A500.7.3.RB Quantitative Research Methods

“Quantitative research methods” have provided me with an insight into research that is different than that of qualitative research methods.  Just as I defined qualitative research methods, I feel it is important to provide my definition of quantitative research.  As stated earlier there is no finite universal definition of quantitative research.  Quantitative research it tries to quantify the problem and understand how prevalent it is by looking for projectable results to a larger population; by using data collection tools like various surveys, polls, and various type of interviews.  Many of the key themes of quantitative research are:

·         Seeks to discover a final course of action to a problem
·         Seeks a consensus on a final course of action to a problem
·         Project results by using smaller samples of a large population
·         Identifies independent and dependent variables
·         Test specific hypothesis and examine relationship between variables

The core of quantitative research is all about examining variables; usually independent (predictor variable) and dependent (response variables.  In quantitative research the primary objective is to analyze if there is a relationship between one thing (an independent variable) and another (a dependent or outcome variable) in a chosen population.   

There are also strengths and weakness of quantitative research.  The top five strengths I identify with are (1) useful for studying large numbers of people, (2) results are relatively independent of the researcher, (3) relatively less time consuming when using statistical software, (4) may have higher credibility through the use of statistics, and  (5) can generalize results of a research finding on many different populations.  The top five weaknesses I identify with are (1) results are limited…which provide numerical descriptions instead of narrative accounts of human observation, (2) standard researchers questions can lead to fundamental bias and false representation, (3) knowledge might be too abstract for application to research, and (4) many think it tends to cause a researcher to become immersed in the research topic and remain disconnected from the subject matter.