Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods

You have now analyzed the current state of science on your research question, defined a precise research topic and a rough idea of ​​how you want to conduct research (Inductive: Based on your research to develop a new theory, deductive: confirm an existing theory with your investigation or refute).
Now it's about finding the right research method. There are in particular two terms that are important in this context: qualitative research methods and quantitative research methods

The Fundamentals of Qualitative and Quantitative Research

In empirical research, a distinction is made between two fundamental research methods: qualitative and quantitative research methods. However, you cannot choose between these two methods arbitrarily; rather, the choice is a result of your previous research and considerations. If there is a research area where there is still little knowledge, standardized surveys of multiple participants are hardly possible. Here you will probably need to rely on open questions with a smaller number of people to gain new insights.

Bei den qualitative research methods, it is less about hard facts, but rather about capturing subjective attitudes and thus being able to explain the reasons for a phenomenon. They are increasingly used in inductive research so that new theories can be developed from observations.

Bei den quantitative research methods, the focus is on systematically collecting standardized data. Quantities, frequencies, and statistical relationships can be determined. They are often used in deductive research to test derived hypotheses from existing theories for correctness.

Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative research methods are characterized by a rather open approach, which does not require extensive theoretical foundations to begin data collection. Here, the insights gained are first theoretically substantiated to provide well-founded explanations from which hypotheses are ultimately formulated.

Examples
Interview, group discussion, observation

Characteristics of qualitative research methods
- Suitable for inductive research
- Aim: Description and understanding of phenomena

Advantages and disadvantages
🙂 Through open approaches new aspects can be discovered
🙂 Possibility of personal follow-up questions in case of uncertainties
🙂 Very flexible

🙁Time- and cost-intensive
🙁Evaluation of the data is complex
🙁High demands on the respondents

Quantitative research method

The quantitative approach requires a sound theoretical research in order to develop hypotheses from the initial question, which are usually checked in the form of a questionnaire survey in order to be able to verify (= confirm, accept) or falsify (= reject, discard) ,

Examples
Standardized survey (written and oral), experiment / test
Popular method: survey by online survey

Characteristics of quantitative research methods
- Suitable for deductive research
- Aim: Explaining and measuring correlations

Advantages and disadvantages
🙂 Costs and time expenditure low
🙂Greater objectivity, and validity through larger sample
🙂Exact measurable results

🙁Hardly any flexibility possible through standardization
🙁No cause research

In short:

If you have a new research topic, it is an exploratory research and you will probably be more inductive researcher. Accordingly, qualitative research methods are more appropriate for collecting data. In this case, various interviews with experts could be offered to find out new aspects and then form new theories. On the other hand, you can choose a topic that has already been extensively studied in the literature and certain theories are available. Then you can derive hypotheses in the deductive procedure model and check them for accuracy with your empirical research. Here you would then have to use a standardized survey to be able to make a representative statement with a larger sample.