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Qualitative Analysis

Qualitative analysis in chemistry focuses on a complete, detailed description of substances, processes, etc., in an attempt to get a thorough picture of what's going on. Mathematical descriptions are not generally part of qualitative analysis; instead, other observations are used to describe chemical properties and processes.

This sort of analysis picks up otherwise-unclassifiable data, especially ambiguous data. But it is often not possible to extend the qualitative analysis description of one sample to other samples, largely because it is difficult or impossible to test findings of this nature. Typically, qualitative analysis by itself will not be done, but instead will be paired with quantitative analysis. Qualitative analysis makes a very good precursor for quantitative analysis; with a qualitative analysis, you can get a good idea of the items you want to later examine with a quantitative analysis.

Qualitative analysis is often used to generate hypotheses, which can then be tested in a quantitative analysis. It often concerns categorical data and classification, rather than directly examining a substance.

Web Resources On Qualitative Analysis

Qualitative vs Quantitative analysis
Qualitative Analysis - What It Is

Book Resources On Qualitative Analysis

Qualitative Data Analysis : An Expanded Sourcebook by Miles & Huberman
Interactive Qualitative Analysis : A Systems Method for Qualitative Research by Northcutt & McCoy

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