmart

WALMARTWALMART


4. Role Playing• Respondents are asked to assume the

behavior of someone else• Useful for emphatic approaches for conflict

resolution

Sales Supervisors are asked to become Sales Represantatives, and vice versa.


5. Third PersonWay of learning respondents feelings or

opinions by asking them to answer for a third party :

“your neighbour” “most people”“typical person”


6.Picture InterpretationA technique whereby respondents are shown a

picture and are asked to tell a story describing it



Elicit responses that subjects would be unwilling to giveUnderlying Motivations, Beliefs, Attitudes

Participation of the respondentsSkills are required to analyse the responsesExpensive


1. Degree of Structure2. Probing of individual

respondents3. Moderator bias4. Interpretation bias5. Uncovering

subconscious information

6. Discovering innovative information

7. Obtaining sensitive information

8. Involve unusual behavior or questioning

9. Overall usefulness

Relatively highLow

Relatively mediumRelatively lowLow

High

Low

No

Highly useful

Relatively mediumHigh

Relatively high Relatively medium Medium to high

Medium

Medium

To a limited extentUseful

Relatively lowMedium

Low to highRelatively highHigh

Low

High

Yes

Somewhat useful

Focus Groups

Depth Interviews

Projective Techniques

Criteria

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.*

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH


Specific research problemClear independent and dependent variableHigh level of reliabilityMinimum personal judgement

Limited outcomes due to structured methodUnability to control the environmentExpensive(large number of respondents)

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 Questions

Open-ended,semi-structured,

unstructured, probing

Mostly structured

COMPARISON OF QUALITATIVE-QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

contd.CHARACTERISTICS QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE

Time Of Execution

Short Time Frames

Usually long time frames

Sample Size Small Large

Type Of Analyses

Subjective, Interpretitive

Statistical,Descriptive,causal

Researcher Skills Psychology, Sociology,CB, Social Psychology

Statistics, MR, DSS, Decision Models

Representativeness Limited Good

SUMMARY

• Qualitative methods focus on generating exploratory initial/progressive insights into questions and problems

• Depth probing of hidden attitudes, feelings or behaviour

• Focus Groups

• In depth Interviews

• Projective Techniques

SUMMARY

• Quantitative Research is interested in using formalised, standard structured questioning, whereby response options are pre-determined

• Usually to be administered to significantly large numbers of people.

Descriptive Causal (Surveys) (Experimentation)

OVERALL FRAMEWORK

Source: http://www.informedbusinessdecisions.com/RoadMapt400c.jpg

Education

Quantitative vs qualitative_research