Discover or measure already known?!
We think this needs to be repeated over and over again… Basically, qualitative methods are used to discover things and quantitative methods are used to measure that which is already known. Quantitative data refers to variable data, i.e. data which should conclude with quantities of some kind. Investigations of the quantitative kind aim at producing empirical proof to be able to explain the studied phenomenon in an objective way. This is an outsider or observer perspective. Qualitative data, on the other hand, try to understand a reality and mirror it as precisely as possible. This is an insider or participant perspective.