UNID 4-5 quantitative
What is research?
Definción
In general, research is related to the search for knowledge in academic manner.
According to Kothari, (2004) research is defined as “a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic”
as a systematic investigation to describe, clarify, predict, and control the observed phenomenon.
research encompasses inductive and deductive methods
characteristics of research
Adi Bhat
is based on coherent reasoning
includes both inductive and deductive methods
The data or knowledge gotten is in real time
authentic observations in natural situations
There is a deep examination of all data
Research is “analytical in nature”.
Accuracy is one of the main characteristics of research.
The information that is attained should be truthful and factual to its nature.
Types of quantitative research
Survey or descriptive research 
encuentas
responses to questions
surveys, paper questionnaires, web surveys, interviews, questionnaires, and test group surveys
Surveys
correlational research
can be used to make descriptions and evaluations.
Observations
collect data on behaviors and phenomena
Case studies
gather data focusing on the characteristics of a specific person or group that allow making assumptions
Investigación correlacional, Correlational research
The data collected is observable
certain level of manipulation with the variables being studied
research can be used in two situations to find out if there is a relationship between two variables
The most common methods
Surveys
Observations
Archival data
face to face
observing behavior of a subject (group of people, phenomenon) in its natural environment
from a previous investigation and has been archived in files to be available for future studies
Quasi-experimental research
to determine the effect of independent variable on dependent variable
causality
involves comparison and tries to find a cause-effect relationship between two or more variables
reasons
The first reason
to see the practical requirements of finance, school administrators, and moral values
The second reason
to assess the efficacy of an “intervention
tercera razon
to give more resources to topics of external and construct validity
Experimental research
to determine “what causes what” and to find out the cause and effect of phenomenon
true experimentation
description of quantitative research methods
selection of a topic
a research methodology
variety of methods
do a systematic observation
the kind of social problem of interest or study
The methods of quantitative research
Descriptive
Correlational
Quasi-experimental
Experimental
two types of surveys
Cross-sectional surveys
surveys used to collect data from a sample group at a specific moment in tim
Las encuestas longitudinales
encuestas de observación
pueden extenderse durante años
investigación no experimental, en el que se miden dos variables y se evalúa la relación estadística entre ellas sin la influencia de ninguna variable irrelevante
la conexión entre una causa y un efecto al comparar dos o más variables (aspectos).
es un método estructurado y científico para investigar, en el que el investigador manipula una o más variables, y controla y mide cualquier variación en otras variables
advantages of quantitative research methods
that the data collected from research can be easily represented in figures to be analyzed by applying statistics, which facilitates analysis and can be done very quickly.
that data can be gotten applying a well-structured design that allows to do a scientific study in an objective way.
is the possibility of doing a broad research
A fourth advantage has to do with the fact that doing the investigation with these quantitative research methods, makes it feasible to make more objective and exact conclusions to understand better the objective of the research.
using these methods can be done in an anonymous way without requiring respondents to include their personal information in the surveys
collecting data about the phenomenon of interest using these methods
using these methods it is possible to replicate an investigation following the same procedure applied
when to use quantitative research methods