In
natural and social sciences, and sometimes in other fields,
quantitative research is the systematic
empirical investigation of observable
phenomena via statistical, mathematical, or computational techniques. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ
mathematical models,
theories, and
hypotheses pertaining to phenomena. The process of
measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental connection between
empirical
observation and mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.
Quantitative data is any data that is in numerical form such as statistics, percentages, etc. [1]
statistics and hopes the numbers will yield an
unbiased result that can be generalized to some larger population.
Qualitative research, on the other hand, inquires deeply into specific experiences, with the intention of describing and exploring meaning through text, narrative, or visual-based data, by developing themes exclusive to that set of participants. [2]
Quantitative research is widely used in
psychology,
economics,
demography,
sociology,
marketing, community health, health & human development, gender studies, and
political science; and less frequently in
anthropology and
history. Research in mathematical sciences, such as
physics, is also "quantitative" by definition, though this use of the term differs in context. In the social sciences, the term relates to empirical methods originating in both philosophical
positivism and the
history of statistics, in contrast with
qualitative researchmethods.
Qualitative research produces information only on the particular cases studied, and any more general conclusions are only hypotheses. Quantitative methods can be used to verify which of such hypotheses are true. A comprehensive analysis of 1274 articles published in the top two American sociology journals between 1935 and 2005 found that roughly two thirds of these articles used quantitative
method.
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