Fact SheetThe Difference Between Qualitative vs. Quantitative

Understand when to leverage qualitative insight versus quantitative data to drive smarter research decisions.

Uses words and imagery to subjectively describe qualities, feelings, opinions, or behaviors.

Uses numerical data and statistical analysis to validate how many, how much, or how often.

Gain a deep understanding of a topic or experience (e.g., underlying reasons or motivations

Draw final conclusions to tested hypotheses or specific research questions.

Ethnography; Focus group; In-depth interview; Observation.

Online survey; Phone survey; Mobile or SMS text survey; Mail survey.

Usually a small number of non-representative cases.

Sampling bias; Bots.