A quantitative survey asks a large group of people the same questions and reports results such as how many people think this, how many people prefer that and what the average importance rating is.

It's what most consultancies mean by "market research", it's a well-serviced and easily understood approach, that we have rarely found to be very useful in solving real-world business problems or helping managers make a successful decision.

Too often we believe quantitative research is used because it's an easier option than working out what information would be really useful and how to get it.

Quantitative research is useful if for example you need to know how many people within a 5 kilometre radius of a proposed store location are regular bakery purchasers, or as part of formal submissions ("only 9% of people in the catchment area object to the proposal").

The need for a statistically reliable sample size can push costs of quantitative research up. Often costs are held down by reducing the sample size, but this may affect the reliability of the results (ie, whether they are fact or fiction), which largely defeats the purpose.

If you want to consider alternative research approaches, talk with us.

If the answer really is a quantitative survey, yes we can do it.