QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH IS THE PROCESS OF COLLECTING AND ANALYZING NUMERICAL DATA.
IT EMPHASIZES OBJECTIVE MEASUREMENTS AND THE STATISTICAL, MATHEMATICAL, OR NUMERICAL
ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED THROUGH POLLS, QUESTIONNAIRES, AND SURVEYS, OR BY MANIPULATING
PRE-EXISTING STATISTICAL DATA USING COMPUTATIONAL TECHNIQUES.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH FOCUSES ON GATHERING
NUMERICAL DATA AND GENERALIZING IT ACROSS GROUPS OF PEOPLE OR TO EXPLAIN A
PARTICULAR PHENOMENON. THE FINAL WRITTEN REPORT HAS A SET STRUCTURE
CONSISTING OF INTRODUCTION, LITERATURE AND THEORY, METHODS, RESULTS, AND
DISCUSSION (CRESSWELL, 2013).
YOUR GOAL IN CONDUCTING QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH STUDY IS TO DETERMINE THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ONE THING (AN INDEPENDENT VARIABLE) AND ANOTHER (A
DEPENDENT OR OUTCOME VARIABLE) WITHIN A POPULATION.
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
DESIGNS ARE EITHER DESCRIPTIVE (SUBJECTS USUALLY MEASURED ONCE) OR EXPERIMENTAL
(SUBJECTS MEASURED BEFORE AND AFTER A TREATMENT). A DESCRIPTIVE STUDY ESTABLISHES
ONLY ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN VARIABLES; AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ESTABLISHES
CAUSALITY (BABBIE, 2010).
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH DEALS IN NUMBERS, LOGIC, AND AN OBJECTIVE STANCE.
IT FOCUSES ON NUMERIC AND UNCHANGING DATA AND DETAILED, CONVERGENT
REASONING RATHER THAN DIVERGENT REASONING SUCH AS THE GENERATION OF A VARIETY
OF IDEAS ABOUT A RESEARCH PROBLEM IN A SPONTANEOUS, FREE-FLOWING MANNER
(BABBIE, 2010).
CHARACTERISTICS OF QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
1. THE DATA IS USUALLY GATHERED USING
STRUCTURED RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS.
2. THE RESULTS ARE BASED ON LARGER SAMPLE SIZES
THAT ARE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE POPULATION.
3. THE RESEARCH STUDY CAN USUALLY BE REPLICATED
OR REPEATED, GIVEN ITS HIGH RELIABILITY.
CHARACTERISTICS OF QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
4. THE RESEARCHER HAS A CLEARLY DEFINED RESEARCH
QUESTION TO WHICH OBJECTIVE ANSWERS ARE SOUGHT.
5. ALL ASPECTS OF THE STUDY ARE CAREFULLY DESIGNED
BEFORE DATA IS COLLECTED.
6. DATA ARE IN THE FORM OF NUMBERS AND STATISTICS,
OFTEN ARRANGED IN TABLES, CHARTS, FIGURES, OR OTHER
NON-TEXTUAL FORMS.
CHARACTERISTICS OF QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
7. THE RESEARCHER USES TOOLS, SUCH AS
QUESTIONNAIRES OR COMPUTER SOFTWARE, TO
COLLECT NUMERICAL DATA.
THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
THE QUANTITATIVE SURVEY APPROACH HAS TWO SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES.
FIRST, IT CAN BE ADMINISTERED AND EVALUATED QUICKLY. THERE IS NO NEED TO SPEND TIME
AT THE ORGANIZATION BEFORE ADMINISTERING THE SURVEY, AND THE RESPONSES CAN BE
TABULATED WITHIN A SHORT TIMEFRAME.
SECOND, NUMERICAL DATA OBTAINED FROM THIS APPROACH FACILITATES COMPARISONS
BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS OR GROUPS, AS WELL AS ALLOWING DETERMINATION OF THE
EXTENT OF AGREEMENT OR DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN RESPONDENTS (YAUCH AND STEUDEL,
2003).
TYPES OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
1. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH
• EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IS THE MOST
CONCLUSIVE OF SCIENTIFIC METHODS BECAUSE
THE RESEARCHER ACTUALLY ESTABLISHES
DIFFERENT TREATMENTS AND THEN STUDIES THEIR
EFFECTS.
2. CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH
CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH IS A TYPE OF RESEARCH THAT IS
DONE TO DETERMINE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG TWO OR MORE
VARIABLES AND TO EXPLORE THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR CAUSE
AND EFFECT.
EXAMPLE QUESTION FOR CORRELATIONAL RESEARCH:
IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT’S
ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AND THE AVAILABILITY OF ICTS
AT HOME?
• HERE, YOU ARE GOING TO GATHER THE DATA AND
INVESTIGATE THE EXTENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AVAILABILITY OF ICT AT
HOME. PERHAPS, YOU CAN ASSUME THAT STUDENTS WITH
MORE ICTS AVAILABLE AT HOME HAVE BETTER ACADEMIC
PERFORMANCE. BUT, WITHOUT MANIPULATING THE DATA,
THE RESEARCHER HAS TO TEST USING A STATISTICAL TOOL
IF YOUR ASSUMPTION IS RIGHT.
3. CAUSAL-COMPARATIVE
IT IS A TYPE OF RESEARCH THAT IS INTENDED TO
DETERMINE THE CAUSE FOR OR THE CONSEQUENCES
OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS OF PEOPLE.
SUPPOSE YOU WANT TO DETERMINE WHETHER
STUDENTS FROM SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES DO MORE
POORLY IN HIS/HER COURSE THAN STUDENTS FROM
TWO-PARENT FAMILIES.
HERE, YOU MIGHT COMPARE TWO GROUPS OF STUDENTS WHO ALREADY BELONG TO ONE OR THE OTHER TYPE OF FAMILY
TO SEE IF THEY DIFFER IN THEIR ACHIEVEMENT. SUPPOSE THE GROUPS DO DIFFER, YOU CAN ONLY CONCLUDE THAT THE
DIFFERENCE DOES EXIST.
4. SURVEY RESEARCH
IT OBTAINS DATA TO DETERMINE THE SPECIFIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A GROUP.
FOR INSTANCE, YOU WANT TO FIND OUT HOW THE STUDENTS FEEL ABOUT THE MODULAR LEARNING MODALITY AND WHAT THEY
LIKE ABOUT THIS APPROACH. YOU MAY GET THE DATA THROUGH A VARIETY OF SURVEY TECHNIQUES THAT MEASURE THEIR
VIEWS ABOUT THE MODULAR APPROACH.
A DESCRIPTIVE SURVEY INVOLVES ASKING THE
SAME SET OF QUESTIONS OF A LARGE NUMBER OF
INDIVIDUALS USING A QUESTIONNAIRE. YOU CAN
ALSO GATHER THE DATA THROUGH INTERVIEWS.
DATA WILL BE TABULATED AND REPORTED.
VARIABLES
VARIABLE IS A CONCEPT, A NOUN THAT
STANDS FOR VARIATION WITHIN A
CLASS OF
OBJECTS, SUCH AS CHAIRS, GENDER,
EYE COLOR, ACHIEVEMENT,
MOTIVATION, OR RUNNING
SPEED. EVEN STYLE AND LUST FOR
LIFE ARE VARIABLES
QUANTITATIVE VERSUS CATEGORICAL
VARIABLES
Quantitative variables Categorical variables
Exist in some degree along the Do not vary in degree, amount,
range from less or quantity but are
to more, and you can assign qualitatively different.
numbers to different individual
or subjects to
indicate how much of the Few of the examples are eye
variable they possess. color, gender, religious
Few examples are height (e.g. preference, occupation, position
5’2”, 6’1”) and weight (e.g. on a baseball team, and most
46kg., 42kg.). Oftentimes, kinds of research “treatments”
quantitative variables can be or “methods”. Even, Learning
subdivided into smaller and Delivery Modality (e.g. Printed
INDEPENDENT VERSUS DEPENDED
VARIABLE
Independent Depended Variable
Variable
Independent variables are Dependent variables are those
those that the researcher variables that are presumed
chooses to study to be affected
in order to assess their by the independent variables.
possible effect(s) on one or This means that dependent
more variables. It is presumed variables“depends on”
to affect or somehow influence what the independent
at least one other variable. variables do to them, or how
independent variables
affect them.