Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Qualitative data consists of non-numerical information that describes qualities or characteristics. It is often used to categorize or label attributes.
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Qualitative data is also known as categorical data.
It can be divided into nominal and ordinal types.
Nominal qualitative data has no natural order, while ordinal qualitative data has a meaningful sequence.
Examples include gender, race, and customer satisfaction levels.
Qualitative data is often collected through surveys, interviews, and observations.