If you’re new to multicultural market research, you may wonder whether you should perform qualitative or quantitative research. Both research methodologies are powerful in their own right.

Qualitative research is about people’s experiences and opinions. Typically, questions are asked either one-on-one or to multiple people via focus groups, interviews, observations, case studies, ethnographic research, and phenomenology.

Quantitative research, on the other hand, is all about numbers. It utilizes data and mathematical analysis to provide essential statistical market insights. Quantitative data collection methods typically include surveys (online surveys, mobile surveys, paper surveys, kiosk surveys, etc.), longitudinal studies, polls, and systematic observations.

In this blog, we’ll juxtapose qualitative and quantitative market research methodologies to help you make the right call for your business. Keep reading.

1. Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is generally considered much more important for audience analysis. Your audience comprises people, not numbers. While collecting numerical data is also important, your primary focus should be on understanding your audience’s subjective experiences, preferences, beliefs, opinions, and values.

As you ask the critical “How?”, “Why?”, and “Would?” questions, you’ll get a better idea of where your audience stands with regard to product/service consumption, buying habits, and so on. Qualitative research provides accurate, in-depth insight into consumer behavior. It also identifies problems that quantitative research cannot unearth.

If you want to make audience-centric decisions, understand the context behind consumer decision-making, and get a good grasp of people’s perceptions of your brand, qualitative research is right for you.

Recommended Read: The Most Effective Way to Tell a Story is to Listen

2. Quantitative Research

If you want to generate numerical data, not explanatory data, quantitative research should be your top priority. You’ll fetch demographical insights that help you steer your business in the right direction. As you collect statistical and quantifiable data to understand market-related problems, you can make better predictions about what your audience expects from you.

You’ll have complete leeway to analyze raw data on Microsoft Excel or a statistical package. Since quantitative research is fast, scientific, and numerical, it’s precise. There are no human emotions or experiences; you get raw data that’s easy to process and analyze. As a result, you can work with large sample sizes without running into any problems. The process is a lot more straightforward and less time-consuming.

3. Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Research

If you want to obtain a complete picture of audience preferences, combine qualitative and quantitative research. This is considered the best practice. You’ll end up improving research quality and get a better understanding of the problem at hand.

Recommended Read: The New Mainstream: How Multicultural Marketing Has Been Redefined

If you’re looking for a reputable multicultural market research agency, Ethnotics should be your first stop. We research ethnic communities to help clients develop a nuanced understanding of their target audience and devise marketing and advertising strategies that resonate with them.

At Ethnotics, we perform qualitative and quantitative ethnic research to help you develop a good grasp of your audience. Contact our multicultural market research experts today. For more insight, explore our story. If you have further questions about qualitative and quantitative market research, we’d be more than happy to help.