Meaning & use
qualitative
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nounformal
Concerned with the nature, features or quality of something, described in words and not measured in numbers.
Grammar: Mainly before a noun: qualitative data, qualitative analysis.
Patterns
- qualitative research
- a qualitative difference
The team used interviews for qualitative research on how patients felt.
There is a qualitative difference between reading a novel and skimming a summary.
The report gives qualitative feedback, not scores.
adjectivebefore a nounchemistrytechnical
In chemistry, concerned with identifying which substances are present in a sample, not how much of them there is.
Grammar: Used mainly in chemistry: qualitative analysis.
Patterns
- qualitative analysis
Qualitative analysis showed that the water contained iron.
The students did a qualitative test to find which ions were present.
A qualitative result tells you what is there but not how much.
Common combinations
- qualitative research
- Qualitative research often relies on interviews and observation.
- qualitative data
- Qualitative data can include comments and stories.
- qualitative analysis
- The qualitative analysis focused on themes in the interviews.
- qualitative difference
- There is a qualitative difference between a hobby and a profession.
- qualitative and quantitative
- The study combined qualitative and quantitative methods.
Synonyms and how they differ
- descriptive
- Descriptive means giving details in words, while qualitative also suggests a research approach or kind of evidence.
- subjective
- Subjective means based on personal feelings, but qualitative data can still be gathered carefully and systematically.
- non-numerical
- Non-numerical simply says no numbers are used, while qualitative describes a type of study.
Opposites
Word family
- quality noun
- how good something is, or a characteristic
- qualitatively adverb
- in terms of quality, not amount
- quantitative adjective
- based on numbers and measurement
Commonly confused: qualitative or quantitative?
qualitative vs quantitative
Quantitative means measured in numbers, while qualitative means described by features and meaning. The two are opposites.
Practice
A researcher interviews twenty nurses about how stress feels at work and studies the themes. This is ______ research.
Choose one answer.
Studying experiences and meanings through interviews is qualitative. Quantitative research would count or measure with numbers.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “qualitative”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.