Qualitative research helps us build mental models about the contexts, problems, and motivations our products and designs must account for. It helps us understand what is important at a high level—what matters to people and how they understand their relationship to the world.
The questions are more open-ended. When we do qualitative research, we're trying to synthesize a narrative about our subject. It's closer to Sensemaking than quantitative methods: it builds a perspective based on the available evidence that can later be measured through quantitative methods.
A strong foundation of qualitative research can help us have a better intuition about people and culture.
Related
- inductive-reasoning
- abductive-reasoning
- questions-about-the-sample-size-for-qualitative-research-may-indicate-trust-concerns
Citations
Ladner, Sam. Mixed Methods: A Short Guide to Applied Mixed Methods Research. Sam Ladner, 2019.
Levin, Alec. “StAtIsTiCaL SIgNiFiCaNcE.” Known Unknowns (blog). Accessed October 12, 2020. Link.
Madsbjerg, Christian. Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm. Hachette Books, 2017.
Schuler, Greg. “Getting Big Ideas Out of Small Numbers.” Cooper (blog), April 8, 2020. Link.
