Qualitative vs Quantitative

 When I first started my research on qualitative and quantitative research, I immediately hit Google, ChatGPT, and started reading and looking into what these two things are and how they can help me towards my capstone.

During my research, I found that both of them actually have a lot in common and also have their own strengths and weaknesses. I took note that both have a simple goal in mind and that is  to find the answer to a complicated question. It just depends on the question and how they get there. Quantitative research is about things that can be measured, how many or how much, the numbers game. Qualitative research, on the other hand, is more focused on the meaning behind things.

When researching the two, I found myself leaning towards qualitative research. I consider myself a feeler and an emotionally driven person, and that is the type of research I want to pursue something with feeling.

Now, with each having their negative factors, I realize that with qualitative research it’s hard to put stories and emotions into research. How do you make a number, chart, or graph out of someone’s personal and lived experiences? Whereas with quantitative, the whole point is to put things into numbers and graphs. But we know that people and stories are so much more. Because of that, with these two types of research, there’s never really a happy medium.

When I think about my own goals and what I’m leaning towards doing for my capstone, I really do think I’m doing a qualitative research project. My goal is to interview and talk to people about how they review applications and why they review them in a certain way. Do I know exactly how to put these things into the perfect qualitative approach? No. But I think I can figure it out throughout the rest of the semester.

ChatGPT gave me a really helpful overview and definitions chart when I asked about the similarities and differences between the two. What really drew me to qualitative research was the part about flexibility. The chart listed qualitative research as more flexible and evolving open to changing and emerging with findings. Quantitative was described as way more rigid and set up in a specific way. To me, that was the biggest sign that I want to lean towards qualitative. I think there has to be flexibility, especially when we’re talking about educational topics, because the world is changing every single day. We need to have the flexibility to understand and analyze the things that are happening.

Both qualitative and quantitative research are important and have many benefits to the research world, depending on the questions that need to be answered. There is definitely a research method that will work out, but for me, I feel qualitative is the best fit

 (Im obsessed with Barbie and the Barbie movie)