2 new papers are published to PubMed every single minute.
And that’s only from the biomedical field!
Take the other disciplines into account, and that number would dramatically shoot up. Clearly, research is being conducted at any one time, all over the world.
However, not all research is the same. Different studies utilize different methodologies. Quantitative research is one particularly noteworthy type. This research is based on numbers. It is an investigation of empirical nature intended to explain, in numerical form, a phenomenon in the world.
Want to learn about the 4 different types of quantitative analysis? Keep reading.
1. Descriptive
As the name suggests, descriptive analysis methods attempt to describe a particular variable’s (or phenomenon’s) current status.
Contrary to other forms of quantitative approach, researchers tend not to start with a hypothesis. Instead, they develop one as they begin to accrue the relevant data. The hypothesis is then tested via the careful analysis of the data collected.
An example might be a description of the types of vocabulary used in data and researches services (FYI, it gets confusing- what on earth is asset beta or equity beta!?).
2. Correlational
This is research into potential relationships between particular variables.
For instance, there might be a correlation between weather and ice cream sales. This quantitative approach would analyze the nature of the relationship using statistical data.
Researchers might find that the warmer the weather, the more ice creams get purchased from vendors.
However, it’s essential to understand that correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation. AKA, that increase in ice cream sales may be explained by another unknown variable. Consequently, these experiments are generally only observational in nature.
3. Quasi-Experimental / Causal-Comparative
In these experiments, researchers try to find out a causal relationship between 2 or more variables.
In that way, they’re similar to experimental designs (more on these next). However, the process is different. Participants aren’t randomly assigned to groups. Instead, pre-established groups are used. Likewise, though an independent variable is chosen, it isn’t manipulated in any way.
Control groups are established and they’re subjected to the variable. Another group isn’t exposed to it. The effects of the two experiments are compared.
4. Experimental
Experimental studies are what you usually think of in terms of top-level scientific research. Indeed, it’s sometimes referred to as ‘true experimentation’.
Again, the desire is to establish a causal relationship between variables. However, this time each variable is controlled apart from the independent variable (the one to be manipulated).
The effects of this manipulation are measured before statistical analysis reveals (or doesn’t) a potential relationship.
Final Thoughts of Quantitative Analysis
There you have it: a look at the 4 different methods of quantitative analysis.
As we’ve seen, the scientific community is awash with research. Every day, countless new pieces of research are being conducted and published. Much of the time they’ll be utilizing quantitative methods to gather the data and find their results.
Hopefully, this article has highlighted the main ways they can go about it.
Like this piece? Read more interesting research-related articles on novel topics on the blog!
