Quantitative Research & Methods Study Notes, Download PDF

Moving ahead towards the methods actually deployed, quantitative research is done through a wide range of quantifying techniques and methods, reflecting on its broad utilization as a research strategy that differs across academic disciplines. The core objective of quantitative research is to simply deploy and employ mathematical models, theories, and hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. Quantitative data is any data that is in numerical form, say, for example; percentage, statistics, etc. Quantitative research is used indispensably in:

• Economics
• Demography
• Sociology
• Psychology
• Marketing
• Gender Studies etc.
  
  

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Use of Statistics

Statistics is the most widely used branch of mathematics in quantitative research outside of the physical sciences and it also finds applications within the physical sciences, say, for example, in statistical mechanics. Such methods are also used extensively within the fields such as social sciences, biology, and economics. Research using statistical methods starts with the collection of data, based on the theory or hypothesis. In general, a large sample of data is collected – which would require verification, initial validation, and proper recording before the analysis can actually take place. 

Empirical relationships, associations, correlations, etc are also frequently studied by using some form of general linear model or non-linear model or by use of factor analysis. Also, a fundamental principle in quantitative research is that correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation, although some individuals such as Clive Granger suggest that a series of correlations may possibly imply a certain degree of causation.

Measurement

The views regarding the role of measurement in quantitative research are somewhat divergent and conflicting. It is often regarded as to be only a means by which observations are expressed numerically in order to investigate causal relations or associations. However, it has also been argued numerous times that the concept of measurement plays a more important role in quantitative research. 

As put sophisticatedly by American philosopher Thomas Kuhn, who argued that the results can prove to be strange and eccentric in the case of quantitative research. He has sophisticatedly put forward that:

In case measurement departs from theory, it is very probable to yield mere numbers and their very neutrality tends to make them particularly sterile and dumb as a source of remedial suggestions.

Relationship with qualitative methods:

In most sciences, say for that matter, physical or biological sciences, it is uncontroversial to use either quantitative or qualitative methods and each is deemed to be used when appropriate. However, in social sciences, the use of one over the other can often be controversial. Hence, a more apt solution, which combines both qualitative and quantitative data is mixed-methods research which is being deployed globally by large corporations and government organizations.