What does qualitative mean?
Qualitative describes something concerned with qualities, characteristics, meanings, or experiences rather than with numerical amounts and measurable quantities. The term is especially important in research: qualitative research investigates how people understand, experience, or respond to a subject through methods such as interviews, observation, and textual analysis, while quantitative research emphasizes numerical data and statistical measurement. A qualitative assessment may therefore describe patterns or impressions without presenting precise counts or measurements. In everyday use, the word can suggest an approach that is attentive to detail, context, and interpretation rather than to figures alone. It is widely used in academic and professional writing, particularly in discussions of data, analysis, evidence, and methodology. The standard adverb is qualitatively.
Relating to qualities, characteristics, or the nature of something rather than to numerical quantities.
"The researchers used qualitative interviews to understand participants' experiences."
Common in academic and analytical contexts, especially in the contrast with quantitative.
A qualitative analysis, investigation, or evaluation.
"The study combines a quantitative survey with a qualitative assessment of workplace culture."
This noun use is much less common than the adjective and is chiefly associated with research and analysis.
Rare; normally used in the plural when referring to multiple qualitative analyses or studies.
"The review compares the qualitatives produced by several research teams."
Qualitative is the researcher's way of asking not only how much, but what something is like.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does qualitative come from?
Qualitative comes from Latin qualitas, meaning quality or state, which was derived from qualis, meaning of what kind or of a certain quality. English borrowed quality in the late Middle English period, while qualitative entered English in the early 17th century as a learned formation meaning relating to quality. Its modern research sense developed alongside the contrast between qualitative and quantitative methods. The same Latin root also underlies qualify and qualification, which originally concerned a person's status or characteristics.
Related word forms
How qualitative is actually used
Qualitative is especially common in academic, research, and analytical contexts. It is often contrasted with quantitative; the distinction is methodological as well as numerical, since qualitative research may involve coding, interpretation, and systematic analysis without relying on statistical measurements.
Easily confused with qualitative
Qualitative concerns qualities, meanings, or characteristics, while quantitative concerns numerical amounts and measurable quantities.