qualitative
5 synonyms and 2 antonyms for qualitative, grouped by meaning and by how common each one is.
Adjective — Concerned with the nature, character or quality of something rather than with amounts that can be counted or measured.
Synonyms
Less common
Still standard English, but they carry more weight.
Rare, literary or technical
Precise, but they will stand out — check the sense before using one.
Synonyms by Meaning
1. adjective
Concerned with the nature, character or quality of something rather than with amounts that can be counted or measured.
“The report found a qualitative improvement in care that the waiting-time figures never captured.”
Opposites
2. adjective technical
Of research: based on interviews, observation, open-ended responses and other non-numerical evidence, analysed for themes and meaning.
“We ran a qualitative study with thirty in-depth interviews.”
Opposites
How to Use Qualitative
The word patterns that sound natural to a native speaker.
Standard in academic, market-research and business writing.
Etymology
From Latin qualitas 'quality', formed from qualis 'of what kind'.
Full origin of qualitative →Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative?
Quantitative deals with how much or how many, producing numbers you can count, measure and run statistics on. Qualitative deals with what something is like, producing words, images and descriptions analysed for meaning. Most serious research programmes use both, because numbers show the pattern and qualitative work explains why it exists.
What are examples of qualitative data?
Interview transcripts, focus-group recordings, open-ended survey answers, field notes, diary entries, photographs and product reviews. Anything recorded as description rather than as a value on a scale.
Can qualitative research be objective?
It can be systematic and rigorous — with sampling logic, coding frameworks and checks between coders — but it does not claim the statistical generalisability of quantitative work. Its strength is depth and explanation rather than measurement across a population.