In: Nursing
facts about qualitative and quantitative research methods.
Qualitative research focuses on the ‘‘qualities’’ of social life. The goal is to describe the dynamics and texture of everyday life that quantitative research methods typically overlook in their formal operationalizations and numerical representations. Rather than simply designating and enumerating categories of experience, qualitative researchers provide detailed descriptions of the social organization and interpersonal processes in question. Quantitative researchers who seek predictive or explanatory models of social behavior often diminish the importance of qualitative studies by calling them preliminary, exploratory,or merely descriptive.
Quantitative researchers methods is designed to collect cold, hard facts. Numbers. Quantitative data is structured and statistical. It provides support when you need to draw general conclusions from your research.
Qualitative research methods collects information that seeks to describe a topic more than measure it. Think of impressions, opinions, and views. A qualitative survey is less structured: It seeks to delve deep into the topic at hand to gain information about people’s motivations, thinking, and attitudes.
These two research methods don’t conflict with each other. They actually work much better as a team.