Qualitative vs Quantitative Research
Qualitative vs Quantitative Research
Quantitative research
Numbers. Measurement. Test scores, attendance rates, percentages, statistics. Tells you what is happening.
Qualitative research
Words. Meanings. Interview transcripts, observation notes, journal entries, classroom dialogue. Tells you why it is happening.
A simple test
If the data is a number, it is quantitative. If it needs a sentence, it is qualitative.
Qualitative vs Quantitative Research
Educational research has two main families. Every methodology lecture you will ever attend rests on this distinction.
Quantitative research deals with numbers
Test scores. Attendance percentages. Number of times a student raised her hand. Percentage of students who completed homework. Average marks on a quiz.
Anything that you can count or measure goes here. Quantitative data answers questions like how many, how much, and what percentage. It can be summarized with averages, totals, and graphs.
Tools you will use to collect quantitative data: tests, checklists, attendance registers, structured questionnaires with rating scales.
Qualitative research deals with words and meanings
Interview answers. Observation notes. A student’s journal entry. Classroom dialogue. A parent’s comments at a meeting. A teacher’s reflective notes.
Anything that captures what people say, feel, think, or do in their own words goes here. Qualitative data answers questions like why, how does it feel, and what does this mean to you. It is summarized through themes, patterns, and direct quotes.
Tools for qualitative data: open-ended interviews, observation, focus groups, journals, document analysis. Qualitative data can also include images, photographs of student work, and short video clips, as long as they are interpreted for meaning rather than counted.
A simple test
Look at a piece of data. If you could write it as a number on a page, it is quantitative. If it needs a sentence, it is qualitative.
- “Mariam scored 18 out of 25 on the quiz” is quantitative.
- “Mariam said she felt nervous because everyone could see her quiz score” is qualitative.
Both pieces of data are true. Both are useful. Together they tell you more than either does alone.
One more card to lock in what quantitative questions sound like.
