Qualitative vs. Quantitative: Answering the Whats, Whys, and Whens

If you’re hoping to gain a better understanding of qualitative and quantitative research, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll delve into the ins and outs of qualitative and quantitative research, so that the next time you need to conduct market research, you’ll know which you should use and why.

The basics

To start, let’s get the basics out of the way. Different types of research require different methods of collecting data, and that method will be either qualitative or quantitative in nature, it’s that simple. Determining which method is right for you is a bit more complicated; whether you need to conduct qualitative or quantitative research relies heavily on the objectives of your research. If you’re hoping to collect data rooted in real-world context and the human experience, qualitative methods are the ones for you, and if you’re hoping to collect numerical data that you can easily analyze and compare, quantitative methods are what you should choose. Now, let’s explore both of these a bit more in depth.

What is qualitative research?

Conducting qualitative research is the practice of collecting insights directly from people who have a perspective on your topic of interest. Two popular formats for completing this type of research are one-on-one interviews and focus groups. You may want to better understand how people truly feel about a particular subject by hearing them speak about it, or you may want to gain insights that are based on their actions and reactions during the real-time conversation. One-on-one interviews are particularly good for instances when you’d like to gain an in-depth understanding of an individual’s experience, whereas focus groups are a good choice when you’d like to see the nuances that can be uncovered during group discussions on a topic. 

What is quantitative research?

Quantitative research is a data collection process that leads to researchers being able to inspect numerical patterns. The goal is to collect data that can be analyzed and used to test theories and hypotheses as well as understand trends in responses and correlations among results. With quantitative research, the insights are arguably more objective than those gathered from qualitative research because, with this method, you’ll be distributing a survey that contains specific, structured questions to a large sample size.

What are the pros and cons of qualitative vs. quantitative research?

Now that we’ve discussed what makes qualitative and quantitative research different, let’s talk about what I’m sure you’ve been wondering, what are their pros and cons? While qualitative and quantitative research are both valuable methods for gaining insight, they each have things that make them more or less effective in particular situations. For example, qualitative research is advantageous in that it offers in-depth insights, flexibility, and added protection against fraud (which is very common in quantitative samples). You can ask pointed questions and receive real-time responses and reactions from people that are passionate about sharing their perspectives. Better yet, if you’re not getting the insights that you were hoping for, nothing is stopping you from adjusting your questions as needed. Due to the nature of interviews and focus groups, there is a factor of built in accountability for respondents; it’s difficult to hide behind a screen and provide fraudulent responses if you’re speaking directly with interviewers. The same can’t be said for quantitative research. When distributing a survey, beyond programming logic, it’s impossible to change the course of the questioning mid-way through and to gain insights beyond the answers that participants check off, and it becomes increasingly difficult to defend against fraud. What quantitative research can do is be efficient, objective, and cost effective. Once a survey has been created, it can be rapidly distributed to many people, and the responses that are received are cut and dried. Additionally, the cost of survey responses range anywhere from tens to low hundreds of dollars per response. Unfortunately, this is not the case for qualitative research. Interviews and focus groups can be lengthy, and a researcher may need to conduct many to get the amount of responses that they need. Moreover, researchers need to be on high alert during each meeting so that they can interpret the responses and because, if they aren’t, they might also miss a vitally important behavioral insight. Finally, a single interview may cost anywhere from hundreds to even thousands of dollars per call, meaning that it may not be the most practical method for all researchers.

Next time you conduct market research, take all of these components into consideration when choosing which research method is best for you. If you’re ever unsure about whether qualitative or quantitative research is the right approach, ask someone who knows. Here at Zintro, we’re happy to help you make this important decision so that you get the results that you need to be successful.

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