quantitative

(adjective)

Of a measurement based on some quantity or number rather than on some quality.

Related Terms

Examples of quantitative in the following topics:

  • Quantitative and Qualitative

    • Quantitative methods of sociological research approach social phenomena from the perspective that they can be measured and/or quantified.
    • Quantitative sociologists tend to use specific methods of data collection and hypothesis testing, including: experimental designs, surveys, secondary data analysis, and statistical analysis.
    • They view quantitative and qualitative approaches as complementary.
    • For example, quantitative methods could describe large or general patterns in society while qualitative approaches could help to explain how individuals understand those patterns.
    • Similarly, qualitative patterns in society can reveal missing pieces in the mathematical models of quantitative research while quantitative patterns in society can guide more in-depth analysis of actual patterns in natural settings.

  • Determining the Research Design

    • One of the best known examples of a quantitative research instrument is the United States Census, which is taken every 10 years.
    • Another distinction can be made between quantitative methods and qualitative methods.
    • Quantitative methods are generally useful when a researcher seeks to study large-scale patterns of behavior, while qualitative methods are often more effective when dealing with interactions and relationships in detail .
    • Quantitative methods of sociological research approach social phenomena from the perspective that they can be measured and quantified.
    • These two researchers are debating the relative merits of using qualitative or quantitative methods to study social phenomena such as the learning processes of children.

  • Correlation and Causation

    • In the scientific pursuit of quantitative prediction and explanation, two relationships between variables are often confused: correlation and causation.
    • While these terms are rarely used in qualitative science, they lie at the heart of quantitative methods, and thus constitute a cornerstone of scientific practice.
    • Employing the quantitative method outlined above, the reader should immediately question this relationship and attempt to discover an explanation.
    • Clearly understanding the relationship between variables is an important element of the quantitative scientific process.

  • Sociology Today

    • Contemporary sociology does not have a single overarching foundation—it has varying methods, both qualitative and quantitative.
    • Social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques.

  • Defining the Sample and Collecting Data

    • Defining the sample and collecting data are key parts of all empirical research, both qualitative and quantitative.
    • While quantitative research requires at least 30 subjects to be considered statistically significant, qualitative research generally takes a more in-depth approach to fewer subjects.
    • Sampling can be used in both quantitative and qualitative research.

  • Tradition vs. Science

    • Following the quantitative approach, an individual's social class can be understood by measuring certain variables and fitting the individual into a defined category.
    • Quantitative and qualitative methods can be complementary: often, quantitative methods are used to describe large or general patterns in society while qualitative approaches are used to help explain how individuals understand those patterns.
    • For example, a sociologist might use quantitative survey methods to find that, on average, single mothers are more likely to receive welfare even if they could earn more working.
    • Sociology embodies several tensions, such as those between quantitative and qualitative methods, between positivist and interpretive orientations, and between objective and critical approaches.
    • The positivist approach to social science seeks to explain and predict social phenomena, often employing a quantitative approach.

  • Sociology and Science

    • Arriving at a verstehen-like understanding of society thus involves not only quantitative approaches, but more interpretive, qualitative approaches.
    • The contrast between positivist sociology and the verstehen approach has been reformulated in modern sociology as a distinction between quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches, respectively.
    • Quantitative sociology is generally a numerical approach to understanding human behavior.
    • Drawing a hard and fast distinction between quantitative and qualitative sociology is a bit misleading, however.
    • Quantitative sociology focuses on numerical representations of the research subjects, while qualitative sociology focuses on the ideas found within the discourse and rhetoric of the research subjects.

  • Continuous REGE for geodesic distances (Padgett's marriage data)

    • Two nodes are said to be more equivalent if they have an actor of similar distance in their neighborhood (similar in the quantitative sense of "5" is more similar to "4" than 6 is).

  • History

    • The contrast between positivist sociology and the verstehen approach has been reformulated in modern sociology as a distinction between quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches, respectively.
    • Quantitative sociology is generally a numerical approach to understanding human behavior.
    • Drawing a hard and fast distinction between quantitative and qualitative sociology is a bit misleading.
    • After this initial stage, however, researchers typically take one of two paths, which may be seen to varying degrees in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies.
    • Quantitative sociology mostly focuses on numerical representations of the research subjects (e.g., Do conservative Christian fathers spend more time in child care than secular fathers, when measured in hours?).

  • The Scientific Method

    • The positivist approach to social science seeks to explain and predict social phenomena, often employing a quantitative approach.
    • In quantitative work, it will generally provide a causal explanation or propose some association between two variables.
    • A useful quantitative hypothesis will enable predictions, by deductive reasoning, that can be experimentally assessed.
    • Similarly, advances in qualitative research generally lead to reformulation of quantitative and experimental techniques and assumptions (this relationship also occurs regularly in the other direction where findings from quantitative studies direct qualitative attention to new areas and / or potential relationships).
    • Reproducibility of quantitative observations and replication of experiments is not a guarantee that they are correct or properly understood.