Quantitative research is the core of a research process as it provides useful insights to the researcher. An organisation can conduct quantitative research or data-based research to get more accurate and authentic results as the advantages of quantitative research are numerous.
Although there are several research methods employed to glean important information, quantitative research is the most reliable and consistent method until now. If you are wondering what quantitative research is and what are the advantages and disadvantages of quantitative research, then read this article.
So, let’s start our discussion!
What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative research is a process of gathering and collecting relevant information, analysing and presenting it in a useful manner using mathematical and statistical techniques. This data-driven research is more objective in nature and more reliable.
On the other hand, qualitative research is based on subjective methods like interviews and it is considered less reliable. Quantitative research is divided into further two types: Primary Research and Secondary Research. For example, surveys, market information and already collected data are the sources of collecting data for quantitative research.
Why is Quantitative Research important?
Quantitative Research is important for many factors. It helps industries, organisations, and government institutions collect available data and information and use it to get useful information about certain parameters and variables that are valuable to them.
Regular quantitative research is valuable for the growth of the industry as it provides useful information about the cost structure, employees’ performance, revenues, competitors’ behaviour, price structures, markets, and supply chain processes.
Advantages of Quantitative Research
Let’s discuss the advantages of quantitative research and why it is used widely by academic and corporate researchers!
- It helps an organisation make an informed decision
- It provides useful information about the available resources
- Moreover, it provides information on how to utilise the available resources optimally and efficiently.
- It helps an industry collect customers’ feedback and suggest ways to use the information to improve your product and services.
- The competitor’s behaviour and their policies can be understood.
- The patterns in the market and customer’s behaviour become easily understandable.
- Provide a comparison of different promotional strategies
- Helps grow your business by providing tools to get useful information on the cost structures.
- A business can decide on the location of their industry and store by utilising the statistics about the product demand and customer’s information of that location.
- Quantitative Research provides information that is more reliable and you can categorise the customer information based on their preferences, culture, and other habits.
- Besides, this type of information is consistent in its results and you will not discover variations in its results.
- Moreover, you can use the information to analyse the productivity of your employees and set an ecosystem for them that is conducive to productive output.
- Moreover, you can use this research for exploring new markets or for expanding your market size to get more sales and profits ultimately.
- Lastly, you can conduct quantitative research for analysing the growth of an industry or product.
Disadvantages of Quantitative Research
Quantitative research also comes with some disadvantages. Let’s discuss them now!
- Conducting quantitative research is costly as collecting data is difficult to achieve
- Sometimes, data is collected from unreliable sources.
- Data collection and its analysis require time and effort.
- The research can prove misleading due to the wrong parameters or wrong participants.
- Lastly, selecting a whole model is hard and requires time and effort.
Conclusion
Quantitative Research has many benefits for a growing industry and organisation. If you want to grow your company, quantitative research is important. On the other hand, the advantages of quantitative research cannot overshadow the importance of this type of research.
Technological development, when data science and machine learning have become the core of a company, has made this research even more valuable. So, a company’s growth depends on quantitative research and they must be aware of the advantages of quantitative research.
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Disclaimer: This article provides general commentary on, and analysis of, the subject addressed. We strongly advise that you consult an attorney or tax professional to receive legal or tax guidance tailored to your specific circumstances.