Table 1.

^*: Comparison of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods

Characteristic	Qualitative	Quantitative
Characteristic of construct or concept under study	Constructs, concepts are unfamiliar, poorly defined, or not well understood in new populations/contexts.	Constructs, concepts are clearly defined.
Main goals of study	Gaining meaning, in-depth investigation. Studying selected issues, cases, or events in detail.	Obtaining detailed numerical descriptions or functions of a representative sample. Finding generalizable results and making comparison across populations.
Type of measurement	Exploratory, formative, confirmatory.	Structured, hypothesis-driven, with intent to test hypotheses.
Characteristics of data collection	Flexible approach to allow for in-depth characterizations/understandings, and/or discovery of the unexpected. Questions posed to participants can be refined in the course of study. Typically concludes when data “saturation” has been met, and/or no new information is emerging.	Validated, repeatability of measurements is important. Research questions (i.e., hypotheses) and measures decided a priori and not subject to change. Concludes at an established sample size or time.
Characteristics of data analysis	Iterative, used to modify research questions for ongoing study.	Constructed a priori, not influenced by data collection.

^*Adapted from materials from Kathleen Morrow and Rochelle Rosen, Centers for Behavioral & Preventive Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI