All research conducted in the social sciences, and in fact most research in all areas of inquiry, is often divided into qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative research gathers data that can be numerically coded and uses mathematical methods of analysis. Qualitative research gathers in-depth, individual data to gain insight, describe fully and understand their subjects. However, different types of research lend themselves better to gathering either qualitative or quantitative data.Typical quantitative research types include experiments, quasi-experiments and correlation studies. The main types of qualitative research are observation and interviews. Case studies use both types of data, but are essentially qualitative in character.
