Question

What do quantitative and qualitative measurements mean in science?

Answer 1

Hint : We know that any data can be analyzed using two different approaches, as it is collected – known as Qualitative and Quantitative Research. While Qualitative Research deals with words, their context, and meanings; Quantitative Research deals with numbers and statistics.

Complete Step By Step Answer:
Quantitative means measuring a quantity - putting a value to something. For example, you might measure the rate of a reaction by seeing how many seconds it takes for a change to happen, such as a piece of magnesium ribbon to dissolve in acids of different concentrations. Qualitative measurements; Qualitative Research is used to understand human behavior, patterns, experiences, intentions, and attitudes; based on the observation and interpretation of people. It is an exploratory technique that deals with the complicated phenomena that are not at all possible.
Qualitative means without determining a value. You might simply be doing a comparison, e.g. the magnesium dissolves more quickly in this acid than in that one, or making observations: lithium compounds produce a red flame colour while sodium compounds produce a yellow one. Quantitative Measurement; Quantitative Research relies on the sciences that develops numerical data and creates hard facts. It also establishes the cause and effect between two variables using computational and statistical methods. As a result, the results in this method are precise, labeling it as Empirical Research.

Note :
When answering this question, there is a chance that most students might get confused between the terms “quantitative” and “qualitative”. So it is recommended that students should refer to “numerical” data as “quantitative”. Note that measure difference e between these two is that qualitative data are unstructured and determines depth of understanding while the other one is structured and determines level of occurrence.