Introduction to quantitative research

1 1 Introduction to What is quantitative research ? research methods in education (and the other social sciences) are oftendivided into two main types: quantitative and qualitative methods. Thisbook will discuss one of these two main strands: quantitative methods ,and what distinguishes quantitative from qualitative methods. When you think of quantitative methods, you will probably have specificthings in mind. You will probably be thinking of statistics, numbers, andmany of you may be feeling somewhat apprehensive because you thinkquantitative methods are difficult. Apart from the last one, all thesethoughts capture some of the essence of quantitative methods. The following definition, taken from Aliaga and Gunderson (2000),describes what we mean by quantitative research methods very well: quantitative research is Explaining phenomena by collecting numericaldata that are analysed using mathematically based methods (in particu-lar statistics).

2 Let s go through this definition step by step. The first element is explainingphenomena. This is a key element of all research , be it quantitative or quali-tative. When we set out to do some research , we are always looking to explainsomething. In education, this could be questions like why do teachers leaveteaching? , what factors influence pupil achievement? , and so specificity of quantitative research lies in the next part of the defini-tion. In quantitative research , we collect numerical data. This is closely con-nected to the final part of the definition: analysis using mathematically18725 25/08/2010 16:36 Page 1based methods. In order to be able to use mathematically based methods,our data have to be in numerical form. This is not the case for qualitativeresearch. Qualitative data are not necessarily or usually numerical, andtherefore cannot be analysed by using statistics. Therefore, as quantitative research is essentially about collecting numericaldata to explain a particular phenomenon, particular questions seem imme-diately suited to being answered using quantitative methods.

3 How manymales get a first-class degree at university compared to females? What per-centage of teachers and school leaders belong to ethnic minority groups?Has pupil achievement in English improved in our school district overtime? These are all questions we can look at quantitatively, as the data weneed to collect are already available to us in numerical form. Does this notseverely limit the usefulness of quantitative research though? There aremany phenomena we might want to look at, but which don t seem to pro-duce any quantitative data. In fact, relatively few phenomena in educationactually occur in the form of naturally quantitative , we are far less limited than might appear from the above. Manydata that do not naturally appear in quantitative form can be collected ina quantitative way. We do this by designing research instruments aimedspecifically at converting phenomena that don t naturally exist in quan-titative form into quantitative data, which we can analyse of this are attitudes and beliefs.

4 We might want to collect dataon pupils attitudes to their school and their teachers. These attitudesobviously do not naturally exist in quantitative form (we don t form ourattitudes in the shape of numerical scales!). Yet we can develop a question-naire that asks pupils to rate a number of statements (for example, I thinkschool is boring ) as either agree strongly , agree , disagree or disagreestrongly , and give the answers a number ( 1 for disagree strongly , 4for agree strongly). Now we have quantitative data on pupil attitudes toschool. In the same way, we can collect data on a wide number of phen-omena, and make them quantitative through data collection instrumentssuch as questionnaires or tests. In the next three chapters, we will look athow we can develop instruments to do just that. The number ofphenomena we can study in this way is almost unlimited, makingquantitative research quite flexible.

5 This is not to say that all phenomenaare best studied by quantitative methods. As we will see, whilequantitative methods have some notable advantages, they also havedisadvantages, which means that some phenomena are better studied byusing different (qualitative) methods. The last part of the definition refers to the use of mathematically basedmethods, in particular statistics, to analyse the data. This is what peopleusually think about when they think of quantitative research , and is often2 DOING quantitative research IN EDUCATION WITH SPSS8725 25/08/2010 16:36 Page 2seen as the most important part of quantitative studies. This is a bit of amisconception, as, while using the right data analysis tools obviously mat-ters a great deal, using the right research design and data collection instru-ments is actually more crucial. The use of statistics to analyse the data is,however, the element that puts a lot of people off doing quantitativeresearch, as the mathematics underlying the methods seems complicatedand frightening.

6 As we will see later on in this book, most researchers donot really have to be particularly expert in the mathematics underlying themethods, as computer software allows us to do the analyses quickly and(relatively) Foundations of quantitative research Realism, subjectivism and the paradigm wars Now we have defined quantitative research , it is a good idea to compare itwith qualitative research , to which it is usually put in opposition. Whilequantitative research is based on numerical data analysed statistically, qual-itative research uses non-numerical data. Qualitative research is actually anumbrella term encompassing a wide range of methods, such as interviews,case studies, ethnographic research and discourse analysis, to name justsome examples. The difference between quantitative and qualitative research is often seenas quite fundamental, leading people to talk about paradigm wars inwhich quantitative and qualitative research are seen as warring and incom-mensurable fractions.

7 Many researchers define themselves as either quanti-tative or qualitative. Where does this idea come from?This idea is linked to what are seen as the different underlying philosophiesand world views of researchers in the two paradigms (also called episte-mologies ).According to this view, two fundamentally different world views underliequantitative and qualitative research . The quantitative view is described asbeing realist or sometimes positivist , while the world view underlyingqualitative research is viewed as being subjectivist .What does this mean? Realists take the view that what research does isuncover an existing reality. The truth is out there , and it is the job of theresearcher to use objective research methods to uncover that truth. Thismeans that the researcher needs to be as detached from the research as pos-sible, and use methods that maximise objectivity and minimise theinvolvement of the researcher in the research .

8 This is best done by methodsINTRODUCTION TO quantitative RESEARCH38725 25/08/2010 16:36 Page 3taken largely from the natural sciences, which are then transposed to socialresearch settings (such as education). Positivism is the most extreme formof this world view. According to positivism, the world works according tofixed laws of cause and effect. Scientific thinking is used to test theoriesabout these laws, and either reject or provisionally accept them. In thisway, we will finally get to understand the truth about how the world developing reliable measurement instruments, we can objectively studythe physical world. This view that there is a true reality out there that wecan measure completely objectively is problematic. We are all part of theworld we are observing, and cannot completely detach ourselves from whatwe are researching. Historical research has shown that what is studied, andwhat findings are produced, are influenced by the beliefs of the peopledoing the research and the political/social climate at the time the researchis to this viewpoint, qualitative researchers are subjectivists.

9 Incontrast to the realist view that the truth is out there and can be objectivelymeasured and found through research , they point to the role of humansubjectivity in the process of research . Reality is not out there to be objec-tively and dispassionately observed by us, but is at least in part constructedby us and by our observations. There is no pre-existing objective reality thatcan be observed. The process of our observing reality changes and trans-forms it, and therefore subjectivists are relativistic. All truth can only be rel-ative, and is never definitive, as the positivist claims. The extreme relativistposition is obviously as problematic as the extreme positivistic one, as itwould in theory deny that anything more than social consensus and powerdistinguishes modern science from witchcraft. If you look at the extreme forms of the two views we have set out here, itwould seem that quantitative and qualitative research methods are prettyincompatible.

10 These extremes are, however, a gross simplification of theviews of both quantitative and qualitative researchers. Very few people ineither camp hold these extreme views. I have included them here becausethey are frequently presented in only slightly less extreme forms as strawmen for critics of one method (qualitative, for example) to attack users ofdifferent methods (for example, quantitative ) with. It is worth pointing outhere that, as qualitative methods is an umbrella term for a large numberof different research methods ( participant observation, interviews, casestudies, ethnographic research ) which are quite different, they are used byresearchers with quite different world views, some of which clearly lietowards the realistic end of the spectrum. To ascribe radical subjectivistviews to all qualitative researchers is a label all quantitative researchers positivists is equally researchers have taken up many criticisms of positivist views,4 DOING quantitative research IN EDUCATION WITH SPSS8725 25/08/2010 16:36 Page 4and there is now a variety of epistemologies underlying theory and practicein quantitative research .