Quantitative Research versus Qualitative Research

Many overseas universities require students to write graduation thesis, such as Glyndŵr University, University of Wales, University of Greenwich, Edinburgh Napier University, thesis. When studying for a master’s degree at Buckinghamshire New University, all aim at helping students write a graduation thesis. However, Hong Kong students lack independent research experience. They therefore lack the clue on how to conduct independent research for their graduation thesis or dissertation.

When conducting research for the first time, the first set of difficulties they encountered are topic selection and research method. Research topic and research method are closely related. Although the correct step should start with topic selection, beginners may wish to decide on the research method first, it is not a bad idea to decide whether to use quantitative research method (quantitative research) or qualitative research (qualitative research) before deciding the research topic.

Many students mistakenly believe that qualitative research is an easier research method to master because they are not familiar with statistical methods. When writing a research proposal, many students suggest using personal interviews as a data collection method and budgeting to interview 5-10 subjects. 5-10 subjects are not sufficient to meet the requirement for generalising the views of a population Then, the instructor will ask students to modify this part of the research method.

However, qualitative is not an easier research method to master. First of all, qualitative research needs to consider triangulation to ensure that the research has external validity. Therefore, more stricter supervisors will refuse students to simply use interviews as a method of collecting data. Secondly, analysis methods for qualitative data are more difficult to master than statistical analysis. Therefore, it will be easier to fail in qualitative study than in quantitative study It is recommended that students adopt quantitative research methods and use questionnaires as a method of collecting data. This research design is easier to achieve good results.