Neither exists in a vacuum or can be considered totally devoid of the other. To do good research we need to use both the qualitative and the quantitative. Qualitative and Quantitative Assumptions To say that qualitative and quantitative data are similar only tells half the story. After all, the intense academic wrangling of the qualitative-quantitative debate must have some basis in reality. First, let's do away with the most common myths about the differences between qualitative and quantitative research.
Qualitative research is exploratory and inductive in nature.
I think that while there's a shred of truth in each of these statements, they are not exactly correct. In general, a lot of quantitative research tends to be confirmatory and deductive. But there's lots of quantitative research that can be classified as exploratory as well. And while much qualitative research does tend to be exploratory, it can also be used to confirm very specific deductive hypotheses. The problem I have with these kinds of statements is that they don't acknowledge the richness of both traditions.