Ikhwan Arief

Industrial engineers many times encounter people who do not understand or are unfamiliar with the term industrial engineer. Indeed, probably the most commonly asked question of an industrial engineer in the workplace or outside may be, “What do industrial engineers really do?” IIE defines industrial engineering as being “concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment, and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences, together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems.” This definition certainly does not succinctly describe what industrial engineers do.
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1. Qualitative research relies on deduction. It reaches conclusion by reasoning or inferring from general principles to particulars. Quantitative research relies on induction, arriving at generalizations by collecting, examining, and analyzing specific instances.
2. Qualitative research requires the investigator to engage with the persons, events and ambience studied as an integral part of the study process. Most often, quantitative research calls for the investigator to remain detached.
3. Qualitative research offers particular value in the process of generating new concepts or theories. Quantitative research focuses more on the testing of existing theories of generalizations.
4. Qualitative research seeks to provide full and accurate descriptions of phenomena in all their complexity. The aim of quantitative research is to reveal or establish cause-and-effect relationships in or among experiences or occurrences.
5. Qualitative research attempts to discover and show the assumptions that underlie events or actions. Quantitative research focuses more on testing the operation of assumptions.
6. Qualitative research uses natural settings as primary data. Qualitative studies deal mainly with statements and questions couched in words and with detailed descriptions of settings and events. Quantitative research constructs or controls settings and deals chiefly with amounts and numbers as primary data.
7. Qualitative research begins with broad questions or problems and attempts to narrow them. Quantitative research starts with narrow or specific phenomena and attempts to relate them to others as building blocks to illuminate larger matters.
8. Qualitative research tends to deal with small samples and uniqueness. Quantitative research encourages studying large samples and prizes representativeness.
9. Qualitative research considers the context of words and events an integral part of the primary data. Quantitative research tends to delete context or tightly control it to minimize the influence of affective nuances.
10. Qualitative research depends on thoroughness and depth of reporting to demonstrate significance. Quantitative research utilizes statistical analyses, particularly employing probabilities, to demonstrate significance.