Quantitative Research Theory

The intention of this paper is to define the quantitative research and to explain the reasons why I choose this as a research approach. Regarding to Marczyk, DeMatteo & Festinger (2005) suggest, it is necessary to think carefully about an appropriate research design when the researcher wishes to answer specific questions, clearly define the variables and measure the hypothesis. Choosing the suitable research design is important because each type of research design has its own characteristics and methodology. Given this, is must be realized that all research designs have both strengths and weaknesses. Hence, the researcher must make an informed and personal decision about the match between the kinds of variables to be studied and the strength and weaknesses of the various methods (Herzog, 1996).

The research design can be classified into two main categories; quantitative research and qualitative research. These two types of researches are different. Quantitative research is concerned with using numbers and closed-ended questions in quantitative hypotheses. On the other hand, qualitative research is focused on using words and open-ends questions in qualitative interview questions (Creswell, 2009). As Greener (2011) explains "Quantitative research is primarily concerned with techniques that analyze numbers. Quantitative data is the numbers we use as data, or the results of numeric processes that the research has been thought (pp. 2-3). Greener (2011) ibid further describes quantitative methods as "The social research methods which are based on numbers in one form or another. Quantitative methods are typically deductive, and are extremely powerful in hypothesis testing because of their strong internal validity" (p. 202). John W. Cr...

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...e a finding. For instance, if we want to know about the pupils self-esteem and their social background have any influence with their achievement or not. We could review the theory and set up the hypothesis that low self-esteem is influenced by lower social class. We can test and prove this suspicion by using quantitative research (Muijs, 2004).

In conclusion, it is often difficult to choose between quantitative and qualitative research because it seems that there is an overlapping between qualitative and quantitative when we look thoroughly at researchers' actual beliefs (Muijs, 2004). Clearly, we can say that both quantitative and qualitative research are appropriate in particular situations and inappropriate in certain situations. We should not select a research design just because we are more familiar with one method or the other recommends a particular design.