Qualitative and Quantitative Approach

The research is defined as the systematic investigation or a study of sources in order to determine the new facts and conclusions. The reason is mainly conducted for the enhancement of knowledge which is not having any immediate commercial potential. Following are the types of research methods:

1.    Basic research is formulated to add scientific knowledge in an organized manner, and it does not have any immediate practical use. Applied science is mainly conducted to improve the conditions of human beings. It is conducted by the huge agencies such as government, UNICEF, and others. It is conducted by the agencies that are having the capability to make such investments for example research conducted to improve crop production (Bryman et al., 2015). 

2.    The applied research is mainly conducted to solve a practical problem. The objective of the research is to improve the knowledge of human beings through analyses that help to solve the problems of real or social life.

3.    The problem-oriented research is done by the body of industry apex which solves the problems of companies through research. 

4.     The problem-solving research is conducted by an individual organization for solving the problem of their organization such as market research.

5.    Quantitative research is based on numeric figures which have the aim to measure the quality and quantity based on the previous records. 

6.    Qualitative research is subjective research which is done through collecting, analyzing and data interpretations.
 

The quantitative research h is mainly related to the positivist paradigm. The data is collected and analyzed to convert it into the statistical form which helps to draw a conclusion. The quantitative research emphasizes on converting general reason to the specific (Taylor et al., 2015). The approach is situated with the social constructivist paradigm which emphasizes on constructed nature of reality in a social manner. Following are the two approaches:

1.    Pragmatic approach
It is related to the science in which the research method is selected according to the research problem, and there is a freedom in selecting the method for conducting the research. It includes the use of data triangulation, investigation triangulation, methodological triangulation and theory triangulation (Domhoff et al., 2013). 

2.    Participatory approach
The situation of people is not responded by the reasserting from vulnerable groups. The aim of an approach is to bring positive change in the life of research subjects. The neutral position is adopted by the researcher which involves interaction with the research participants informally to gather the data for conducting the data analysis (Ramondo et al., 2014). 

Example
There are various examples of qualitative research such as theory, hypothesis and model generation, control and manipulation of variables through experiment, data collection of empirical. 
 

It is defined as the method of inquiry which is conducted in various academic disciplines. It includes market research, business research by nonprofit organizations. It is a broad methodological approach which includes various methods of research. The aim of qualitative research varies according to the subjects such as in psychological research the in-depth understanding of human behavior is required. Following are the five approaches:

1.    Ethnography
The ethnography approach is defined as the research which comes in the anthropology field. The research emphasizes on studying the entire culture. The area of research is broad which is classified on the basis of methods used by practitioners. The common approach is participant observation, and there is no ending point in the research ((Cakoni et al., 2014). 

2.    Phenomenology
It is defined as the philosophical perspective to quantitative research. The history is very long in this approach which comprises of sociology, psychology, social work and others. The approach focuses on the subjective interpretations and experience of people. The understanding of world appearance for others is the aim of phenomenologist. 

3.    Field research
It is a broad approach which collects qualitative data. The researchers go into the field for doing the research. It is situated with the methods of participant observations. The extensive notes are taken for the analysis.

4.    Grounded theory
It is defined as the iterative process. The research approach starts with asking of generative questions which guide the process of research. The tentative link is developed between the data and theories. The theories are based on the observation which results in theory identification at the time of data identification. The new observations lead to determine the new linkages, and it is never ending approach (Maxwell et al., 2012). 

5.    Case study
It is defined as the detailed analysis of a particular case by focusing on specific facet for example group, person, and others. The development of case study is interdisciplinary, so various theories and concepts help to interpret the case study.

Example
To study the violence of gun from the gun buyback program then the rate of crime needs to be determining for its implementation. The research is known as qualitative research. 

Difference between Quantitative & Qualitative

The qualitative research is defined as the primary exploratory research. It is conducted to understand the reason, motivations, and opinions. It helps to create ideas for conducting the quantitative research. The trends of thoughts are uncovered through qualitative research. The methods of data collection vary through structured and unstructured techniques. The common methods of research are interviews, observations, group discussion and others. The size of a sample is generally small, and respondents are chosen in order to receive the response for fulfilling the selected quote. It is more flexible than qualitative methods (Punch et al., 2013). It allows high accommodation for interacting between the respondents and researcher.
The quantitative research is conducted to solve the problem through analysis of numerical data which can be translated into useable statistics. It is used to calculate the opinions, attitude, behavior and other variables which generalized results from the huge amount of data. The facts are formulated through measurable data. The methods of collecting data are more structured than the collection methods of qualitative data (Ragin et al., 2014). The methods include telephonic survey, online survey, systematic observations and others. 

The survey instruments are defined as the tools which are implemented for getting the data from respondents. The questionnaire is used as the survey instruments for conducting social and behavioral surveys. The objective of an instrument is to collect the demographic information from the respondents. The cognitive psychology principles are used to design the questionnaire (Scott et al., 2016). There are various types of survey instruments such as total station, graphomotor, total station, cosmolabe, transit, and others. It is mainly a technique for determining the three-dimensional position. The professionals of the land survey are known as the land surveyor. The work of survey is conducted with the elements of trigonometry, geometry, regression, programming languages, engineering, physics, metrology, and others. Much equipment is used by the surveyor such as 3D scanners, digital level, the software of surveying and others.  

One of the elements in human development from the past history is surveying. The construction requires surveying. It is also used in communication, mapping, and transportation. It is considered as an important tool for research. The survey is totally depending upon the equipment’s used by the surveyor.  There are various surveying equipment's which were used in the past such as a compass, chains, theodolite and others. The compass is used to determine the line at the time of the survey. The distance between two poles was measured from the surveying tool named as chain, and for short distance, the metallic measuring tape was used. With the change in technology the tools of surveying were improved. The simple theodolite equipment was used for measuring the vertical and horizontal angles. The long distance is measured through measuring wheel. The measuring tools were of two types, namely, electronic and mechanical. The various tools such as plain meters, automatic levels, measuring wheels and theodolites were started to use in early 1990. The horizontal level is also measured through the auto level which is also a surveying tool. There are various kinds of leveling surveying tools such as tilting level, auto level, and self-leveling level.

Factors involved in survey instruments

The selection of survey instruments is based on various factors which impact on conducting the research. Following are the factors which are considered at the time of selecting survey instruments.

1.    Research type
There is various type of research for example qualitative, quantitative research and others. The type of research is one the factor which needs to be taken into account at the time of selecting the instrument for conducting the survey. For example, quantitative research is in a descriptive form then the suitable instrument for conducting the research is questionnaire which is an instrument for conducting the survey. 

2.    Cost
The cost of conducting the research is an important financial aspect which needs to be taken into account while selecting the instrument for surveying. The budget of research is generally high of big financial agencies or government, but the research conducted by the individual or organizations are having the low budget. For example, the research is conducted to know the impact of inflation at a national level is conducted by any government financial agency which is having the high budget then the research survey instrument can be chosen easily according to the financial budget allocated by the government.  

3.    Target population
It is one of the most important factors which takes into account at the time of conducting the research. The target audience is the respondents for the group on the research are conducted. For example to determine the number of literates in the rural area the question in a survey must not be in a descriptive form because the illiterate respondents will not be able to respond. So the instrument is selected according to the convenience of a target population (Blair et al., 2013). 

4.    Research objective
The selection of instrument is mainly based on the objective of research, for example, the research objective is to identify the number of people who like winters then the appropriate survey instrument would be questionnaire which is suitable according to the objective of the research. 

5.    Reliability
It is defined as the reliability of an instrument that yields the same results over multiple trials. It is examined through ascertaining the results of previous research. For example, the results are not same in the previous research then the survey instrument will not be selected.

6.    Type of data
The type of data impacts on the selection of surveying instrument. The instrument is selected on the basis of data type so that the appropriate conclusions can be drawn. For example, if inferential statistics is used then it is beneficial to develop the total score. The creation of total score depends upon the response collected from all the respondents.

7.    Valid
The validity of an instrument is determined by various methods which are done after data collection. The assessment of instrument is done through conducting research on the instrument by ascertaining the findings of previous research. For example, the results of previous research data are not ascertained then the survey instrument will not be taken for conducting the research.  

Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2015). Business research methods. Oxford University Press, USA.
Cakoni, F., & Colton, D. (2014). A qualitative approach to inverse scattering theory. New York (NY): Springer.
Maxwell, J. A. (2012). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach: An interactive approach. Sage.
Domhoff, G. W. (2013). Finding meaning in dreams: A quantitative approach. Springer Science & Business Media.
Ramondo, N. (2014). A quantitative approach to multinational production. Journal of International Economics, 93(1), 108-122.
Punch, K. F. (2013). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sage.
Ragin, C. C. (2014). The comparative method: Moving beyond qualitative and quantitative strategies. Univ of California Press.
Scott, D. N., Brogan, D. J., Lininger, K. B., Schook, D. M., Daugherty, E. E., Sparacino, M. S., & Patton, A. I. (2016). Evaluating survey instruments and methods in a steep channel. Geomorphology, 273, 236-243.
Blair, J., Czaja, R. F., & Blair, E. A. (2013). Designing surveys: A guide to decisions and procedures. Sage Publications.