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Types And Advantages of Quantitative Research

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Content Outline

  1. Introduction
  2. What is Quantitative Research
  3. Types of Quantitative Research 
  4. Advantages of Quantitative Research Methods
  5. Summary

Introduction

Quantitative research methods are oriented towards the use of numerals and statistics in the analysis of data collected. This will enable the researcher to make statistically valid generalizations and inferences about the topic of study. This module describes the types of quantitative method and their advantages and shortcomings in application

What is Quantitative Research?

Quantitative research involves the use of empirical methods to investigate a particular social and the phenomenon or research question, the data of which will be amenable to the use of numerical and statistical techniques in the analysis. The data that is collected is either numerical, or can be converted to numerical values. The data is analyzed through the use of relevant statistical techniques. Quantitative researchers define in advance the particular topic they plan to study along with the current status in the existing research literature and the suitable methodology to study the same as well. Thus the study design is pre planned allowing only for such changes that may be required due to unforeseen circumstances. In many instances, the study will have a pre defined theoretical background to examine the new data to be collected from the field. This will enable the researcher to critically examine the evidences collected for his/her study in comparison to the available findings and make valid inferences and predictions about the different aspects of the topic studied. In this sense, the existing theory will be tested and validated providing for explanations about why and how a phenomenon occurs in a particular context. For example, with the help of the available theory, the researcher could explain why the sample he/she studied was feeling excluded from their social group they belonged to. This approach of making explanations about the topic studied based on the available theory is known as the deductive approach and this is the hallmark of the quantitative methodology.

Types of Quantitative Research

There are four primary types of quantitative research. It is important to understand the differences between these so that you can choose one that is most appropriate to your study.
  • Descriptive
    Descriptive research describes or quantifies identified variables. They typically seek to answer questions that describe certain phenomena. They sometimes involve questions such as “how much?” or “what percentage?” or “how often?” Descriptive research collects data on the status of things and uses this data to analyze the research question. Some examples of descriptive research questions are: o What percentage of rag pickers are girls? o How often do adolescents use social networks on a monthly basis? o How frequently do children employed in home-based factories go to school each month? o What is the extent of cigarette smoking among 18-25 year old Indians? Descriptive research designs generally attempt to test variable relationships or causality between variables.
  • Correlational
    Correlational research attempts to determine to what extent two or more variables are related to each other. This type of study explores patterns and trends in the data, but may not be able to prove any causal links between the variables. Because of this, generally speaking, there is no manipulation of variables in this type of study– they are only studied in their existing states. Some examples of correlational research themes are: o What is the relationship between volunteering and self-esteem? o What is the relationship between smoking and age of the person? What is the relationship between maternal education levels and family size? o What is the relationship between malnutrition and family income levels? Remember that in this type of study, although we can determine whether a relationship (positive or negative) exists between two or more variables, we cannot prove any causal connections. In order to do that, we would need to select a different type of study design.
  • Cause-Comparative
    Cause-comparative studies aim to establish a causal relationship between two or more variables. They are also known as quasi-experimental research designs. Although this type of study shares some similarities with Experimental research design, it is different because in this type of study, there is no randomized assignment of subjects in sample to control and experimental groups. Instead, researchers focus on comparing groups who have been exposed to certain treatments/interventions to other groups that have not had this exposure. Additionally, some quasi-experimental studies do not require the manipulation of the independent variable. By manipulation of a variable, we mean that a researcher change the value of the independent variable in a systematic way, in order to observe how these change effects a change in the dependent variable. Researchers undertaking this type of study have to be very careful in attributing causal relationships between variables because there may be external variables (which may or may not be evident to the researchers) which may be influencing the causal relationship.
    Some examples of cause-comparative research:
    The influence of preschool education on primary school completion
    The effect of smoking on lung cancer
    The effect of education levels on income
    The effect of poverty on mental health
    The effect of tutoring on the academic grades of children in Class 5
  • Experimental
    Experimental research is often called “true experimentation” or the gold standard of empirical studies. In these types of studies, the independent variable is manipulated to assess causal relationships, and to determine that any variation in the dependent variable is actually caused by the identified variable, and not by some external variables. Another unique aspect of this type of study is that subjects are randomly assigned to control or experiment groups. At the start of the experiment, the identified subjects are as identical in their characteristics as possible, and then they are randomly assigned to a group that will receive a treatment or intervention (known as the experimental group) or to a group that does not receive a treatment or intervention (known as the control group). This strategy helps to limit or eliminate the presence of any hidden or pre-existing characteristics (or variables) that may influence the study without the researchers’ knowledge
    Some examples of experimental research are as follows:
    1.The effect of classroom teaching and one-on-one teaching on children’s academic grades
    2. The effect of “punishment free” education on children’s self-esteem
    3. ldren’s self-esteem o The effect of a new drug on HIV positive patients

Advantages of Quantitative Research Methods

Based on this understanding of quantitative research, we now reflect on what are some of the advantages of this approach:
  1. The greatest advantage of this type of research is its ability to produce quantitative, precise data.
  2. Quantitative studies can produce defined results and can even specify the degree of certainty or probability of its results.
  3. Quantitative studies are designed and implemented using scientific methods. This results in data that is reliable and accurate since it minimizes research biases.
  4. Quantitative research produces data that can be generalized to a larger population – this is especially useful when designing policies or program interventions.
  5. Quantitative analysis permits the testing of various hypotheses to verify if they hold true in a certain context.
  6. Quantitative studies are designed and implemented using scientific methods. This results in data that is reliable and accurate since it minimizes research biases.
  7. Quantitative research can be replicated in other contexts or time periods, and this facilitates a better understanding of a phenomenon in different contexts.
  8. Quantitative Research uses various statistical techniques, including the tests of significance, correlation, and variance and so on. Since the methods of calculating these are exactly the same world over, it permits the comparison of results in cross-cultural studies. 
  9. Data analysis can be easily done using statistical software, and hence is less time-consuming.
  10. . Quantitative research methods make it simple to collect data from large samples in relatively short time durations
  11. Due to the accuracy and generalizable data produced, quantitative research methods are preferred by policy makers, funders and donors. 

Summary

  • Quantitative research methods are oriented towards the collection (or conversion) of data in a numerical form.
  • Statistical tests are used to analyze the collected data to explain certain phenomena.
  • Key components of quantitative research methods are:
    1. Units
    2. Variables
    3.Hypothesis
    4. Sample
  • There are four types of quantitative research:
    1.Descriptive
    2.Correlational
    3.Cause-comparative
    4.Experimental
  • Advantages: The key advantage of quantitative research is that it can be used to collect numerical data from large samples of populations. This data can then be generalized to larger populations.
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