ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Qualitative method

Qualitative method is a way of figuring out information by using words instead of numbers. Imagine you have a bunch of different colored candies in a bowl. You could count how many of each color there are, but that would be a quantitative method. Qualitative method would be if you asked people what they thought about the different colors of candies and why they liked certain ones more than others.

Similarly, qualitative method is a way of gathering information by asking people questions and listening to their answers carefully. This might mean talking to a few people in-depth about their experiences, beliefs, or opinions on a topic instead of just surveying a large group with a bunch of standard questions. By doing this, you can learn about personal and unique perspectives that you might not have thought of otherwise.

Qualitative method often involves things like interviews, focus groups, and observation of behaviors. It's a little bit like being a detective, where you have to pay close attention to what people say and do and try to figure out how all of those little clues fit together to tell a bigger story. Overall, qualitative method is about understanding people's experiences and perceptions in a more nuanced way than just looking at data and numbers.