SURVEYS AND
INTERVIEWS
QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH RESEARCH
• Seeks to build an understanding of • Seeks explanation or causation
phenomena (ex: human behaviour, • Numeric and measurable,
cultural or social organization) seeking to answer questions like
• Probing for subjective meaning by when or where.
asking exploratory questions like • Provides precise causal
“how?” and “why?” explanations that can be
• Aims to gain insights into groups or measured and communicated
experiences that cannot be measured mathematically
or quantified using mathematics. • Researchers must interpret the
• Researcher set out to test a data to build hypotheses
hypothesis
QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH RESEARCH
• Focused on meaning (ex: how do • Seeks explanation or causation
people make sense of their lives, • The goal is precise, objective,
experiences, and their understanding
measurable data that can be
of the world?)
analyzed with statistical
• The goal is data that can enhance the procedures
understanding of a phenomenon
• Tools are employed to collect
• Researchers are themselves
numerical data (ex: surveys,
instruments for data collection, via
questionnaires or equipment)
methods such as in-depth
interviewing or participant
observation.
SOURCES OF SOURCES OF
QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH RESEARCH
• Conducting ethnographic studies • Conducting polls, surveys, and
• Conducting focus groups experiments
• Examining records (diary entries, • Compiling databases of records and
personal letters, official information
documents, medical or hospital • Observing the topic of the research,
records, photographs, video or such as a specific reaction
audio recordings) • Analyzing multiple prior studies to
• Holding one-on-one interviews identify statistical trends or patterns
• Obtaining personal accounts and • Supplying online or paper
recollections of events or questionnaires to participants
experiences
WHAT ARE MORE SUITED FOR
QUALITATIVE VS QUANTITATIVE
METHODS?
• How do patients experience the process of recovering from surgery?
• What is the average recovery time for patients after surgery?
• How does remote work impact employee productivity levels?
• Why do some employees feel more motivated in remote work
environments?
• What are the cultural influences on dietary habits among teenagers?
• What percentage of teenagers adhere to recommended dietary
guidelines?
INTERVIEWS
• A method of data collection that involves two or more people
exchanging information through a series of questions and answers.
• The questions are designed by a researcher to obtain specific
information
• Especially useful when :
– You wish to gather very detailed information
– You anticipate wanting to ask respondents follow-up questions
based on their responses
– You plan to ask questions that require lengthy explanation
– You are studying a complex or potentially confusing topic to
respondents
– You are studying processes, such as how people make decisions
SURVEY AND QUESTIONNAIRES
• A survey is a broader research method that includes the entire process of
collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data.
• Useful when a researcher aims to describe or explain features of a very large
group or groups.
• A questionnaire is a specific instrument within a survey. It consists of a set of
questions aimed at collecting specific information from respondents.
• A questionnaire is the set of questions that are used to gather the
information, a survey is a process of collecting and analyzing data.
• A questionnaire is a set of written questions used for collecting information
for the benefit of one single individual.
• A survey is a process of gathering information for statistical analysis to the
benefit of a group of individuals (a research method).
SURVEYS
• An excellent way of measuring a data that you cannot observe
• ideally suited for remotely collecting data about a population that is
too large to observe directly
• One strength: produce reliable results.
• A drawback: inflexibility
QUESTIONS
• Unstructured or open-ended questions ask respondents to provide
a response in their own words
• Structured questions ask respondents to select an answer from a
given set of choices
• In a qualitative interview, the researcher usually develops a guide in
advance
• An interview guide is a list of topics or questions that the
interviewer hopes to cover during the interview.
LEVELS OF ORGANIZATION AND
FLEXIBILITY IN AN INTERVIEW
• A structured interview is highly organized and standardized, where
the interviewer follows a predetermined set of questions in a
specific order.
• An unstructured interview is the most flexible type, with no
predetermined questions or format, allowing the conversation to
flow naturally based on the respondent's answers.
• A semi-structured interview follows a flexible interview guide with
a mix of open- and closed-ended questions but allows for
deviations based on the interviewee’s responses.
Example Use
Type Structure Question Type Flexibility
Case
Large-scale
surveys,
Structured High Closed-ended Low
quantitative
research
Ethnography,
Unstructured Low Open-ended High exploratory
research
Qualitative
Mix of
Semi-Structured Moderate Moderate research, case
open/closed
studies
