Question

A student made the following observations about a squirrel’s movements:

A). The squirrel traveled about 500 meters between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.
B). The squirrel stopped 17 times to eat nuts.
C). The squirrel rested twice.
D). The squirrel ran in a zigzag pattern.

Which of the student’s observations is a qualitative observation?

Answer 1

The correct option is D.

Qualitative observations are observations that are made using our senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and feel. These observations do not involve numbers or measurements of any kind.

The student's observations regarding the squirrel as is mentioned in options A, B and C involve measurements. Therefore these are not qualitative observations.

Option D, however, is made on the basis of sight, where the student observes the squirrel moving in a zigzag manner.

Therefore, of all the three observations, the student's observation that the squirrel ran in a zigzag pattern is the qualitative observation.