Using Qualitative Behavioural Assessment (QBA) surveys, this study evaluated whether QBA has value as a welfare assessment in two species of zoo-housed non-human primate taxa: saki monkeys (Pithecia pithecia) and ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta). Surveys asked participants with varying familiarity with primate behaviour to use a Visual Analogue Scale to describe videos of animals in multiple contextual settings against fixed emotional descriptors. QBA results were then compared with quantitative ethogram data from a professional observer. Principal Component Analysis revealed two dominant QBA dimensions, which were termed Valence and Arousal, with no detectable influence of observer experience on participant rating of either dimension. However, correlations between QBA dimensions and specific observed behaviours were uniformly weak, suggesting that observers may utilise holistic expressive styles when categorising affective state rather than discrete behaviours. These findings have potential in informing evidence-based assessments of psychological wellbeing in animals.