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The Two Basic Methods
of Social Sciences
 Quantitative Method
✘ Refers to research involving the collection
of data in numerical form for quantitative
analysis.
✘ Data can be durations, scores, counts of
incidents, ratings, or scales.
✘ Data can be collected in either controlled or
naturalistic environments, in laboratories or
field studies, from special populations or
from samples of the general population.
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 ✘ Quantitative methods are often used to
do large-scale social investigation
involving representative of the
population, with survey being the most
popular method.
✘ Often very useful in predicting and
describing the general topography and
demographic distribution of a given
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 ✘ Systematic empirical investigation of
observable phenomena via statistical,
mathematical or computational
techniques.
✘ Quantitative data collection methods
are much more structured than
Qualitative data collection methods.

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 Qualitative Method
✘ A scientific method of observation to
gather non-numerical data.
✘ Primarily exploratory research.
✘ Used to gain an understanding of
underlying reasons, opinions, and
motivations.
✘ It provides insights into the problem or
helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for
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potential quantitative research.
 ✘ Also used to uncover trends in thought and
opinions, and dive deeper into the
problem.
✘ Qualitative data collection methods vary
using unstructured or semi-structured
techniques.
✘ Some common methods include focus
groups (group discussions), individual
7 interviews, and participation/observations.
 ✘ The sample size is typically small, and
respondents are selected to fulfil a given
quota.
✘ Widely used by political science, social work,
and education researchers.
✘ best for researching many of
the why and how questions of human
experience, in making decisions and have a
strong basis in the field of sociology to
8 understand government and social programs.
 ✘ A popular method of qualitative research is
the case study method exemplifies the
qualitative researchers' preference for depth,
detail, and context, often working with
smaller and more focused samples,
compared with the large samples of primary
interest to statistical researchers seeking
general laws.
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