Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research Studies: Market Research 101

Quantitative research, in its most basic form, boils down to numbers: The idea is to ask a question of enough people to statistically estimate the general viewpoints of a large population. That is to say, it involves breaking a question down into a scale or into defined choices, then tallying up how a large sample of people have responded.

Qualitative research involves asking broader, more open-ended questions that cannot be quantified or broken into defined choices. In qualitative research, the interviewer is trying to elicit reactions and opinions from potential and/or actual users of a product or service in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of an issue. It can help researchers interpret and elaborate on data that might not be apparent from using just numbers or pre-defined answer choices. Because it involves more in-depth questioning, and asks respondents to provide their own answers and experiences, qualitative research usually involves a smaller sample over longer time.

We see quantitative research a lot in the news—55% of people say they approve of Candidate X, or 74% of people said that they felt better/the same as/worse about themselves after reading Beauty Magazine. It’s a quick way to make a general point. But sometimes, these general statements have a lot of nuance.

For instance, consider the taglines of a recent study we conducted about the packaging for a sustainability concept. The winning tagline—“Caring for the environment starts with us”—ranked the highest for uniqueness (61%), believability (64%), and giving the perception of helping the environment (61%). We also found that, overall, caring-focused taglines—or those that seemed to be more achievable and realistic—performed better than future-focused taglines—or those that tried to set a broad goal for the entire planet.

But here is where qualitative research (via one-on-one interviews) could be done to clarify some of the suggestions from the quantitative numbers. What are the perceptions about sustainability messaging? What kinds of words or ideas resonate, or not, with the respondents? What other factors do the respondents consider when judging the messaging of a sustainable brand?

In our qualitative research about sustainability, we uncovered some key perceptions around messaging that gave us deeper insight into the tagline research. One respondent said, “I see companies use words like environmentally friendly, GMO-free, no hormones, fair trade, free trade, renewable. It can be hard to know what each term means, especially when many of the words or phrases can be used interchangeably or can have a different meaning depending on the company using it.”

Another respondent pointed out the need for clear, concrete messaging: “Using terms in the tagline that are concrete (observable and measurable) more often makes me pay attention rather than a vague term like all natural or sustainable. So [something like] ‘Last year we recycled enough (product) to fill up the Empire State building four times…’”

As I have mentioned before, quantitative and qualitative methods have important places in market research. While popular platforms for quantitative research include SurveyMonkey.com and Zoomerang, right now the only way to conduct online qualitative research on your own is through GutCheck. This is why our goal is to make the qualitative research space as accessible and easy to use as the quantitative research tools currently available. Numbers can talk, but sometimes that voice needs to be singled out and asked “Why?”