Distinguishing Quantitative and Qualitative Research Strategies

Quantitative and Qualitative

Research aims at establishing new information. It is a systematic approach of collecting and interpreting information aimed at improving the knowledge base (Suanders et al: 2009, p 5). Research strategy implies a broad orientation as to how to conduct any research. According to Creswell 2004(cited in Duffy & Chenail: 2008), research could be classified into quantitative research and qualitative research. At its simplest form, the former transforms human encounters into numbers while the latter transforms such experiences into words.

However the difference between quantitative and qualitative research are more pronounced than just correlating to quantification. They can symbolize two discrete forms of research strategy

45). Furthermore this research demonstrates a deductive tactic to the association between theory and research. In deductive approach, a hypothesis/ hypotheses would be generated based on the association between a particular domain and the constituted theory which would then be subjected to factual analysis. The findings derived from this scrutiny would either validate or invalidate the existing theory. In addition the Quantitative research favours epistemological orientation supporting natural science methods especially to positivism which highlights the utilization of objective scientific procedures used in natural sciences to study social world. Further quantitative research incorporates objectivist ontological orientation which stresses on the fact that social occurrences and related associations are independent of the social actors (Bryman & Bell: 2011, pp.11- 21). Thus quantitative research depicts researcher’s viewpoints, is more structured laid on a foundation of reliable data with scope for generalization of the

Comparative research design could support both quantitative and qualitative research. In the former, the study would involve examining specific phenomena between two or more entities and the related variables to compare their outcomes in diverse sociocultural situations using similar research methods amongst two or more countries. The purpose of such a study is to probe into similarities and dissimilarities or to establish in-depth knowledge of the social representativeness in different national settings. Here cross-sectional design format would be employed to collect data using questionnaire or structured