Explaining the difference between “quantitative research” and “qualitative research” in marketing research

When studying marketing, you will come across the terms “quantitative research” and “qualitative research.”

Both are often used as marketing research methods, but what is the difference between them?

Knowing the characteristics of each type of investigation will help you know which one to use to solve your problem.

This time, we will explain the characteristics of quantitative research and qualitative research, the characteristics of the data obtained, and points for using them properly.

Difference between quantitative research and qualitative research

In conclusion, quantitative research refers to research that yields results that can be expressed numerically, while qualitative research refers to research that yields results that are expressed in terms other than numerical values ​​(such as verbal information).

Let’s take a look at what kind of research each one does.

1. 
   What is quantitative research?
   

Also known as “quantitative research.” As the name suggests, it is a method of investigating things that can be expressed numerically, such as quantities and probabilities. Specifically, we can derive indicators such as awareness, purchase volume, purchase amount, purchase rate, repeat rate, and customer satisfaction. There are a variety of methods available, including sales data aggregation, multiple-choice questionnaire surveys, venue surveys, online research, mail surveys, and telephone surveys.

1. 
   What is qualitative research?
   

Also known as “qualitative research.” We investigate people’s consciousness and emotions, as well as the processes and reasons behind their actions, which are not expressed in numbers. You can obtain information that cannot be quantified, such as purchasing reasons, purchasing processes, requests, and concerns. We collect data by listening to subjects and observing their behavior through open-ended questionnaire surveys, group interviews, in-depth interviews, on-site observation surveys, diary surveys, behavior observation surveys, workshops, etc.

Advantages and disadvantages of quantitative and qualitative research

Quantitative and qualitative research.

What advantages and disadvantages are there?

Let’s take a look at each.

1. 
   Benefits of quantitative research
   

The advantage of quantitative research is that it is easy to obtain a sample size. Surveys require respondents to select “yes” or “no,” or choose the appropriate answer from multiple options, so it saves time and effort, and allows you to get responses from a large number of people. By using online research, it is possible to obtain data on thousands or tens of thousands of items at once.

Another advantage is that it is easy to understand the overall picture because the results are shown numerically.

Since it can be expressed visually using objective numbers, graphs, and charts, it is also possible to create persuasive materials.

1. 
   Disadvantages of quantitative research
   

The disadvantage of quantitative research is that it is not clear why the results were obtained. For example, even if the result is that “customer satisfaction is increasing,” it is not possible to ask the target person the reason for this in detail, so what is being evaluated? What’s good about your product or service? I don’t know much about that.

Also, since the results are expressed as numbers, numerical analysis skills are required.

In many cases, it cannot be used effectively as it is, and it is necessary to analyze it by processing it, such as comparing the ratio and the previous period.

1. 
   Benefits of qualitative research
   

Qualitative research allows you to obtain information such as the subject’s reasons for behavior, emotions, interests, and lifestyle that cannot be obtained through quantitative research. Another advantage is that information is obtained in language, making it easier for researchers to understand. It can also read non-verbal information (facial expressions, gestures, and reactions of the subject), allowing for deeper investigations.

1. 
   Disadvantages of qualitative research
   

Qualitative research takes more time and effort than quantitative research. Especially in interviews and workshops, you need to listen to what the target person has to say, so you can get in-depth information, but you cannot get a large sample size. Therefore, it is difficult to grasp the overall picture. Even if a qualitative survey shows that a product or service is highly rated, it is possible that only the target audience is satisfied or that they are lying, so it is important to understand the exact level of customer satisfaction. It is not possible.

Combine quantitative and qualitative research

What can quantitative research and qualitative research do? I hope you understand the differences, advantages and disadvantages between the two.

I have summarized it in a table for easy understanding.

	Quantitative survey	qualitative research
Data format	numerical value	Non-numeric (language)
What can be learned from quantitative research	Purchase volume, purchase amount, purchase rate, awareness rate, purchase experience rate, repeat rate, customer satisfaction, etc.	Interests, reasons for purchase, purchasing process, requests, concerns, target behavior patterns and lifestyle, etc.
Research method	Data collection online research questionnaire (selection method) Venue survey Home use test Mail survey Street survey Visitor survey Fax investigation telephone survey	Group interview In-depth interview questionnaire (free description method) Visit observation survey diary survey behavioral observation survey workshop
merit	Large number of samples Easy to understand the big picture persuasive	Able to conduct in-depth research Easy for researchers to understand You can obtain information other than numerical values.
Disadvantages	I don’t know why I got the result Data processing required Requires numerical analysis skills	It takes time and effort small number of samples Difficult to grasp the overall picture

Each has its own merits and demerits, so it is effective to combine quantitative and qualitative research when formulating marketing strategies.

For example, when developing a new product, we conduct qualitative research by interviewing several customers.

When we asked the question, “Please tell us what could be improved about the product,” we received opinions such as “I want the quality to be higher,” “I want the design to be better,” and “I want them to release a cheaper version with a lower price.” Let’s say.

The hypothesis is that “customers are looking for one of these three things in a new product.”

Next, in a quantitative survey, if you ask a question such as “Which of the following do you want in a new product?” and set the above three opinions as options, what will most customers want from your product? Is there one? What problems does the current product have? You can know.

If 80% of customers answered that they would like the design to be improved, it can be said that the problem with the current product is the design.

In the above example, the flow was from qualitative research to quantitative research, but there is also a flow from quantitative research to qualitative research.

For example, let’s say you conduct a quantitative survey asking, “Are you satisfied with our product?”

This allows us to see the overall picture of customer satisfaction, but if there are many respondents who say they are not satisfied, we can conduct individual interviews with those respondents to find out the reasons for low satisfaction and areas for improvement in the product. It will look like this.

By combining both, rather than just quantitative research or qualitative research, it is possible to collect deeper and more accurate data.

summary

◆There are two types of marketing research: quantitative research and qualitative research.

◆In quantitative research, the results are expressed as numbers, while in qualitative research, the results are expressed in non-numeric values ​​(such as linguistic information).

◆Each survey has its advantages and disadvantages, and it is important to understand them.

◆Rather than conducting only quantitative or qualitative research, by combining the two, it is possible to obtain deeper and more accurate data.