I would definitely include the number of participants. If you don't this will most certainly be brought up by your paper's reviewers. With regards to the percentages, you might find this an interesting article: Article Using Numbers in Qualitative Research

Erini Abdelmessih - The use of numerical data in qualitative research studies and reports has been controversial. Prominent qualitative researchers such as Howard Becker and Martyn Hammersley have supported the inclusion of “quasi-statistics”: simple counts of things to make statements such as “some,” “usually,” and “most” more precise.

The use of numbers is a legitimate and valuable strategy for qualitative researchers when it is used as a complement to an overall process orientation to the research. Although they have a less prominent place in qualitative research, numbers are integral to qualitative data, and skill with numbers is essential to good qualitative research. However, it does have some potential dangers and should be used with a clear awareness of these. Quantitative research is statistical: it has numbers attached to it, like averages, percentages or quotas. Qualitative research uses non-statistical methods.

Erini - no you should not. It is not the purpose of qualitative research although there can be elements of 'quantification' - such as with some aspects of content analysis - but that is another discussion. You may include such information in demographic information (I think that this is what Anne-Marie is referring to) - but that would be the results section (or earlier) - and not findings. Each time you use a narrative direct quote in the findings - it is individualised to the identified participant i.e. participant 1, 2, 3 etc or a psuedonym name. You can identify that 'several' participants said the same/similar thing - but your direct quote can only be attributed to an individual and/or several quotes to each individual - to illustrate. Manzoor has alluded to this context.

My understanding of your question is whether to include both numbers and percentages in your findings section. As @Dean Whitehead has pointed out, describing the site and participant profiles before presenting your results is a good way of contextualizing your findings. Under the results section, you can then use percentages (with caution as @Manzoor Hussain advises) without necessarily referring back to the numbers because you have already provided such numbers prior. Your thick descriptions will qualify which cohort the percentages refer to.

My take is that you will be presenting your data under the results section but making sense of the data in your findings. Thus, the findings are at a higher level of abstraction than the results. For this reason, numbers will be more relevant in presenting your results than in your findings. Consider referring to "Qualitative Data Analysis" by Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. on the rationale for using numbers in qualitative research under the chapter 'Drawing and Verifying Conclusions'.

If part of your goal is to compare the two cohorts, then I would use words like more, most, several etc. The goal is not to do a statistical comparison but instead to give a general sense of when the two were either similar or different.

In my perspective, including number of participants and percentages can do no harm to your research; just the oppposite, it will make your conclusions more justified. However, I would definitely include both the number of participants, and percentages — using percentages only with such small amounts may be misleading.

Of coir-se, you must include. Regards

Thank you all for your valuable suggestions.

I always include both. Eg: 64% (n=14) of respondents said blah blah.... or 14 (64%) respondents said blah blah.....

The number alone is meaningless if you don't know the size of the cohort and the percentage is more meaningful also if you know the sample was a reasonable size.

Include both to create a meaningful picture,thanks.@Erini

Include the numbers to curtail any doubt about your study, you want to be transparent with the information you present

Using numbers and percentages in qualitative studies is often something demanded by reviewers and supervisers that come from a quantitative background. Typically, using percentages and statistical information is misleading in qualitative studies because it creates a false impression that the numbers represent a prevalence that has some significance for generalisation. I recommend using Maxwell (2010) paper recommended in an earlier comment, both for understanding the complexity of the matter and as a reference for how to properly use numbers wile avoiding the aforementioned misleading picture that this use might generate.

Good luck.

There are different ways in which you can present numerical data in a thesis. There will be occasions when you have numerical information that you want to include in your work. Such information can be used to illustrate an argument or convey complex or detailed information in a coherent manner. Use of numbers and corresponding percentages are most effective in findings section of a thesis when there are only two values to compare. Writing the number and the percentage of the same of your sample size has no harm but enhances your accuracy in your findings presentations

I would suggest that you keep qualitative research qualitative especially with small samples to avoid misleading conclusions. As Patton, M. (2015) states, if for instance , you have a sample of 20 , one response is 5% and so a small difference say from 12-14 is a jump from 60%-70% but with a bigger sample say of 500 a 10% difference is significant.

In your case, you could provide basic information quantitively e.g. the number of participants, gender and other demographics but for participants' responses, you can use adjectives such as "most" "some" "many" "a few" etc. to refer to a category or theme then demonstrating the same using direct quotes.

All the best.

I find this text very helpful :

Patton, M. (2015) Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. 4th Edition, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks.

Soft statistics, such as the use of percentages, does not hurt in qualitative studies. From my perspective, yes you should include the number of participants in your study, but the focus of your analysis should be on the quality of the participants answers. I hope this helps to clarify your doubts.

If relevant, and/or if required by your reviewers - in case you publish.