Using spontaneous descriptive terms (such as ‘afraid’ or ‘calm’) to explain what animals are feeling and experiencing in different situations could be an efficient and useful way of interpreting their welfare states. However, there would have to be significant agreement shown to exist among different observers in order for this type qualitative evaluation to be useful. In this study, 18 observers with no experience with pigs were asked to independently and freely describe the behaviour of 40 growing pigs. Half the pigs were housed in an enriched environment, and half were housed in a barren environment. The observers were not aware of the different housing conditions. For the observations, each pig was moved from its home pen and observed individually in a test pen in response to the presence of a human. First, the observers watched each pig for four minutes, and then used their own words to describe the pig’s behaviour for three minutes. The results indicated that the untrained observers significantly agreed in their choice of terms to describe the behaviour of the pigs. The terms used by the observers tended to represent a continuum of behavioural expressions, eg. ‘friendly-relaxed-gentle-calm-tense-careful-cautious-restless’. The pigs that were housed in enriched pens were described as being friendly and inquisitive more than those housed in barren pens (this found in one part of the study and needs further research). The preliminary results suggest that spontaneous qualitative assessment could be a useful technique for assessing animal welfare, but further research is required.