| Qualitative | Quantitative |
|---|---|
| Methods include focus groups, unstructured or in-depth interviews, and reviews of documents for types of themes | Surveys, structured interviews, measurements & observations, and reviews of records or documents for numeric or quantifiable information |
| A primarily inductive process used to formulate theory or hypotheses | A primarily deductive process used to test pre-specified concepts, constructs, and hypotheses that make up a theory |
| More subjective: describes a problem or condition from the point of view of those experiencing it | More objective: provides observed effects (interpreted by researchers) of a program on a problem or condition |
| Text-based | Number-based |
| More in-depth information on a few cases | Less in-depth but more breadth of information across a large number of cases |
| Unstructured or semi-structured response options | Fixed response options, measurements, or observations |
| No statistical tests | Statistical tests are used for analysis |
| Less generalizable | More generalizable |