Cja 334 Week 1 Discussion Question 1

265 Words2 Pages
What are the similarities and differences between qualitative and quantitative research? Qualitative research is deals with collecting descriptive information that cannot be definitely measured on an exact scale, often things that are observed. Examples would be emotions or feelings, attitudes, behavior, etc. It is a research method for exploring issues and topics in an attempt to understand them better and obtain answers and in some cases find similarities. Qualitative research is used in business research, market research and even scientific research. This type of research often focuses on broad or broader topics and the information is often biased because in many cases the collected data involves opinions and feelings or actions. Qualitative research also involves the investigator or researchers involvement in some way. The researcher or investigator is usually directly involves with the collection of data (i.e.: conducting interviews, surveys, leading the focus, etc.) Quantitative research places numerical values on information collected. This type of research generally deals with numbers and facts, like statistical data and the analysis of statistics. The information can be mathematically measured and compared if desired. The research and data is strictly fact-based and not estimates or opinion. Quantitative research has been used in business, market and scientific research. This type of research does not usually cover broad topics like qualitative research might. Instead it typically is more focused or narrowed to an exact topic of study. Quantitative research differs from qualitative research in the fact that the researcher or investigator attempts to remove themselves from the investigation so that the collected data is not swayed or
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