The Variant of Research Models (Part1)

QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH

Quantitative research generally starts with an experimental design in which a hypothesis is followed by the quantification of data and some sort of numerical analysis is carried out. Quantitative research is explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data that are analyzed using mathematically based methods. Explaining phenomena is a key element of all research, quantitative or qualitative research.

When we set out do some research, we are always looking to explain something. In order to be able to use mathematically based methods our data have to be in numerical form. Mathematically based methods, in particular statistics, to analyze the data. The use of statistics to analyze the data is the element that puts a lot of people off doing quantitative research, because the mathematics underlying the methods seem complicated and frightening.

Characteristics of quantitative research:

• Obtrusive, involving controlled measurement
• Objective and removed from the data
• Verification oriented, confirmatory
• Outcome-oriented
• Reliable and replicable
• Generalizable
• Assuming astablereality