Abstract:
Quantitative research methods are designed to utilise scientific and statistical methods to develop and test hypotheses, usually with the intention of deepening our understanding about the world and how it works. Scientific designs (e.g., experiments, quasi-experiments, and non-experiments) dominate the quantitative research world. Quantitative research typically utilises tools that measure data numerically, such as achievement scores or levels of prosocial behaviour using a psychometric tool, to describe the individuals and groups who provided the
data. However, it is also possible to utilise data that were originally collected qualitatively, such as interview data or open-ended questions in a questionnaire, by converting categories into numerical data such as frequencies. Quantitative data are then analysed using various
statistics that provide an indication of how strong, how variable, related, or different the numbers are to each other. Similarly, statistical tools can be used to describe the human participants who provided the data (e.g., age, individual characteristics). With strong experimental control, quantitative methods enable predictions about how environmental factors (e.g., socioeconomic status, social environment) interact with the variation of scores both within and between individuals. Quantitative research methods have well-established conventions as to (a) how the data must be managed before analysis, (b)
which methods are applied to answer each kind of question, and (c) how those results can be interpreted. This gives quantitative research methods strength to identify meaningful relations or differences between variables. However, while quantitative methods aim for objectivity, it is important to be aware of, and transparent about, the subjectivities that remain in the use of
quantitative methods (e.g., Brown, 2016). This chapter aims to provide a brief introduction to quantitative research methodologies, while also improving awareness of some of the subjective aspects of quantitative research methods.