What is quantitative research?

What is quantitative research?

1. Quantitative research involves the explanation of phenomena through the collection and analysis of numerical data using mathematical methods, especially statistics.

2. To use mathematical methods, the data must be in numbers. But this is not the case in qualitative research because qualitative data are not traditional numbers, so they cannot be analyzed statistically.

3. Quantitative research consists primarily of collecting numerical data to explain a particular phenomenon

4. A large amount of non-naturally occurring data can be collected quantitatively. To this end, we design research tools specifically aimed at transforming abnormal phenomena in quantitative form into quantitative data that we can analyze statistically.

5. Data can be collected on a large number of phenomena and quantified through data collection tools such as questionnaires or tests.

6. While it is important to use the right data analysis tools, it is even more important to use the right research design and the right data collection tools.

7. Foundations of quantitative research methods

   • Quantitative and qualitative research have two fundamentally different worldviews, and quantitative views are described as "factual" or sometimes "positivist," while the worldview underlying qualitative research is referred to as "subjective."
     • Researchers should stay as far away from the research as possible and use methods that maximize objectivity and minimize researcher involvement, the best way to achieve this is to use methods borrowed primarily from the natural sciences, e.g., biology, physics, and then transfer them to the social research framework
       • Looking at research from a quantitative versus qualitative perspective, qualitative researchers are subjectivists.
         • There is no pre-existing objective reality that can be observed since the process of our observation of reality changes and transforms it, so subjectivists are relativists.
           • Quantitative researchers have embraced many critiques of the positivist view, and there are now many epistemologies underpinning the theory and practice of quantitative research.
             • The qualitative method is a general term for many different research methods such as participant observations, interviews, which are completely different. They are used by researchers with very different worldviews, some of which are clearly at the lower end of the real spectrum. It is a mistake to attribute radical subjectivist views to all qualitative researchers.

8. Post-positivism, experiential realism and pragmatism

   • Postpositivists admit that we cannot treat the world we live in as completely objective and disinterested outsiders, while conceding that the natural sciences are notstereotypical for all social studies.
   • However, they believe in the possibility of objective reality. Although we can never fully reveal this fact through our investigation, postpositivists believe that we should come as close as possible to this fact, while realizing that it is our subjectivity that shapes it. Post-positivists do not seek truth, they try to represent reality as much as possible.
   • Post-positivists believe that research can never be certain. Post-positivist social science is no longer concerned with truth and absolute certainty, but with confidence: how much can we trust our results?
   • Like anti-positivist views, experiential realism asserts that we cannot observe the world objectively because our perception affects what we see and measure.
   • Human subjectivity is limited by the fact that we use a limited number of situations to form our perception of the world, this is because our perception is embodied since, instead of passively observing, we actively interact with the world through our bodies.
   • We use metaphors to understand our world. One of the main metaphors we use for this is the subject/object scheme, which divides the world into things and people.
   • Sometimes a hybrid approach combining qualitative and quantitative methods is most appropriate.
   • Pragmatists are completely opposed to absolutism because they believe it to be the basis for most other philosophical beliefs, and they oppose other philosophies that they completely reject
   • As for the subjectivists, in pragmatic philosophy there is no ultimate truth; truth is constantly changing and updating through the process of human problem solving.

9. When do we use quantitative methods?

   • 1. Quantitative research is expressed in numbers and graphs. It’s used to test or confirm theories and assumptions.
     • 2. Can be used to establish generalizable facts about a topic, is conclusive in it’s purpose.
   • 3. Tries to quantify a problem and understand how prevalent it’s by looking for projectable results to a larger population.
   • 4. For this type of study we collect data through: surveys, audits, points of purchase, include experiments, observations recorded as numbers, and surveys with closed-ended questions.

10. Units and variables

    • In quantitative research we must collect the necessary data from someone or something, these units come to be known as variables since it refers to the fact that these data differ from each other.

11. What is a hypothesis?

    • A research hypothesis is a statement of expectation or prediction that will be tested by research.
    • In your hypothesis, you are predicting the relationship between variables. Through the disciplinary insights gained in the research process throughout the time, you “prove” your hypothesis.

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