Writing a dissertation is necessary for all university students. A dissertation has to be of a huge amount of words in a specific specialization. Students need to complete the task to pass their final semester and the program. Before selecting the topic of the dissertation, the students need to confirm if they are going to use a qualitative or quantitative approach. These research approaches have their own significance and ways of working. For the best possible results, students need to understand the differences between both of the methods. I have seen students enrolled in their dissertation but they don’t know the difference between them. Let us see what exactly is quantitative and qualitative research.
Quantitative Research
The quantitative research method is used to solve the problem using numeric values. These numerical data are significantly transferred and used in statistics for the best results. It is used to define and observe the behavior of the variable in all contexts. It is normally used and, applied to the large population. It helps to measure the variables for the logical pieces of evidence in your entire custom dissertation writing. The data collection procedure of quantitative is more structured than qualitative research. The required data can be collected through the following sources;
- Sampling,
- Interviews,
- Questionnaire Observation
- Document Review
For example, you are writing a dissertation for Supply chain management and you have selected a questionnaire to be your tools for collecting the required data. So, you will ask some related questions which are directly related to your variables. Just like you ask a question, “Supply chain partners have visibility on information related to material demand and supply for decision making” using the Like scale of measurement. It includes strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree strongly agree. They are mostly close-ended questions. Once the entire sampling is done, the answers to, the questionnaire will be converted into numerical form. This numerical data is then tested on the authentic and reliable statistical tools for the desired results and findings.
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is more like exploratory research. Exploratory research is a process of finding a solution to the problems that have never been discussed or studied thoroughly in the past. They are more into the existing problems rather than the problems in the past. It helps to understand the untold and hidden reasons and opinions. Qualitative research helps to think of the things in deep while finding logical evidence through specific sources of data collection. It may include structured or semi-structured techniques of data collection. The sample size in qualitative research is relatively small than quantitative research. The data collection techniques in qualitative research may include the following;
- Observations
- textual or visual analysis
- interviews
It focuses on the open-ended questions in qualitative research. For example, you are operating a garment store in your area. You have been serving there for more than a year and observed that the number of young visitors is comparatively low than the child and old age people. You decided to know the reason of low visits and randomly interviewed many people in the nearby shops and malls. These interviews found that the varieties that you have are not up to date as per the prompt changes in the fashion of the young people. This only happened when you go deeper into the context for solving the issues. Interaction with the selected sample is very much important in qualitative research.
This allows you to go deeper into the problem and finding the basic reason for the issues. The data collection goes deeper when you start getting answers from the other person during the interview which results in further questioning based on the responses. It is the main objective of the interviewer to deeply understand the feelings and the motivation of the people while noting down the factors that directly influence their feelings. Once you get to know the patterns of decision making of your audience, it will get easier for you to give a good conclusion to the entire context.
Methods of Qualitative research
There are many methods of collecting the data for qualitative research. Let us discuss a few of them.
One-on-One Interview
Interviewing on the individual basis is one of the most commonly used methods of collecting the data for qualitative research. It is totally based on the conversation between the two of them. One of the main advantages of getting a one-on-one interview is that you manage to gather enough data for your dissertation.
Focus Group
A Focus group is also widely used in qualitative research methods. It includes respondents ranging from 5-10. The main objective of the focus group is to give the answers to what and how questions. Nowadays it is not important to personally interact with the group. But you can send online forms and can get the responses.
Conclusion:
The students need to understand the significance and consumption of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Once you get the understanding, it will become easy for you to complete your dissertation until the end of the document. An online professional dissertation help can play a vital role in giving you the best understanding of the custom dissertation.