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Qualitative Data – Definition, Types, Analysis and Examples

QUALITATIVE DATA

QUALITATIVE DATA

Content Index

Qualitative Data: Definition

Qualitative Data Examples

Importance of Qualitative Data

Qualitative Data Collection Methods – Types of Qualitative Data

Qualitative Data Analysis

5 Steps to Qualitative Data Analysis

Advantages of Qualitative Data

Disadvantages of Qualitative Data

Qualitative Data: Definition

Qualitative data is defined as the data that approximates and characterizes.

Qualitative data can be observed and recorded. This data type is non-numerical in nature. This type of
data is collected through methods of observations, one-to-one interviews, conducting focus groups, and
similar methods. Qualitative data in statistics is also known as categorical data – data that can be
arranged categorically based on the attributes and properties of a thing or a phenomenon.
Qualitative Data Examples

Qualitative data is also called categorical data since this data can be grouped according to categories.

For example, think of a student reading a paragraph from a book during one of the class sessions. A
teacher who is listening to the reading gives feedback on how the child read that paragraph. If the
teacher gives feedback based on fluency, intonation, throw of words, clarity in pronunciation without
giving a grade to the child, this is considered as an example of qualitative data.

It’s pretty easy to understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data
does not include numbers in its definition of traits, whereas quantitative data is all about numbers.

The cake is orange, blue, and black in color (qualitative).

Females have brown, black, blonde, and red hair (qualitative).

Quantitative data is any quantifiable information that can be used for mathematical calculation or
statistical analysis. This form of data helps in making real-life decisions based on mathematical
derivations. Quantitative data is used to answer questions like how many? How often? How much? This
data can be validated and verified.

To better understand the concept of qualitative and quantitative data, it’s best to observe examples of
particular datasets and how they can be defined. The following are examples of quantitative data.

There are four cakes and three muffins kept in the basket (quantitative).

One glass of fizzy drink has 97.5 calories (quantitative).

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Importance of Qualitative Data

Qualitative data is important in determining the particular frequency of traits or characteristics. It allows
the statistician or the researchers to form parameters through which larger data sets can be observed.
Qualitative data provides the means by which observers can quantify the world around them.

For a market researcher, collecting qualitative data helps in answering questions like, who their
customers are, what issues or problems they are facing, and where do they need to focus their
attention, so problems or issues are resolved.

Qualitative data is about the emotions or perceptions of people, what they feel. In quantitative data,
these perceptions and emotions are documented. It helps the market researchers understand the
language their consumers speak and deal with the problem effectively and efficiently.

Qualitative Data Collection Methods – Types of Qualitative Data

Qualitative data collection is exploratory; it involves in-depth analysis and research. Qualitative data
collection methods are mainly focused on gaining insights, reasoning, and motivations; hence they go
deeper in terms of research. Since the qualitative data cannot be measured, researchers prefer methods
or data collection tools that are structured to a limited extent.

Here are the qualitative data collection methods:

Qualitative Data Collection Methods

1. One-to-One Interviews: It is one of the most commonly used data collection instruments for
qualitative research, mainly because of its personal approach. The interviewer or the researcher collects
data directly from the interviewee on a one-to-one basis. The interview may be informal and
unstructured – conversational. Mostly the open-ended questions are asked spontaneously, with the
interviewer letting the flow of the interview dictate the questions to be asked.

2. Focus groups: This is done in a group discussion setting. The group is limited to 6-10 people, and a
moderator is assigned to moderate the ongoing discussion.
Depending on the data which is sorted, the members of a group may have something in common. For
example, a researcher conducting a study on track runners will choose athletes who are track runners or
were track runners and have sufficient knowledge of the subject matter.

3. Record keeping: This method makes use of the already existing reliable documents and similar
sources of information as the data source. This data can be used in the new research. It is similar to
going to a library. There, one can go over books and other reference material to collect relevant data
that can be used in the research.

4. Process of observation: In this qualitative data collection method, the researcher immerses himself/
herself in the setting where his respondents are, and keeps a keen eye on the participants and takes
down notes. This is known as the process of observation.

Besides taking notes, other documentation methods, such as video and audio recording, photography,
and similar methods, can be used.

5. Longitudinal studies: This data collection method is performed on the same data source repeatedly
over an extended period. It is an observational research method that goes on for a few years and, in
some cases, can go on for even decades. This data collection method aims to find correlations through
an empirical study of subjects with common traits.

6. Case studies: In this method, data is gathered by an in-depth analysis of case studies. The versatility of
this method is demonstrated in how this method can be used to analyze both simple and complex
subjects. The strength of this method is how judiciously it uses a combination of one or more qualitative
data collection methods to draw inferences.

Learn more: Qualitative Research Methods

Qualitative Data Analysis

Analyzing your data is vital, as you have spent time and money collecting it. It is an essential process
because you don’t want to find yourself in the dark even after putting in so much effort. However, there
are no set ground rules for analyzing qualitative data; it all begins with understanding the two main
approaches to qualitative data.

Two Main Approaches to Qualitative Data Analysis

Deductive Approach

The deductive approach involves analyzing qualitative data based on a structure that is predetermined
by the researcher. A researcher can use the questions as a guide for analyzing the data. This approach is
quick and easy and can be used when a researcher has a fair idea about the likely responses that he/she
is going to receive from the sample population.

Inductive Approach

The inductive approach, on the contrary, is not based on a predetermined structure or set ground
rules/framework. It is a more time-consuming and thorough approach to qualitative data analysis. An
inductive approach is often used when a researcher has very little or no idea of the research
phenomenon.

Learn more: Data analysis in research

5 Steps to Qualitative Data Analysis

Whether you are looking to analyze qualitative data collected through a one-to-one interview or
qualitative data from a survey, these simple steps will ensure a robust data analysis.

Step 1: Arrange your Data

Once you have collected all the data, it is largely unstructured and sometimes makes no sense when
looked at a glance. Therefore, it is essential that as a researcher, you first need to transcribe the data
collected. The first step in analyzing your data is arranging it systematically. Arranging data means
converting all the data into a text format. You can either export the data into a spreadsheet or manually
type in the data or choose from any of the computer-assisted qualitative data analysis tools.

Step 2: Organize all your Data

After transforming and arranging your data, the immediate next step is to organize your data. There are
chances you most likely have a large amount of information that still needs to be arranged in an orderly
manner. One of the best ways to organize the data is by going back to your research objectives and then
organizing the data based on the questions asked. Arrange your research objective in a table, so it
appears visually clear. At all costs, avoid the temptations of working with unorganized data. You will end
up wasting time, and there will be no conclusive results obtained.

Step 3: Set a Code to the Data Collected

Setting up proper codes for the collected data takes you a step ahead. Coding is one of the best ways to
compress a tremendous amount of information collected. The coding of qualitative data simply means
categorizing and assigning properties and patterns to the collected data. Coding is an important step in
qualitative data analysis, as you can derive theories from relevant research findings. After assigning
codes to your data, you can then begin to build on the patterns to gain in-depth insight into the data
that will help make informed decisions.

Step 4: Validate your Data

Validating data is one of the crucial steps of qualitative data analysis for successful research. Since data
is quintessential for research, it is imperative to ensure that the data is not flawed. Please note that data
validation is not just one step in qualitative data analysis; this is a recurring step that needs to be
followed throughout the research process. There are two sides to validating data:

Accuracy of your research design or methods.

Reliability, which is the extent to which the methods produce accurate data consistently.

Step 5: Concluding the Analysis Process

It is important to finally conclude your data, which means systematically presenting your data, a report
that can be readily used. The report should state the method that you, as a researcher, used to conduct
the research studies, the positives, and negatives and study limitations. In the report, you should also
state the suggestions/inferences of your findings and any related areas for future research.

Advantages of Qualitative Data

1. It helps in-depth analysis: Qualitative data collected provide the researchers with a detailed analysis
of subject matters. While collecting qualitative data, the researchers tend to probe the participants and
can gather ample information by asking the right kind of questions. From a series of questions and
answers, the data that is collected is used to conclude.

2. Understand what customers think: Qualitative data helps the market researchers to understand the
mindset of their customers. The use of qualitative data gives businesses an insight into why a customer
purchased a product. Understanding customer language helps market research infer the data collected
more systematically.

3. Rich data: Collected data can be used to conduct research in the future as well. Since the questions
asked to collect qualitative data are open-ended questions, respondents are free to express their
opinions, leading to more information.

Disadvantages of Qualitative Data

1. Time-consuming: As collecting qualitative data is more time-consuming, fewer people are studying in
comparison to collecting quantitative data. Unless time and budget allow, smaller sample size is
included.

2. Not easy to generalize: Since fewer people are studied, it is difficult to generalize the results of that
population.
3.Dependent on the researcher’s skills: This type of data is collected through one-to-one interviews,
observations, focus groups, etc. it relies on the researcher’s skills and experience to collect information
from the sample.