Understanding Business Research Terms and Concepts: Part 1
RES/351
April 13, 2015

The methodology used in a business study depends on the type of business research being conducted. Business researchers utilize numerous approaches to obtain information and decipher data. Two popular approaches used in business research are the qualitative research approach and the quantitative research approach. Both of these approaches to business research can be beneficial or may cause inconclusive results because of unforeseen variables.
Qualitative Approach The qualitative approach or interpretive research approach main purpose is to build a theory or gain an understanding of the issue that is researched (Cooper, 2014). Using the qualitative approach can require the researcher to have debt involved with the research process typically as a participant in the study (Cooper, 2014). The qualitative approach draws data are many sources such as; people, organizations and institutions, settings or environment, published text, objects, and events (Cooper, 2014). This approach has a small sample size (Cooper, 2014). This methodology has less planning; therefore, the results may vary (Cooper, 2014). Research studies using this method are not always consistent and may be modified during the study (Cooper, 2014). An advantage to the qualitative approach is the small sample sizes because of the small sizes; the time for data analysis can also be shortened (Cooper, 2014). According to Vaivio (2008) “By qualitative research, we suggest broadly the entire interpretive research tradition in accounting, especially case-based research that relies on rich empirical material collected from a single target organization or a handful of case-organizations. Qualitative research strives towards theoretically valuable interpretations. It uses multiple sources of evidence, such as interviews,