It’s important for students to determine their research methodology before starting with their dissertation. This right choice of research method for your dissertation is based on two factors.
- How much time do you have to complete your dissertation and how long the research will take?
- Which is the best-suited research methodology according to your dissertation topic?
Taking the wise decision is what matters the most for the success of your dissertation. The reason is that a weak or mismatched research method will impact the effectiveness and worth of your dissertation. There are two prospective methods of research that you can use to collect the data and information for your dissertation, i.e.
- Quantitative research
- Quantitative research
Before going to decide which would be a fruitful method for your dissertation you must know what these terms actually are and what strategies they comprise.
What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative research is the collection of numeric factors related to the topic such as statics. It includes the strategies previously created by the others. It helps you replicate the study because of standardized data and abstract.
Further, a quantitative research dissertation comprises direct results, large samples and enables the reader hypothesis testing with clear data analysis. Following are the major tools used to carry out quantitative research.
· Experiment
Experiments take place in the research to form a hypothesis, reach a particular conclusion, and answer the research question. It can be a single experiment or a series of experiments. This is not always a physical experiment but sometimes a psychological experiment can also be done for the quantitative research dissertation.
· Surveyor Questionnaires
Surveys and questionnaires are based on the presupposed answers to a set of questions supporting or dismissing your idea. These are close-ended research tools in which the individuals have to select one of the three or four options. The questionnaires are set in this way that the individuals cannot share their own perceptions but only can agree or disagree with yours.
· Systematic Observation
It’s the predetermined observation. The researcher selects a particular group of people such as a classroom to observe their behavior and reaction concerning his dissertation topic. It is different from the usual or accidental observation because it is planned and objectified.
· Historical Records
This is the analysis of the data that has been collected by others for different purposes you find relevant to your research and add it to your quantitative research findings. For example, a company has calculated its annual revenue to identify its growth rate, so you may use that figure in your dissertation to state how much revenue a well-established company generates in a year.
What is Qualitative Research?
It is the collection of data in the form of ideas and perspectives. It helps the researcher to build arguments, generate new ideas and assemble and assess the others’ perspectives on the main idea of your dissertation.
Qualitative Research is usually used in the subjects of social sciences and humanities like sociology, education, international relations, etc. The apparatus to carry out qualitative research are not designated; the researcher himself plans the strategy. Following are common tools used in qualitative research.
· Interviews
Interviews from both random and influential people are taken to know their perspectives about what you are going to explore in your dissertation. Your concepts and ideas become clearer by getting known to several different opinions.
· Accidental Observation
These are the sudden observations. It occurs when you don’t intend to observe something specific but accidentally a happening clicks your mind and brings ideas related to your dissertation research. Sometimes, such observation is more influential than a systematic observation because it comes naturally.
· Focus Groups
It takes place in the form of meetings or group discussions. A number of people share their thoughts about a particular topic with each other and then a conclusion is made. This conclusion is not always justified but the dominant perceptions are marked.
· Open-Ended Surveys
Unlike surveys for quantitative research, qualitative research surveys are open-ended. This means these surveys ate not specified to a particular age or the people of the same mindsets. This survey covers a wide range of audiences of different ages and unique intellectual approaches belonging to different professions and social roles.
· Secondary Research
It includes the secondary readings. The researcher reads literary work from different authentic authors to evaluate their perceptions and find the research gap. Information from credible websites is also assessed. This research is used to write the literature review. The secondary reading involves:
- Books
- Research Papers
- Case Studies
- Images/Portrays
· Lecture Notes
Analyzing the teachers’ perspective also comes under qualitative research. The notes taken during the lectures that are relevant to your dissertation topic are evaluated to add unique ideas to the dissertation.
Which of the above Researches is more time-consuming for the Dissertation?
Comparing the above-mentioned facts about the strategies used in the quantitative and qualitative researches, the conclusion is very obvious.
The qualitative research dissertation is indeed more time-consuming due to its research procedure. Some of the major reasons for this conclusion are given below.
1. Excessive Reading
In qualitative research, the researcher has to read a lot. Statistics can be reviewed at a glance but to understand complex ideas and different perspectives a thorough and dense reading is important.
2. Setting Interview Questions
It takes time to create potential and useful research questions for the interviews taken in the qualitative research. These questions should be well-versed, comprehensive, and productive.
3. Gather People for the Group Discussion
It takes several days to arrange a group meeting. People who are supposed to be involved have different schedules and engagements due to which they find it difficult to gather at one table either physically or virtually.
4. Finding the Relevant Points from the Annotated Lectures
The students usually note down the class lectures in a rough format. In this way, it sometimes becomes difficult to find out the most relevant points to the dissertation from the lecture’s copy. It also consumes to find out important ideas from the notes that are worth adding to the dissertation.
5. Organizing your Dissertation with Qualitative Research Findings
Quantitative research is easier to organize in the dissertation because statistics can be written in the form of tables or graphs. But the qualitative research findings cannot be placed so easily because it includes the writing structure, the sentence formation, and how you put forward the collected ideas. It also takes more time.
How can You Preserve your Time with a Qualitative Research Dissertation?
The students who want to carry out the qualitative research for their dissertation but also want to preserve their time can buy dissertation online – The Dissertation Help to get done with this task.
Final Statement
Both the research methods have been discussed above in detail. These are globally used methods for writing a dissertation with authentic facts and figures. Students can choose the suitable method on their own according to their dissertation requirements.
Author Bio:
This is Kyle Mac represent a content creator who is specialized in digital marketing and producing/writing content. I have managing events, create unique sort of content, produced animated podcasts, businesses, helping startups, and marketing companies.
In the past, I have worked at a digital agency working since 2017, at here I working with various major and minor brands, managing their social media platforms, creating ad copies, and writing blogs and articles which are depending on cliental needs, and helping to increase their audience by content.