Numbers and stories: mixing quant and qual in people research

Numbers tell you what is happening. Conversations tell you why. In people research, you almost always need both.

My training in work and organisational psychology covered quantitative and qualitative research methods and statistical analysis. In my current work, applying research to a wellbeing product, I’ve found that the most useful insights come from combining the two.

What each one is good at

Quantitative data, such as survey scores, usage patterns or engagement trends, is great at showing scale and change over time. It answers questions like “how many?” and “is this getting better?”. Qualitative data, such as interviews, open comments or observation, is great at explaining meaning. It answers “what does this feel like?” and “what’s behind it?”.

How I combine them

• Numbers to find, words to explain. A dip in a metric tells me where to look. Conversations tell me what’s going on.
• Words to discover, numbers to check. Themes from interviews can become survey questions to see how widely they apply.
• Side by side. Showing a trend next to a few real quotes makes findings far more convincing to a team.

Common traps

With numbers, the main risk is treating a correlation as a cause, or over-reading small differences. With qualitative work, it’s generalising from the most memorable story. Being honest about the limits of each method, and saying so in the findings, protects decisions from both.

Research people can use

In applied settings, a study is only useful if it leads to a decision. I try to finish every piece of research with a short answer to “so what?”: what we learned, how confident we are and what we’d do next.

The best people research gives you a number you can track and a story you can understand.