You don’t truly understand something until you quantified it

“You don’t truly understand something until you quantified it. But you understand nothing at all if all you do is quantify.”

— Unknown Author

The limitation of quantitative data is that it describes what happened but not why or how it happened. As design researchers, we should seek answers to the questions of why by talking to our customers or stakeholders.

Combining quantitative and qualitative research methods is a good rule of thumb. Remember, quantitative and qualitative methods complement one another; they are complementary, not mutually exclusive. 

📚 Source: 101 Things I Learned® in Engineering School by John Kuprenas & Matthew Frederick

About the author

Martin Tutko is a product designer by trade and a part-time philosopher by hobby. Thinking, researching and doing design since 1998. And as of 2023 also sharing and writing about some of my experiences as a product designer 🧑🏻‍💻🌟