A comparison of qualitative and quantitative research: for Housing Studies and MBA students

A comparison of qualitative and quantitative research: for Housing Studies and MBA students (information from perplexity.ai)

My question: "What are the differences between qualitative and quantitative research Housing Studies and MBA study with regard to the following aspects: favored research philosophies, favored research methods (with particular design characteristics in their data gathering and data analysis tasks, and favored types of research questions to address?"

The reply: "Qualitative research in Housing Studies and MBA programs tends to emphasize understanding meanings, experiences, and processes, whereas quantitative research emphasizes measurement, testing relationships, and generalizable patterns. These contrasts show up in the favored philosophies, preferred methods and design features, and the types of questions that are usually posed.​

Favored research philosophies

• Quantitative work usually aligns with positivism or post-positivism, assuming a relatively stable, measurable social reality and favoring objectivity, hypothesis testing, and causal explanation. In Housing Studies this underpins survey-based analysis of affordability, overcrowding, or policy effects, while in MBA it underpins market research, performance metrics, and causal models of behavior.​

• Qualitative work usually aligns with interpretivism/constructivism (and sometimes critical or feminist paradigms), assuming socially constructed realities and emphasizing subjective meaning, context, and multiple truths. In Housing Studies this supports studies of lived experiences, neighborhood meanings, or domestic life, while in MBA it supports work on organizational culture, leadership sense-making, and employee identity.​

• Pragmatism and critical realism often support mixed or flexible use of qualitative and quantitative methods in both fields, combining concern for real causal mechanisms with attention to meanings and practical problem-solving. Housing Studies frequently uses these to connect structural conditions (markets, policies) with lived experience, and MBA research uses them to link performance data with managerial narratives and strategic decision-making.​

Favored methods and design characteristics

• Quantitative studies favor structured instruments (large-scale surveys, structured questionnaires, standardized indices, secondary datasets), probability or large samples, and pre-specified variables. Data gathering emphasizes reliability and replicability (fixed questions, closed-ended scales, standardized procedures), and analysis centers on descriptive and inferential statistics (correlation, regression, modeling, hypothesis tests).​

• In Housing Studies, such quantitative designs are used to model affordability, crowding, tenure choice, satisfaction, or policy impacts using housing surveys, administrative data, or census-type sources. In MBA, they underpin customer/employee surveys, market segmentation studies, financial and performance modeling, and experimental or quasi-experimental studies of interventions.​

• Qualitative studies favor flexible designs such as semi-structured or in-depth interviews, focus groups, participant observation, case studies, narrative or ethnographic work, often with purposive or theoretical sampling and relatively small samples. Data gathering emphasizes openness and depth (open-ended questions, iterative probing, field notes, documents), and analysis centers on coding, thematic or narrative analysis, analytic induction, and constant comparison rather than statistics.​

• In Housing Studies, qualitative methods are used to explore residential satisfaction, housing careers, neighborhood attachment, domestic violence, or informal housing practices in context-rich ways. In MBA, they are used to examine leadership styles, organizational culture, change processes, consumer meanings, or strategy implementation, frequently via insider case studies and multi-level organizational narratives.​

Favored types of research questions

The table below contrasts typical question types that fit each approach in Housing Studies and MBA work. (Examples are generic rather than specific project prescriptions.)

 

Dimension	Quantitative - Housing Studies	Qualitative - Housing Studies	Quantitative - MBA / Business	Qualitative - MBA / Business
Main aim	Measure patterns, test hypotheses about housing conditions or policy effects.	Understand lived experiences, meanings, and processes around housing and home.	Measure market or organizational patterns and test models of behavior/performance.	Understand how actors interpret, negotiate, and enact business practices.
Typical question focus	"How many?", "To what extent?", "What is the relationship between X and Y?" (e.g., income and affordability, tenure and satisfaction).	"How do people experience?", "What meanings do residents attach to?", "How do processes unfold over time?" (e.g., living in subdivided units, coping with displacement).	"What is the effect of leadership style on performance scores?", "How satisfied are customers with service attributes?", "Which factors predict turnover intention?"	"How do employees make sense of leadership practices?", "How do teams experience digital transformation?", "How is brand meaning constructed in customer narratives?"
Orientation to generalization vs depth	Prioritizes generalizability, comparability across groups, and statistical significance.	Prioritizes depth, contextual richness, and theoretical or analytic generalization rather than statistical generalization.	Seeks broad patterns across markets, firms, or units to support decisions and forecasting.	Seeks deep understanding of specific organizations, teams, or customer groups to inform theory and practice.

 

In both Housing Studies and MBA research, quantitative approaches are thus favored for explanatory, variable-centered questions about prevalence, associations, and effects, whereas qualitative approaches are favored for exploratory, process-oriented, and meaning-focused questions; many contemporary projects in both domains deliberately integrate the two to leverage their complementary strengths.

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