Design Differences Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Design Differences - Essay Example Qualitative research is basically concerned with the social aspects of the research topics, such as, reasons for any specific behavior of people, reasons for differences between cultures and societies, reasons fro differences of behaviors, and the ways people shape their beliefs and opinions. On the other hand, quantitative research constructs statistical models based on the observations to explain issues in a statistical form. Quantitative research requires a good understanding of the statistics for the scientists in order to produce statistical results generated using large-scale surveys. However, all scientists are not good statisticians, so extensive statistical analysis can be a big problem for some researchers. Therefore, we can say that qualitative research is somewhat easier to do as compared to quantitative research. â€Å"Quantitative research is all about quantifying relationships between variables† (Hopkins, 2008). A quantitative research determines the relationshi p between an independent and a dependent variable in order to establish an association between the two variables. A quantitative research is a better way to prove a hypothesis based on numeric results of a research. Relationship with what is Being Researched Another difference between qualitative and quantitative forms of research is related to the relationship, which the researchers have with what they are researching. In a qualitative research, the researchers do not know much about the topic being researched; rather they have to make interactions with people in order to get a better understanding of the research topic. The researchers are interested in getting awareness of the meanings created by the people. In a qualitative form of research, the researchers interact personally with what is being researched whereas in a quantitative research, the researchers are independent of what is being actually researched. â€Å"Qualitative research may be necessary in situations where it i s unclear what exactly is being looked for in a study† (McGuigan, 2011). Qualitative research is purely a fieldwork in which a researcher needs to go to different people at different places in order to observe their actions and behaviors, whereas quantitative research is based on the opinions of different people, which the researchers use to produce the facts. In qualitative research design, researchers use focus group technique and in-depth interviews to explore attitudes and behaviors of people whereas in quantitative research design, the researchers measure opinions and behaviors of people using structured research instruments. In a qualitative research, the primary instrument used for data collection and analysis is the research, whereas in quantitative research design, researchers make use of interviews and questionnaires to collect data in a numeric form. â€Å"Quantitative research involves gathering data that is absolute, such as numerical data, so that it can be exam ined in as unbiased a manner as possible† (McGuigan, 2011). Time and Efficiency Another difference between the characteristics of qualitative and quantitative researches is based on time and efficiency of the two forms of researches. Qualitative research design consumes more time for completion as compared to quantitative rese