You can tailor
your custom surveys to leverage quantitative and qualitative research
and get results that matter. With quantitative data, you get the
numbers that support the broad and general points in your research.
Qualitative data, on the other hand, will bring in details and depths
to help understand implications of the quantitative data.
Differences
between quantitative and qualitative research
Cold and hard
facts are collected with the help of quantitative research. It uses
numbers and statistics to collect structured data. It is very useful
when you want to draw general conclusions from your research.
Qualitative research, on the other hand, seeks to collect information
that will describe a topic more than measure it. It is used in
collecting impressions, opinions, and views.
Unlike a
quantitative survey, a qualitative survey is less structured and
discusses the topic in-depth in order to understand people's
motivations, thinking, and attitudes. However, this attempt to bring
more in-depth understanding of your research questions only makes it
harder to analyze. Survey consulting firms can offer more insights
into use of these methods of surveying.
When to use
qualitative and quantitative research
Quantitative
methods help you see the big picture while qualitative approach
provides the details. The latter can also give a human voice to the
results as you interpret them.
Here are some
insights on using these methods for your custom surveys:
1. Formulating
hypotheses: Qualitative research helps gather detailed
information on a topic. You can use it to discover problems or
opportunities that people are thinking about and initiate research
with that.
2. Validating
your hypotheses: Quantitative research gives numbers on which you
can then apply statistical analysis to validate hypothesis. You get
statistical facts that guide you to make decisions.
3. Finding
general answers: It is easier for respondents to do a
multiple-choice survey than a series of interviews or focus groups
and so, qualitative research gets fewer respondents than quantitative
research.
You can use
qualitative research to answer more general issues such as whether or
not people prefer you to competitors, which are the most important
services at your company and which ads create most impact.
4.
Incorporating the human element: Human voice is included when you
include quotes from open-ended questions from respondents. This is
used to add a voice to the results.
