Which One to Use, Qualitative or Quantitative Analysis?

Which One to Use, Qualitative or Quantitative Analysis?

Introduction

Both qualitative and quantitative analysis is used to gather knowledge about the research topic and requires SPSS help for better understanding. If you have to analyse a critical school of concepts, experiences and thoughts and the same kind of research target you want to establish then choose qualitative analysis, and if you are analysing a pre-established idea in a new context, then choose quantitative analysis.
When you define your research objectives, you need to determine which type of research methodology you will use. Just remember the fact that qualitative is more subjective and less tangible than quantitative, in fact, quantitative analysis is more data-driven and hence counted as statistical analysis. Here we will get the in-core insight into which analysis to be used when facing different research criteria.

Differences in definition

Qualitative analysis is used when human subjects are involved in research, hence to measure humane properties, values and attributes qualitative research methodology is being used. Whereas, determining statistical values and calculations requires quantitative analysis to be performed. So by the definition, it is clear that qualitative is humanitarian in nature and quantitative is numerical in its approach.
Both of these analyses serve different purposes also. If your research is about finding unexplored ideas and seeking knowledge for an abstract domain of society then it comes under qualitative analysis, on the other hand, if your research is about making some future predictions then you will need to perform quantitative analysis.

Differences in methodology

Qualitative analysis is considered to be exploratory, which means that this analysis aims to acquire in-depth knowledge of the research topic. This analysis is performed as a theoretical structure and concentrates on the ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of the selected research target. Whereas, quantitative analysis is considered to be very precise and conclusive. Since it represents numerical data structure, hence it focuses on statistical derivations rather than seeking the results found in the analysis. Quantitative methodology practices ‘What’, ‘When’, and ‘Where’ about the selected topic.

Differences in the collection of data

In the case of data collection, qualitative analysis requires relevantly smaller data, i.e. a limited number of participants like 5 to 15, whereas, quantitative analysis requires at least 200 to 300 participants for a questionnaire survey.
To collect qualitative research data, the researcher can use the following methods:

    1. Open-ended interviews, which are structured or semi-structured
    2. Single-question in focus-group discussions
    3. Select a subject and personally observe it

To collect quantitative research data, the researcher can use the following methods:

    1. Close-ended questions for questionnaire survey
    2. Records stored from a list of experiments
    3. Regular observations measurements

Differences in results

Results of qualitative analysis are from selected participants and objects because it uses a minimum number of subjects. Therefore the results of qualitative analysis are not generalised. But the results of quantitative analysis are from a bigger population because this type of analysis uses a large amount of data or a large number of subjects. Hence, The results of quantitative analysis are generalised in nature.

SPSS data analysis

Conclusion

From all the differences mentioned above, we can say that qualitative analysis is about acquiring in-depth knowledge of the socio-cultural contexts and quantitative analysis works on formerly noted hypotheses to make future predictions. Whatever kind of analysis you use, you can always trust SPSS data analysis for conducting your research effectively without any delays and mistakes. We hope this article helped you identify which methodology you want to choose. Good luck with your research methodology!

Leave a Reply

Call Back Chat Now

Whatsapp Scan