Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research is one tool in research that makes use of processes such as focus group discussion, in-depth interviews and ethnography to gain deeper understanding of people's behavior and motivations.

There are many ways in which qualitative research is different from a quantitative research:

1. Quantitative research is used to measure and get a definitive figure to answer a research problem. A qualitative research on the other hand cannot be used to quantify but rather to explore a certain topics and gather indications.

2. Quantitative research therefore uses numbers to prove its point, while qualitative research makes use of words and verbatims to support its findings.

3. Quantitative research typically uses graphs to show its findings while qualitative research makes use of diagrams.

4. Quantitative research typically involves a bigger sample size whereas qualitative research do not require such a big sample size.

What is research?

According to Wikipedia, research is the systematic investigation into existing or new knowledge. A lot of us, I am sure, has done this at one point in our lives, e.g. in school, at work, or even just for our past time.

However, the kind of research that I will be tackling mostly about here in this blog would be more about that kind of research that involves the "systematic investigation" of things that we are curious to know more about. Therefore, while googling for information about Justin Bieber may be considered part of research (some terms this to be secondary research) please expect that this is not the sort of thing that you will find on this blog.

Rather, this blog will serve as an online resource where anyone interested about the field of research will find useful tips on how to do research as well as latest news about research processes available here and in other parts of the world.

So whether you are a student preparing for your research paper or a newbie in the research world, I hope that you can find something useful from this site.

Happy Reading!