Data is a piece of information consisting of facts or statistics that are collected for analysis. The collected details can be measurable or described in a language instead of numerals. Two main types of data are available, that is qualitative and quantitative data. Examples of qualitative data include qualifications, gender, religion, and social class while quantitative data include age, height, weight, level of income, and group size. Both qualitative and quantitative data provide useful insights on the research analysis.
Qualitative data is information that can consist of descriptive statements on the nature of a being or a situation in a group. The explanation usually gives direct details on how an object can be observed after the analysis (Gueguen et al., 2021). On the other hand, quantitative data has to be precisely expressed numerically after the collection of the required piece of information. Being numerical in nature, quantitative data must be effectively interpreted to gain insight into the information. In most cases, researchers use different tools such as excel to analyze and make constructive conclusion based on the collected data.
Qualitative data is collected using observations or a questionnaire while quantitative data is collected through surveys and interviews. By use of these methods, the qualitative type’s main aim is to provide understanding while the latter tests for a specific hypothesis. In addition, the collection of data in qualitative type is unstructured while against this data collection is structured and takes place in a specific form.
Generally, researchers tend to use either qualitative, quantitative data or both in their studies to justify their findings depending on the nature of information they collected. In most cases, qualitative facts encompass descriptions of outcomes without including statistical analysis. On the other hand, quantitative data use numerical figures to provide information about the research. In addition, qualitative data are mainly collected through text.
Reference
Gueguen, J., Huas, C., Orri, M., & Falissard, B. (2021). Hypnosis for labor and childbirth: A meta-integration of qualitative and quantitative studies. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 43, 101380.