a. Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is the type of research method that follows the exploratory approach. When using qualitative research, a researcher can come up with a proper understanding of the reasons, motivations or points of views of phenomena within the studied topic. With qualitative research, a researcher can gain an insight deep enough to uncover ways of thinking and rationale of opinions. Sometimes, qualitative research can be descriptive. In those cases, qualitative research is used to comprehend and describe complex social- economic dynamics or explore individual perception on the studied subjects (De Franzo, 2011).
Yet, in short, the final common purpose of qualitative research is to seek non-numerical answers using text-based data from published or unpublished scientific and academic documents. Its methods vary but are in simple terms a combination of inductive processes used to formulate theories and hypotheses. Since qualitative research utilizes little to none statistical testing, a research conducted in such manner will have its validity and reliability values largely dependent on the reading, text skimming, and text analysis skills as well as the rigor of the researcher himself. That fact makes qualitative research documents highly case-specific and the conclusions and finding of such studies, while not always so, less generalizable and less applicable for other studies, even those with significant similarities (Shukairy, 2018).
b. Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is performed in such a way that data, mostly numerical data, can be transformed into meaningful statistics for the research topic in concern. By the use of a carefully selected percentage of population or a significant group of a population, quantitative research aims at generalize the findings and attribute the characteristics of the findings to the entire population. That leads to the quantitative approach being a highly generalizable one (Bhat, 2018).
The entire process of quantitative research can be understood as a series of deductive scientific researching. The purpose of which is to test and validate or invalidate previously specified concepts and hypotheses that construct a certain theory. For the purpose of data acquisition, quantitative research employs a variety of methods. The most common methods are surveys, organized interviews, population observations, reviews of past records of data documents. Thus, the assessment parameters of quantitative researching greatly depend on the value and accuracy of the data as well as the measurement approaches and data processing instrument used in the process. When it comes to expenditure, quantitative researching costs heavily on the planning phase to come up with a proper research and data analysis approach. On the other hand, the actual data executive phases are lighter and cost less time (Crossman, 2019).
c. Approach of Choice - Qualitative
In this particular study concerning the cross-border transportation of perishable seafood items, the most prominent numeric data sources come from business entities operating in the field. Unfortunately, those entities are often reluctant to share their data and business records to low-profile parties such as an independent researcher. Apart from that, other sources of data such as from other published studies or personal gathering often prove ineffective, non-relatable and too case-specific. Therefore, the research author’s chance of following the quantitative approach is greatly hindrance and possibly unrealistic (Bhat, 2018).
On the other hand, conditions are set rather prime for the qualitative approach. Since this approach does not place too much stress on seeking numeric data, the author can rely on text-based and semi-numeric data as the basis for the study. Data acquired from observation of the transportation industry is rather stable and readily available. In addition, the purpose of this study aims at exploring transportation methods and determining the most prominent means for use. The author seeks to gain insights into each transportation
means, identifying the pros and cons each of them has to offer and place them on comparison. For example, cargo airfares, van rental cost or train cargo costs are generally provided by online booking sites or from cargo booking agents’ offices promptly upon inquiry. Such data could then be used to form a base for cost-effective comparison purposes with high accuracy and little time and effort demands. Therefore, the exploratory nature of qualitative research is a good match for such purpose (Berk, 2014).
What makes qualitative researching especially valuable and practical in this case is its ability to extract more meaningful information from a rather small database and restricted range of data. Data in quantitative researching are numeric and simply reveals the linear characteristics between data variable and will require a large database to secure an accurate analysis of the matter. Qualitative researching, however, can dig deep into a few study subjects available, making good use of limited resources and showing hidden information that might not have been possible to seek out using only quantitative methods. Thanks to the explorative nature of qualitative, meaningful information can always be acquired if inquired in the correct manner and focus. It is also common that qualitative researchers, being unsure with what they could expect from their studies, have less expectation for the study outcome and therefore having less bias and prejudice, thus conducting their work with more professional approaches and techniques (Sherif, 2018).