A Qualitative or a Quantitative Study? Danger! (Cont.) Unit 3 B: page 12 of 24
 

 

Feature

Quantitative

Qualitative
nature empirical, statistical, comparative naturalistic, fieldwork, constructivist
goal hypothesis testing, confirmatory descriptive, generative, finding meaning
design predetermined, fixed flexible, evolving
sample large, representative small, purposeful
measures scores, percentages, counts, rates

interviews, observations, writings
investigator outsider, non-perturbing insider, perturbing
analysis method deductive inductive
findings summative, precise, reliable formative, rich, expansive

As in previous comparisons, we do not “go to the wall” in defense of the absolute correctness or comprehensiveness of the above table entries. Nevertheless, they are offered as generally useful characterizations