This chart compares qualitative and quantitative research, and will show you how to recognize both types of research.
Qualitative Research |
Quantitative Research |
Understanding and interpreting social interactions and behavior |
Testing theories, describing with statistics, and making predictions
|
Specially chosen small groups |
Randomly selected large groups
|
Words |
Numbers
|
Subjective |
Objective
|
Observations and interviews |
Experiments and surveys
|
Open-ended questions |
Controlled responses
|
Narrative report |
Statistical results
|