Quantitative research
Measurement and data
Measurement and data
Quantitative research is research in numbers: you measure how often something occurs across enough people to support trends, ratios and percentages.
Think large-scale surveys, behavioural data from analytics or the results of an A/B test. The question is not 'why' but 'how much' and 'how often' — and whether the difference you see is more than chance.
Two things decide whether the outcome is usable: the sample (are you asking the people you want to make a claim about?) and the size (are there enough people to see differences?). A closed question with 400 answers says more than an open one with 12.
The combination works best: qualitative research produces the hypothesis, quantitative research tests how widely it holds.
In practice
Drawing conclusions from a small or skewed sample. A survey among your own newsletter subscribers tells you about fans, not about the market.
Related terms
- Qualitative researchQualitative research looks at motivations, doubts and meaning: why people do something. You gather it through depth interviews, conversations or observation, not percentages.
- KPIA KPI is a number you steer on because it links directly to a goal, such as qualified enquiries per month or cost per customer.
- ConversionA conversion is an action you defined as valuable: an enquiry, purchase, download or phone call. The conversion rate is the share of visitors who take it.