Are surveys qualitative or quantitative? It turns out they can be both. Learn when and how to use them, then explore our expert survey templates to run your own research.
Quantitative and qualitative research are complementary methods used in surveys to gather results that are both wide-reaching and deep.
Choosing the method depends on the type of data and insights you aim to capture to serve your research goals. Qualitative data provides details and context to better understand individual responses, while quantitative data can supply the cumulative results you need to prove the general ideas or hypotheses of your research. To get the best results from these methods in your surveys, it’s important to understand the differences between them. Let’s dive in.
Quantitative research is a methodology that provides support when you need to draw general conclusions from your research and predict outcomes. These methods are designed to collect numerical data that can be used to measure variables. The resulting quantitative data should be structured and statistical to present objective and conclusive findings, relying on systematically analysed data collection.
Qualitative research is a methodology designed to explain the “why” behind research findings. With less of an emphasis on statistics and structured data, it provides an in-depth understanding of human behaviours, motivations and emotions through text-based information.
Qualitative research methods usually involve first-hand observation, such as interviews or focus groups. This type of market research is usually conducted in natural settings, meaning that researchers study things as they are without experiments and control groups.
While qualitative approaches bring depth of understanding to your research questions, it can make the results harder to analyse.
Qualitative research collects information that seeks to describe a topic more than measure it. This type of research measures opinions, views and attributes vs. hard numbers that would be presented in a graph or a chart.
In essence, qualitative and quantitative research methods shine light on different survey objectives. Quantitative data can help you see the big picture. Qualitative data adds the details and can also give a human voice to your survey results.
Let’s break down how to use each method in a research project.
Launch a quantitative research study with SurveyMonkey Audience and reach a sample audience that matches your needs.
In a world of Big Data, there’s a wealth of statistics and figures that form the strong foundation on which decisions can rest. But that foundation is incomplete without the information collected from real people that gives the numbers meaning. Therefore, these two research methods don’t conflict with each other; they actually work much better as a team.
Here are our top tips for how to combine the two research methods:
Gaining both types of insight can provide a comprehensive understanding of research subjects; however, if you've already decided you need to know the "why" vs. the "what" (or vice versa), it may be simpler to choose just one research method. Let's break it down one more time:
Quantitative data (what):
Qualitative data (why):
Our customer satisfaction survey template includes some good examples of how qualitative and quantitative questions can work together to provide you with a complete view of how your business is doing.
How long have you been a customer of our company?
How likely are you to purchase any of our products again?
The following is another example from our employee engagement survey.
When you make a mistake, how often does your supervisor respond constructively?
Now that you know the definition of qualitative and quantitative data, and the differences between these two research methods, you can better understand how to combine them or zero in on one. Put them to work in your next project with one of our expert-written survey templates.
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SurveyMonkey can help you choose whether to collect qualitative or quantitative data to get the best results.