quantitative research

Examples of quantitative research in the following topics:

• Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research

  • Quantitative Research is defined as the systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques.
  • At its core, quantitative research is used to identify patterns and predict behavior.
  • Quantitative research is generally conducted using scientific methods, which can include:
  • Unlike quantitative methods which are used to identify patterns and make predictions, qualitative research aims to explain behavior.
  • Hence, smaller but focused samples are more often needed than the large samples required of quantitative methods.

• Conducting Research

  • How you conduct research depends upon the topic you are researching.
  • Basic research is meant to increase your general knowledge about a subject.
  • The three methodologies most commonly used are applied, quantitative, and qualitative research.
  • Applied research is used to solve practical problems.
  • Quantitative research is used to measure quantities or amounts, then to track those amounts against earlier data to try and predict what that quantity will become in the future.

• Defining the Sample and Collecting Data

  • Defining the sample and collecting data are key parts of all empirical research, both qualitative and quantitative.
  • Many empirical forms of sociological research follow the scientific method .
  • The choice of method often depends largely on what the researcher intends to investigate.
  • While quantitative research requires at least 30 subjects to be considered statistically significant, qualitative research generally takes a more in-depth approach to fewer subjects.
  • Sampling can be used in both quantitative and qualitative research.

• Quantitative and Qualitative

  • Quantitative methods of sociological research approach social phenomena from the perspective that they can be measured and/or quantified.
  • Quantitative sociologists also utilize mathematical models capable of organizing social experiences into a rational order that may provide a necessary foundation for more in depth analyses of the natural world (importantly, this element of quantitative research often provides the initial or potential insights that guide much theoretical and qualitative analyses of patterns observed - numerically or otherwise - beyond the confines of mathematical models).
  • Qualitative methods of sociological research tend to approach social phenomena from the Verstehen perspective.
  • They view quantitative and qualitative approaches as complementary.
  • Similarly, qualitative patterns in society can reveal missing pieces in the mathematical models of quantitative research while quantitative patterns in society can guide more in-depth analysis of actual patterns in natural settings.

• Determining the Research Design

  • One of the best known examples of a quantitative research instrument is the United States Census, which is taken every 10 years.
  • Another distinction can be made between quantitative methods and qualitative methods.
  • Quantitative methods are generally useful when a researcher seeks to study large-scale patterns of behavior, while qualitative methods are often more effective when dealing with interactions and relationships in detail .
  • Quantitative methods of sociological research approach social phenomena from the perspective that they can be measured and quantified.
  • These two researchers are debating the relative merits of using qualitative or quantitative methods to study social phenomena such as the learning processes of children.

• Quantitative or Qualitative Data?

  • Different statistical tests are used to test quantitative and qualitative data.
  • Quantitative (numerical) data is any data that is in numerical form, such as statistics, percentages, et cetera.
  • In layman's terms, a researcher studying quantitative data asks a specific, narrow question and collects a sample of numerical data from participants to answer the question.
  • Qualitative (categorical) research, on the other hand, asks broad questions and collects word data from participants.
  • The researcher looks for themes and describes the information in themes and patterns exclusive to that set of participants.

• Plan the Research Design

  • The research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project.
  • Conducting exploratory research, precisely defining the variables, and designing appropriate scales to measure them are a part of the research design.
  • A research design is a framework or blueprint for conducting the marketing research project.
  • The research plan outlines sources of existing data and spells out the specific research approaches, contact methods, sampling plans, and instruments that researchers will use to gather data.
  • Describe the formulation of research design within the context of the marketing research process

• Forecasting

  • Forecasting is the process of making statements about expected future events, based upon evidence, research, and experience.
  • Forecasting is the process of making statements about expected future events based upon evidence, research, and experience.
  • While quantitative measure use data to express objective results, qualitative approaches do not have this luxury.
  • Generally this type of forecast will include the opinions of experts, upper management, and market research.
  • This flow chart compares quantitative and qualitative forecasting methods.

• Data

  • Researchers often prefer to use quantitative data over qualitative data because it lends itself more easily to mathematical analysis.
  • Quantitative data are always numbers.
  • Quantitative data may be either discrete or continuous.
  • Weights are quantitative continuous data because weights are measured.
  • Indicate whether quantitative data are continuous or discrete.

• Variables

  • When conducting research, experimenters often manipulate variables.
  • Quantitative variables are those variables that are measured in terms of numbers.
  • Some examples of quantitative variables are height, weight, and shoe size.
  • The variable "type of supplement" is a qualitative variable; there is nothing quantitative about it.
  • In contrast, the dependent variable "memory test" is a quantitative variable since memory performance was measured on a quantitative scale (number correct).