QUALITATIVE DATA

VS
QUANTITATIVE DATA
 WHAT IS QUANTITATIVE DATA?

Quantitative data refers to any information

that can be quantified. If it can be counted or
measured, and given a numerical value, it’s
quantitative data. Quantitative data can tell you
“how many,” “how much,” or “how often”—for
example, how many people attended last week’s
webinar?
 WHAT IS QUALITATIVE DATA?

Unlike quantitative data, qualitative data

cannot be measured or counted. It’s descriptive,
expressed in terms of language rather than numerical
values.
Qualitative data also refers to the words or
labels used to describe certain characteristics or
traits—for example, describing the sky as blue or
labeling a particular ice cream flavor as vanilla.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA?

The main differences between

quantitative and qualitative data lie in what
they tell us, how they are collected,
and how they are analyzed.
 WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA?

QUALITATIVE DATA QUANTITATIVE DATA

• Qualitative data is descriptive, relating to • Quantitative data is countable or
language. measurable, relating to numbers.
• Qualitative data can help us to understand • Quantitative data tells us how many, how
the “why” or “how” behind certain much, or how often (e.g. “20 people
behaviors, or it can simply describe a signed up to our email newsletter last
certain attribute—for example, “The week”).
postbox is red” or “I signed up to the
email newsletter because I’m really
interested in hearing about local events.”
 WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA?

QUALITATIVE DATA QUANTITATIVE DATA

• Two people may have very different • Quantitative data is fixed and
qualitative accounts of how they “universal,” while qualitative data is
experience a particular event. subjective and dynamic. For example, if
something weighs 20 kilograms, that can
be considered an objective fact.
• Qualitative data is collected by
• Quantitative data is gathered by
interviewing and observing.
measuring and counting
• qualitative data is analyzed by grouping it
• Quantitative data is analyzed using
in terms of meaningful categories or
statistical analysis
themes.
 WHAT ARE THE MAIN DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DATA?

QUALITATIVE DATA QUANTITATIVE DATA

• My best friend has curly brown hair • My best friend is 5 feet and 7 inches tall
• They have green eyes • They have size 6 feet
• My best friend is funny, loud, and a good • They weigh 63 kilograms
listener
• My best friend has one older sibling and
• They can also be quite impatient and two younger siblings
impulsive at times
• They have two cats
• My best friend drives a red car
• My best friend lives twenty miles away
• They have a very friendly face and a from me
contagious laugh
• They go swimming four times a week
QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• Open-Ended Surveys
Allow for a systematic collection of information from a defined
population, usually by means of interviews or questionnaires
administered to a sample of units in the population. Qualitative
surveys include a set of open-ended questions that aim to gather
information from people about their characteristics, knowledge,
attitudes, values, behaviours, experiences and opinions on relevant
topics. Surveys can be collected via pen/paper forms or digitally via
online/offline data collection apps.
QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• Open ended interviews

Are useful when you want an in-depth understanding of experiences,
opinions or individual descriptions of a process. Can be done
individually or in groups. In groups, you will ask fewer questions
than in an individual interview since everyone has to have the
opportunity to answer and there are limits to how long people are
willing to sit still. In-person interviews can be longer and more in-
depth.
QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION
METHODS

• Experimental research
is guided by hypotheses that state an expected relationship between
two or more variables, so an experiment is conducted to support or
disconfirm this experimental hypothesis. Usually, one set of
variables is manipulated (treatment group) and applied to the other
set of dependent variables (control group) to measure their effect on
the latter. The effect of the independent variables on the dependent
variables is observed and recorded to draw a reasonable conclusion
regarding the relationship between the two groups. This research is
mainly used in natural sciences.
QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• Focus group discussions

• Is ideal when you want to interview a small group of people (6-12
individuals) to informally discuss specific topics relevant to the
issues being examined. The composition of people in an FGD
depends upon the purpose of the research, some are homogenous,
others diverse. FGDs tend to elicit more information than
individual interviews because people express different views,
beliefs and opinions and engage in a dialogue with one another.
QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• Case study:
is an in-depth analysis of individuals, organisations, events, projects,
communities, time periods or a story. As it involves data collection
from multiple sources, a case study is particularly useful in
evaluating complex situations and exploring qualitative impact. A
case study can also be combined with other case studies or methods
to illustrate findings and comparisons. They are usually presented in
written forms, but can also be presented as photographs, films or
videos.
QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• Observation
It is a good technique for collecting data on behavioural patterns,
physical surroundings, activities and processes as it entails recording
what observers see and hear at a specified site. An observation guide
is often used to look for consistent criteria, behaviours, or patterns.
Observations can be obtrusive or unobtrusive. It is ‘obtrusive’ when
observations are made with the participant’s knowledge and
‘unobtrusive’ when observations are done without the knowledge of
the participant.
QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION
METHODS

• Closed ended surveys and questionnaires

is an ideal choice when you want simple, quick feedback which can
easily translate into statistics for analysis. In quantitative research,
surveys are structured questionnaires with a limited number of
closed-ended questions and rating scales used to generate numerical
data or data that can be separated under ‘yes’ or ‘no’ categories.
These can be collected and analysed quickly using statistics such as
percentages.
QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION
METHODS

• Causal-comparative: also known as quasi-experimental research,

compares two variables that are not related. Variables are not
manipulated. One variable is dependent and the other independent.
Variables not randomly assigned.
• Statistical data review: entails a review of population censuses,
research studies and other sources of statistical data.
• Laboratory testing: are precise measurement of a specific
objective phenomenon, e.g. infant weight or water quality test.
QUANTITATIVE DATA COLLECTION METHODS

• Surveys and questionnaires: This is an especially useful method for gathering large
quantities of data. If you wanted to gather quantitative data on employee satisfaction, you
might send out a survey asking them to rate various aspects of the organization on a scale
of 1-10.

• Analytics tools: Data analysts and data scientists use specialist tools to gather quantitative
data from various sources. For example, Google Analytics gathers data in real-time,
allowing you to see, at a glance, all the most important metrics for your website—such as
traffic, number of page views, and average session length.