Qualitative and Quantative Research Techniques!

So, I've recently been introduced to qualitative and quantative research techniques in the module Applied Media Research. 

I feel the qualitative type of researching is much more in depth than that of quantitive because it focuses more on the deeper meanings to answers rather than a blunt 'yes' or 'no' answer. At the beginning of this module, we were told to get into groups and within these groups, we were set the challenge of answering the question 'How to market a degree course to potential students'. Quantitive research techniques can be anything from questionnaires to online surveys, voting polls and telephone surveys, all of which I discovered are most definitely not personal in comparison to qualitative research techniques.
Once in groups, we were told to create a questionnaire that we would hand out amongst our class peers and then analyse the data we would gain.
Some of the questions we asked were:

• Would your prefer the course to be more practical than theoretical based?
• Would a course be more appealing to you if it had a percentage of job prospects after completing the degree?
• What would appeal to you more about choosing the right degree from the following:
• Practical work
• Course facilities
• Lectures past experience
• The course' past success rate
• Course hours
• Would the fact that the University is close to the city centre attract you more?

We handed this questionnaire out to the majority of our class and the results we gained were rather interesting. We found that when asked an 'open ended question', many of the students answered the question rather bluntly and some not even at all. We realise that from this, people like to have a tick box or something they can either circle or cross rather than actually having to write an answer. The questionnaire did however prove to be popular amongst our peers as there was only that one open ended question and the rest were answered by circling a number '1 - 5' 1 being least likely, 5 being most likely. I feel that people prefer to be able to almost scan over a questionnaire rather than taking the time to stop and think about what they really are answering. I also feel that people prefer not to give out much personal information when answering a questionnaire but are more than happy to when answering qualitative research questions instead. This is because we asked a simple 'Are you female or male?' and some students didn't even bother to answer that question and so skipped it alltogether!

We were then asked to get back into our groups and compile a qualitative research technique answering the same question as in the quantative technique. 

My group decided a great way of getting good answers from this would be to do a focus group with around five to ten people or an interview where we could compare each technique. We decided this idea would work well because people generally tend to bounce ideas off each other when in groups and speak aloud more, however this could go against us as some people do tend to agree with others and shy away from voicing their own opinion, worried of what others may think.

So, we went ahead with our idea and decided to ask the following questions in a focus group:

• What are your thoughts and feeling toward the course?
• Do you feel as though you have learnt this year?
• Do you feel confident in the fact that when you leave, you will find work?
• Would you recommend the course? Why?
• Do you prefer theoretical or practical based learning? Why?
• Do lectures add or take away from the course?

During the focus group, I found that my theory did prove to be correct because as one member of the focus group would answer, the others would follow, like sheep as the saying goes. Not everyone would agree with each other which is great because we needed different answers, however some members had a tendency to sit back and answer along with others either saying 'yes' or repeating what others had already said. We did however get some good feedback to the questions we asked and much more in depth answers rather than the questionnaire previously used. This type of research is much more personal and reflects on how the person truly feels as you can also tell in body language and facial expressions rather than just reading off a piece of paper i.e, questionnaires. I feel a focus group is a great way of sourcing research to a more personal level and you can gain higher quality and deeper meanings to answers than that of qualitative research. We didn't have time to interview each member of the focus group however if we did, we would ask each question again where I am sure we would have even more in depth answers, as the individuals then would be alone thus the answers would be more personal as they wouldn't have anyone 'judging' them.