Qualitative and Quantitative Methods

Quantitative research collects numerical data. It can show how common something is or allow comparisons between groups. For example, counting how many pupils choose each answer to a question about school produces quantitative data.

Qualitative research collects detailed, non-numerical data about people's meanings, experiences and behaviour. Pupils' accounts of what makes a lesson enjoyable would provide qualitative data. The distinction concerns the information collected, not simply the name of the method: questionnaires and observations can produce either kind of data, depending on how they are designed.

Questionnaires: collecting written answers

A questionnaire is a set of written questions that respondents complete. A respondent is someone who answers the researcher's questions. Self-completion questionnaires can be handed out, posted or provided electronically, such as by email. The respondent reads the questions and records their own answers, rather than having an interviewer ask them.

Questionnaires use pre-set questions, but the way respondents answer depends on the question type.

A closed question supplies fixed answer options. For example: 'How much do you enjoy school? A lot / A little / Not at all.' The researcher can count how many pupils select each option and summarise the responses numerically. The answer options need to cover the possible responses.

An open question allows respondents to answer in their own words. For example: 'What makes school enjoyable or unenjoyable for you?' Answers might describe friendships, particular lessons or experiences with teachers. These written explanations provide qualitative data.

A questionnaire can combine both types. Closed answers can establish a pattern, while open answers can help explain what that pattern means to respondents.

Structured interviews: the same questions asked by an interviewer

An interview involves an interviewer asking questions and a respondent answering them. It can take place face to face or by telephone. Answers are recorded in writing or electronically.

In a structured interview, the interviewer follows an interview schedule: a pre-set list of questions asked in the same order for every respondent. This standardisation means that respondents answer the same questions, making their responses easier to compare.

For example, an interviewer could ask each pupil the same fixed-choice question about enjoyment of school and record the selected answer. Unlike a self-completion questionnaire, the interviewer asks the question and records the response.

Structured interviews commonly use closed questions and produce quantitative data. However, structure refers to how the interview is organised: a standardised interview can also include open questions.

Unstructured interviews: exploring experiences through conversation

An unstructured interview has no fixed, standardised question schedule. It is a conversation with a research purpose, rather than an ordinary chat. The interviewer introduces a topic, listens to the respondent and uses follow-up questions to explore what they say.

Suppose a pupil explains that friendships affect their enjoyment of school. The interviewer might then ask how friendships influence their experience of lessons or breaktime. Another pupil might discuss school rules, leading to a different set of follow-up questions.

Respondents can explain their experiences in their own words and raise issues that the researcher had not anticipated. The result is usually detailed qualitative data. Dobash and Dobash used unstructured interviews in research on domestic violence against wives, speaking to women and to professionals such as police and charity workers.

A semi-structured interview lies between the two main types. The researcher has questions or topics to cover, but can change their order and ask additional questions prompted by the answers.

Observation: studying what people do

In observation, sociologists watch behaviour, listen to interactions and record what happens. Whereas a questionnaire or interview asks people to describe their behaviour, observation studies behaviour as it occurs.

There are several ways to organise an observation. Two important distinctions concern whether the researcher takes part and whether people know they are being studied.

In participant observation, the researcher joins a group and takes part in its activities while studying it. This gives access to everyday interactions from within the group. James Patrick used participant observation to study a youth gang in Glasgow in the 1960s, gaining access through a gang member called Tim.

In non-participant observation, the researcher watches without joining in. For example, a researcher might sit at the back of a classroom and record interactions without taking part in the lesson. Observation may also involve watching recorded behaviour.

Overt and covert observation: whether the research is known

In overt observation, the people being studied know that research is taking place. In covert observation, they do not know that the researcher is studying them.

This is a separate distinction from participation. A researcher can join a group openly as an overt participant observer, or join without revealing the research purpose as a covert participant observer. Equally, watching without taking part does not by itself tell us whether the observation is overt or covert.

Recording behaviour as numbers or detailed accounts

Observation does not always produce the same kind of data. A researcher can use an observation schedule, with categories decided in advance, to record behaviour systematically. For example, during a classroom observation, they might log the activity taking place every 30 seconds. The records can then be counted to produce quantitative data.

Alternatively, the researcher can write detailed field notes describing conversations, interactions and the circumstances surrounding them. These provide qualitative data that helps the sociologist explore how people experience and understand their social world.

The key connection is between the research question, the method and the recording process: counting selected behaviours answers a different question from exploring their meaning through detailed descriptions.