Research Guides: Systematic Reviews in the Health Sciences: Differences Between Quantitative and Qualitative Research

Qaulitative vs Quantitative

"Quantitative research," also called "empirical research," refers to any research based on something that can be accurately and precisely measured. For example, it is possible to discover exactly how many times per second a hummingbird's wings beat and measure the corresponding effects on its physiology (heart rate, temperature, etc.).

"Qualitative research" refers to any research based on something that is impossible to accurately and precisely measure. For example, although you certainly can conduct a survey on job satisfaction and afterwards say that such-and-such percent of your respondents were very satisfied with their jobs, it is not possible to come up with an accurate, standard numerical scale to measure the level of job satisfaction precisely.

It is so easy to confuse the words "quantitative" and "qualitative," it's best to use "empirical" and "qualitative" instead.

Hint: An excellent clue that a scholarly journal article contains empirical research is the presence of some sort of statistical analysis

Quantitative research		Qualitative research

Considered hard science		Considered soft science
Objective		Subjective
Deductive reasoning used to synthesize data		Inductive reasoning used to synthesize data
Focus—concise and narrow		Focus—complex and broad
Tests theory		Develops theory
Basis of knowing—cause and effect relationships		Basis of knowing—meaning, discovery
Basic element of analysis—numbers and statistical analysis		Basic element of analysis—words, narrative
Single reality that can be measured and generalized		Multiple realities that are continually changing with individual interpretation