Paper 3- Qualitative V. Quantitative research methods

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Melo, Jaclyn

Period 6

IB Question: Distinguish between qualitative and quantitative data.

Throughout the years, there have been many debates as to whether or not experiments should use qualitative as opposed to quantitative research methods.  In order for one to decide their viewpoint on the matter, one must first know the clear differences of qualitative and quantitative research methods.  Qualitative research explores attitudes, behavior, and experiences by asking the participant open-ended questions which require an in-depth, opinionated answers. On the other hand, quantitative research generates statistics through the use of predetermined questions with fixed answer choices, such as yes/no questionnaires. Each type of method has its own significant use and whether or not one is more appropriate than the other has much to do with the type of experiment being conducted.

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        Key differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods include their analytical objectives, the questions they employ, the data instruments they use, the forms of data they produce, and most importantly, the degree of flexibility within the study design. The objective of quantitative research methods are primarily to predict casual relationships, describe characteristics of a population, and to quantify variation, whereas the purpose of qualitative research methods include to describe and explain relationships, to describe group norms, and to describe variation.  Typically, quantitative research methods use closed-ended questions, such as a multiple choice, true/false, or yes/no type answer format; dissimilarly, qualitative ...

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