A sentiment score is a quantified measure of emotional polarity derived from qualitative data, most commonly text or spoken responses gathered during research interviews, surveys, or focus groups. In qualitative research, sentiment scores help analysts move beyond manual interpretation by assigning a consistent, comparable value to participant language, whether that language expresses satisfaction, frustration, enthusiasm, or concern. Researchers use sentiment scores to identify patterns across large volumes of responses, prioritise themes for deeper analysis, and communicate findings to stakeholders in a format that is easy to act on. When combined with thematic coding and verbatim quotes, sentiment scoring adds a measurable layer to qualitative insight without reducing its richness.