This is a term used for research and/or data which is descriptive and contextual. Qualitative research investigates the' who', 'which', 'what', 'when', 'where' and 'why' of a particular issue or situation and typically investigates real-life experiences.

Qualitative data is not necessarily counted but classified into contextual categories. These categories might only arise from looking carefully at the data once it is collected. So in a sense its collection is not so rigorously structured as qualitative data although some variables might be factored out by controlling just who it is collected from.