What is Qualitative Data?

What is Qualitative Data?
Qualitative data is a type of data that describes qualities or characteristics, collected as part of a quantitative research, using open-ended questionnaires, interviews or observation and frequently appears in narrative form, allowing the respondents to fully express themselves.

Qualitative data, also known as categorical data, isn’t necessarily measured using numbers but rather categorized based on properties, attributes, labels and other identifiers.

Qualitative Data Examples
Examples of qualitative data include the respondents’ sex (male or female), name, country and state of origin, citizenship, etc. A more practical example is a case whereby a teacher gives the whole class an essay that was assessed by giving comments on spelling, grammar, and punctuation rather than score.

Why is qualitative data important?
Qualitative data is important because of the inherent flaws with the data that search tools provide. If these tools were 100% accurate and comprehensive, they could have been the sole data source when building out a strategy. The fact is though, even the best available tools these days, not enabling to get the full picture.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research