Research data is created in the process of research. It can take many forms and be expressed in many formats and filetypes.
Typically research data is
Qualitive data are typically gathered to answer questions of underlying motivations and beliefs and to discover and expose trends. The data cannot simply be expressed as numbers though they are often "coded" with programs such as NVivo, Atlas.Ti, Taguette, and Dedoose in order to regularize data to find the patterns. Sample populations are often small and not meant to be random. Common forms of this research are interviews, observations and focus groups. This type if research is very common in the Social Sciences, but is also employed in other discplines.
Completing Your Qualitative Dissertation
by
Quantitative data are used to measure effects, amounts or differences. They can be analyzed with such programs and methods as Excel, Google Sheets, SAS, SPAS or analysis scripts for very large sets of data. The populations are meant to be substantive and representative. This type of research is common in the physical, natural and social sciences. Most books on quantitative data analysis will be for a specific program, method, or discipline (or all three).
