Usually focuses on a
participant's thoughts
and feelings about an
aspect of their life or a
particular experience.
An example might be an in-depth
interview about childhood experiences,
where the researcher records the
conversation and then writes up case
notes, summarising what has been said.
Qualitative data is often
described as more
meaningful information, since
it is true to its original source
and reflects behaviour in a
real-life context.
STRENGTHS.
Rich and Detailed.
Meaningful.
High Validity.
LIMITATIONS.
Difficult to replicate.
Difficult to analyse.
Low reliability.
Very personal,
subjective account.
Quantitative Research.
Involves measuring
behaviour in a numerical way.
An example might
be the score out of
20 on a memory test.
Quantitative data is sometimes
described as less meaningful since
it usually involves narrow focus on
a very specific aspect of behaviour,
and the measurement of tens takes
place out of the context in which
that behaviour usually occurs.
STRENGTHS.
Easy to analyse.
Can replicate.
More objective.
LIMITATIONS.
Less meaningful.
Low in ecological validity.
As a general rule...
Unstructured interviews, case
studies, open questionnaires and
some observational studies involve
the collection of qualitative data.
Experiments, correlational studies,
structured observations, structured
interviews and closed questionnaires
involve the collection of quantitative data.
Quite often, researchers gather data
using a qualitative method and then
convert the information into quantitative
data for the purpose of analysis.
As an example, having recorded an
in-depth interview about childhood
experiences, a researcher might analyse
the recording to see how many times
certain themes occur, for example,
sibling rivalry, discipline methods used
by parents, peer influences, and so on.