Compare the key differences that set qualitative data analysis apart from quantitative data ...

●   Types and numbers of analysis techniques: Quantitative researchers choose from a specialized, standardized set of data analysis techniques, whereas qualitative data analysis is less standardized.
●   Starting points for data analysis: Quantitative researchers do not begin data analysis until they have collected all of the data and condensed them into numbers, whereas qualitative researchers begin analysis early in a research project while they are still collecting data.
●   Relationship between data and social theory: Quantitative researchers manipulate numbers that represent empirical facts to test theoretical hypotheses, whereas qualitative researchers create new concepts and theory by blending together empirical evidence and abstract concepts.
●   Degrees of abstraction/distance from the details of social life: Quantitative researchers assume that social life can be represented by using numbers, whereas in qualitative analysis, the data are in the form of words.