Qualitative vs Quantitative Questions, What’s the Difference?

When you think of the words qualitative and quantitative aside from the fact that they sound pretty similar what comes to mind? Do you actually know the real difference between the words or when they’re used?

What is a quantitative question?

Let me break it down for you, the word quantitative or a quantitative question refers to numbers. They’re questions asked that will give you back a percentage or some kind of number. They’re typically asked in surveys or questionnaires with larger groups. They’re a lot easier to analyze because they deal with numbers not the emotions or feelings of a person. Quantitative questions in research may be questions like on a scale of 1 to 10 how much do you like pineapples? , what is your GPA? , or on average how many hours a week do you spend studying? Quantitative questions are asked when you want a numerical answer to a question. On the other hand, qualitative questions are a bit different.

What is a qualitative question?

The word qualitative or qualitative research is used when you’re trying to figure out what drives the feelings, attitudes and behaviors of the buyer. You want to figure out the why and how come of their decisions and actions. The focus groups tend to be a bit smaller because they’re a lot more time consuming and costly than quantitative research, they’re also a bit harder to plan and analyze because they deal with the why and the emotions of a person, and emotions are a bit unpredictable and harder to understand or interpret.

Why does any of it matter?

In marketing knowing the difference between a quantitative question and a qualitative question is essential because it will ultimately affect how your research is conducted depending on the questions you choose to ask. If you want to know why some does or doesn’t like a particular brand you won’t ask them quantitative questions to try to figure out their reasoning, that would be pointless. The same can be said for if you’re trying to figure out what is the average amount of people that come into a particular coffee shop every morning around a particular time. You won’t ask those people or the coffee shop staff how they feel about it, you’d simply ask them for the times they come into the shop on average. Knowing the right questions to ask will help make your research become more meaningful and make sense to yourself and others.

Missed last week’s blog post? Be sure to check it out here