The Qual-Quant Debate
Since this is my twentieth year running Park Lane Research
and my nth year as a researcher, I think I’m probably experienced enough to be
allowed a view on the qualitative versus quantitative research debate. I used to work at a place where I felt qual
was under-valued and it’s made me slightly nervous about sharing these views
with a wider audience. But here you go,
I’m going to do it anyway.
In the agency to which I refer, qual researchers were
sometimes viewed as being akin to the awkward squad – when I wasn’t in the
office, clients were told ‘oh he’s coming back from somewhere’ and that was
usually when I’d worked all day and all evening, as well as travelled to some
far off place to run groups.
In more recent times, I’ve been more than happy to combine
quant and qual techniques within my work and have come to realise how valuable
both can be in the wider scheme of things.
This is especially the case, I feel, when both can be brought together
within the same project.
When it comes down to it, however, I think I’ll always be a
qual researcher at heart, and here’s my ode to why I think that might be the
case…
Ode to the Qual
What
you need will be the quant, what you want will be the qual,
What
brings knowledge will be quant, what brings understanding will be
qual,
What
provides a structure will be the quant, what will tell a story will be the qual,
What
draws interest will be quant, what brings engagement will be qual,
What
will show value is the quant, what will add value is the qual,
What
informs will be the quant, what excites will be the qual,
What
you’ll like is the quant, what you’ll love is the qual,
What
brings pleasure will be the quant, what provides passion will be the qual.
Your
choice, you decide…
