Refresher: Quantitative Research

On Wednesday, I reviewed the relationship between theory and research. I explained that there are two basic types of social research: quantitative and qualitative. Each is associated with its own ontology, epistemology and direction of theorizing. Several students came to office hours with questions that I want to share for everyone's benefit. Here's the short and sweet of it:

* Quantitative research is associated with realism, positivism, and deduction.

* Qualitative research is associated with the constructivism, interpretivism, and induction.

* We worked through an example of quantitative research.  We tested our theory of political ideology by surveying 1000 YU undergrads.  Everyone we surveyed was asked the same question and given the same response options. Each tutorial established a different “threshold” to confirm or reject the hypothesis. If the threshold was met and the hypothesis was confirmed, then we concluded that our theory was supported; however, if the threshold was not met and we rejected the hypothesis, then we concluded that the theory was not supported.

* In sum, we began with a theory about neoconservatism and tried to test it with a hypothesis about voting behavior (deductive). We assumed that our definition of neoconservatism was shared by our subjects and would be consistent with their voting behavior (realism). All steps of the research were predetermined, followed the scientific method, and the process was objective (positivism). We surveyed 1000 people and collected numeric data (quantitative).

* This example is meant to illustrate how quantitative research reflects the particular concepts associated with it. Similarly, you should understand how qualitative research is reflected in its associated concepts.