Research Guides: Qualitative & Quantitative Research: About Research

About Research Methods

Differentiating between qualitative and quantitative research can sometimes be difficult. This guide will explain the differences and show you how to recognize and find examples of both types of research.

Sage Research Methods This link opens in a new window
A research methods tool that helps you explore methods concepts, design research projects, understand particular methods or identify a new method, conduct research, and write up your findings.
Once you have accessed the database:
1. Click on Research Tools.
2. Click on Methods Map.
3. Choose Data Collection,Qualitative data analysis, or Quantitative data analysis from the the list on the right.
4. Click on the Search all content link in the center of the page.
- To create a shareable link to a document, click the Get Link button.

Qualitative Research vs Quantitative Research

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

Qualitative & Quantitative Research

About Research Methods

Qualitative Research vs Quantitative Research

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