Quantitative Research

Paper Summary:

The paper discusses quantitative research which focuses on quantifiable data and conclusions. The paper states that quantitative research lends itself particularly well to the natural sciences and numerical disciplines, as exact measurements are required for these. They in turn provide research facts via an explanation of the statistical truth. The paper confirms that the researcher's value judgments are not to be imposed upon the conclusions drawn from the data, as the researcher is viewed as an objective observer. The paper concludes that whilst most appropriate for natural scientific research, the quantitative research has also increasingly been used in social sciences in order to draw logical conclusions from existing facts.

From the Paper:

"Being a social science, education has generally been studied by qualitative methods. The reason for this is that human beings are not an exact science, and facts have to be derived by an inductive rather than deductive approach. Best practice could therefore best be determined by making value judgments rather than drawing quantitative conclusions. It has however been recognized that the social sciences can also be studied from an objective rather than subjective viewpoint. According to Hara, quantitative research can be used in education in order to discover existing facts by means of isolating human reality from the researcher's subjectivity. The data obtained in this way can then be presented in a numerical, objective way, in order to derive universally applicable conclusions. The value of such research is that it exists independently from values such as time, place and culture. Hence the conclusions can be applied to any educational setting. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Hara, Katsuko. (1995, Spring). Quantitative and qualitative research approaches in education. Education. FindArticles.com. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3673/is_199504/ai_n8716601
• Johnson, Burke. (2000, Dec 27). Toward a New Classification of Nonexperimental Quantitative Research. Educational Researcher. www.aera.net/.../Journals_and_Publications/Journals/Educational_Researcher/3002/AERA3002_Johnson.pdf
• Stoker, Gerry & Greasley, Stephen. (2005, Feb). The case for an experimental approach in applied social research: an illustration from the area of civil renewal policy. IPEG, University of Manchester. www.ipeg.org.uk/papers/case_for_experiments.pdf?PHPSESSID=f5dc481236eafa900785cc28031dbf7e

More papers on Quantitative Research:

• Comparison Essay # 880 : "Qualitative Research Verses Quantitative Research"
• Comparison Essay # 105854 : "Quantitative Research"
• Essay # 52846 : "Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: