top of page

Qualitative vs Quantitative Research Methods: Which One To Choose?

Writer's picture: RemCal InsightsRemCal Insights

Updated: Apr 9, 2024

Without a doubt, this is one of the most frequently asked questions that confound our clients, regardless of their industry.


At RemCal Insights, our experts lead a client toward the right approach based on specific business and project objectives.

A man working on a laptop

How do you know when to do qualitative and when to do quantitative?

  1. Use qualitative methods to unveil growth potential through a deep dive into consumers’ perception of a brand and competitive space. Qualitative data brings that consumer voice to the numerical results of the analysis and gives key stakeholders a deeper understanding of a category and consumer type. Qualitative methods such as 1-on-1 in-depth interviews or focus groups can help you kick off your research by guiding you in the right direction while generating the hypotheses to be proven in the next steps.

  2. Quantitative research is more applicable when the research goal is to find common themes to a broader range of questions or validate the hypotheses formulated for testing. This approach, in turn, reveals if the problem you are exploring has an objective basis for a broader scope and does not solely result from small group perceptions.

  3. Don’t be afraid to use a hybrid approach. Some of our clients will come to us to evaluate their hypotheses to see how they can refine them or even eliminate some of them. They’ll then put their refined hypotheses into a quant study to get a final ‘pulse check’. For our voice of the consumer due diligence projects, a private equity client will come to us having already done a quant study on a brand and the perceptions seem positive, but there’s a need to go deeper to understand why and if it has long-term growth potential.

Comments


bottom of page