Difference between Qualitative and Quantitative Research Essay

The first fountainhead asked by all inquiryer with a new topic to report card is What form of explore should I use? Reference to the literature basin be enigmatical so much research has been done, so many motilitys asked and sometimes answered, and so many conclusions have been drawn that it can be difficult to sort out one research technique from another. The decision most beginners to research find taxing is Should I use quantitative or qualitative methods?At the most basic level, quantitative research methods are employ when something needs to be measured, while qualitative methods are utilize when a question needs to be described and investigated in some depth. Often, the 2 methods are utilize in tandem to provide measurements for comparison and rating and to give an in-depth explanation of the meaning of an idea. decimal researchThe words themselves hold the clues. Quantitative research includes so-called benchtop science (where experimental tests are carried out) , drug trials (where the effectuate of drugs are measured), epidemiology (where rates of illnesses in populations are calculated), intervention studies (where one technique is used and its effects compared with another), and so on. Quantitative research usually contains numbers, proportions and statistics, and is valuable for measuring peoples attitudes, their emotional and behavioural states and their ways of thinking.In one section of a study on child safeguard in infirmarys, I asked a group of parents to give a yes or no response to a range of questions on their attitudes to paediatric infirmary care (Shields 1999). I then measured the number of yes answers and compared them with responses from nurses and doctors to the same questions. The study showed differences in attitude between parents and staff that could have affected chat between them and influenced the delivery of care. In another example, a researcher in Iceland measured the most important needs of parents during t heir childrens admission to hospital and found that they rated emotional needs as more important than material requirements, such as rest and food (Kristjansdttir 1995).qualitative researchQualitative methods are used when the meaning ofsomething needs to be found. Exploring the question Who owns a child in hospital? (Shields et al 2003), or examining the meaning of an experience, illness, or condition, for example, of what it means to be a mother whose child has died (Laakso and Paunonen-Ilmonen 2001), are all forms of qualitative research. Qualitative research usually has no measurements or statistics but uses words, descriptions and quotes to explore meaning. It can even use arts techniques, such as dance (Picard 2000).The question to ask when planning a research project, therefore, is Do I postulate to count or measure something, or do I exigency to find the meaning of something, and describe it? Which comes first? This is sometimes a chicken-and-egg question but if no one ha s investigated the topic before, qualitative research is used first to try to tease out ideas, which can then be turned into questions that can be tested quantitativelyREFERENCESKristjansdttir G (1995) sensed importance of needs expressed by parents of hospitalized two-to-six-year-olds. Scandinavian Journal of care Sciences. 9, 2, 95-103.Laakso H, Paunonen-Ilmonen M (2001) Mothers grief following the death of a child. Journal of good Nursing. 36, 1, 69-77. Picard C (2000) Pattern of expanding consciousness in midlife women creative movement and the write up as modes of expression. Nursing Science Quarterly. 13, 2, 150-157.Shields L (1999) A Comparative field of study of the Care of Hospitalized Children in Developed and Developing Countries. Doctoral thesis. Brisbane, University of Queensland.Shields L et al (2003) Who owns the child in hospital? A preliminary discussion. Journal of modernistic Nursing. 41, 3, 1-9.