Quantitative Research

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the use of quantitative research in education and social science. The paper explains that quantitative research is indirect, abstract and treats experiences as similar, adding or multiplying them together, or quantifying them. The paper looks at how qualitative research has the aim of understanding experience as nearly as possible as its participants feel it or live it. The paper also points out that qualitative research is not a new method. The paper then explains that there appears to be a consensus that, though education may be different now from in previous years, the aim is still the same - to understand what each tradition is doing rather than debate the political and moral implications of the research and its methods.

From the Paper:

"Theoretical research programs coordinate theory and empirical research. The researchers infer that theory guides research, and research tests theory, which was earlier stated by Moore in 1989. Research results provide insight that improves theories, which then require further tests. This reciprocal coordination of theory and research produces cumulative theory growth, the trademark of science. To build solid knowledge about social processes, theory cannot be separated from related empirical research that tests it. Group processes research has focused on experiment, although not to the exclusion of other social research methods."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Crossley, M., & Watson, K. (2003). Comparative and International Research in Education: Globalization, Context and Difference. London: Routledge Falmer.
• Darlington, Y., & Scott, D. (2002). Qualitative Research in Practice: Stories from the Field /. Crows Nest, N.S.W.: Allen & Unwin.
• Hanrahan, M. (1998). 15 Academic Growth through Action Research. In Action Research in Practice: Partnership for Social Justice in Education, Atweh, B., Kemmis, S., & Weeks, P. (Eds.) (pp. 302-325). London: Routledge.
• Murray, L., & Lawrence, B. (2000). Practitioner-Based Enquiry: Principles for Postgraduate Research. London: Falmer Press.
• Perry, D. K. (2002). Theory and Research in Mass Communication: Contexts and Consequences. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

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