Nature of Inquiry and Research Week 2

Content Standards

The learners demonstrate an understanding of the importance of quantitative research across fields.

Performance Standards

The learners should be able to decide on suitable quantitative research in different areas of interest.

Most Essential Learning Competencies

To illustrate the importance of quantitative research across fields.

Lesson Presentation/Discussion

Importance of Quantitative Research

Importance of Quantitative Research Across Fields

Terminologies
● Statistical- is a branch of applied mathematics. Also refers to numbers that are used to describe data.
● Enhance- intensify, increase, or further improve the quality, value, or extent of.
● Phenomena- a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen.
● Paradigms- are a standard, perspective, or set of ideas.
● Hypothesis- a supposition or proposed explanation made based on limited evidence.

Importance of Quantitative Research

1. More reliable and objective
2. Can use statistics to generalize a finding
3. Often reduces and restructures a complex problem to a limited number of variables
4. Looks at relationships between variables and can establish cause and effect in highly
controlledcircumstances
5. Tests theories or hypotheses
6. Assumes the sample is representative of the population
7. Subjectivity of the researcher in methodology is recognized as less
8. Less detailed than qualitative data and may miss a desired response from the participant

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IMPORTANCE OF QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH ACROSS FIELDS

People do research to find solutions, even tentative ones, to problems, to improve or enhance ways of
doing things, to disprove or provide a new hypothesis, or simply to find answers to questions or solutions
to problems in daily life. Research findings can affect people’s lives, ways of doing things, laws, rules, and
regulations, as well as policies, among others. Widely, quantitative research is often used because of its
emphasis on proof rather than discovery. In the natural and social sciences, quantitative research is the
systematic, empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical, or computational
techniques. The objective of quantitative research is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories,
and/or hypotheses about phenomena.

The process of measurement is central to quantitative research because it provides the fundamental
connection between empirical observation and the mathematical expression of quantitative relationships.
Health Sciences (Medical Technology, Dentistry, Nursing, Medicine, etc.) use quantitative research designs
likedescriptive, pre-experimental, quasi-experimental, true-experiment, and case studies, among others

1. RESEARCH & ACCOUNTING, BUSINESS, and MANAGEMENT (ABM)

Research can help design a new product or service, figure out what is needed, and ensure the
development of products is highly targeted toward demand. Businessmen can also utilize research results to
guarantee sufficient distribution of their products and decide where they need to increase their product
distribution. Conducting research can also help a business determine whether now is the proper time to
open another branch or whether it needs to apply for a new loan. It may also help a small business
decide if a procedure or strategy should be changed to meet the requirements of the customer base.
Research isimportant for any organization to remain in the market. The primary function of research in ABM
is to correctly determine its customers and their preferences, establish the enterprise in the most feasible
location, deliver quality goods and services, analyze what the competitors are doing and find ways how
to continuouslysatisfy the growing and varied needs of the clients.

2. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH and ANTHROPOLOGY

Anthropology is a research method of combining qualitative and quantitative research data. It is
concerned with exploring connections simultaneously, amidst cultural differences, alternatives, and
identity. In the contemporary academic, socio-cultural and political climate these concepts have immense
symbolic overtones. Quantitative research is used in Anthropology in many aspects.

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Nature of Inquiry and Research Week 2

3. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH and COMMUNICATION

Researchers are often interested in how an understanding of a particular communication
phenomenon might generalize to a larger population. For example, researchers can advance questions like
“What Effect do punitive behavioral control statements have in a classroom? What communicative
behaviors are associated with different stages in romantic relationships? What communicative behaviors
are used to respond to co-workersdisplaying emotional stress? (Allen, Titsworth, Hunt, 2009)

4. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH and SPORTS MEDICINE

Quantitative research is used to analyze how sports may be used as an alternative way of medicating
an illness. An example is the research done by the University of Eastern Finland which investigated the
relationship between mushrooming of fast-food chains and obesity, as well as the intervention needed to
prevent children’s obesity from reaching serious proportions. The research focused on the children’s physical
activity and physical inactivity and the concomitant impact on the children’s amount of adipose tissue (fat
mass) and endurance fitness. The study is used to analyze certain effects of physical activity on weight
control.

5. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH and MEDICAL EDUCATION

Quantitative research in medical education tends to be predominantly observational research based
on surveys or correlational studies. The designs test interventions like curriculum, teaching-learning process,
or assessment with an experimental group. Either a comparison or control group of learners may allow
researchers to overcome validity concerns and infer potential cause-effect generalizations. Researchers are
used to coping with the emerging trends in recent times.

6. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH and BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Relationship Questions in today’s quantitative trend tend to explore how one behavior exhibited by
people is related to other types of behavior. Examples are verbally aggressive behaviors related to physical
aggression – that is when a person has a level of verbally aggressive behavior, does he or she tend to be
physically aggressive? Are certain supervisor communication skills related to the emotional experiences of
employees? Questions of difference explore how patterns of behavior or perceptions might differ from one
group or type of a person to another: Do people with disabilities experience emotional labor differently
from those without disabilities? Do women perceive talkativeness (or lack of it) differently from men? Do
communication styles differ from one culture to the next? (Alle, Titsworth, Hunt, 2009).

7. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH IN EDUCATION

Quasi Experiments are most often used in evaluating social problems. Suppose a researcher has
invented a technique for improving reading comprehension among third graders. She/he selects two third-

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grade classes in a school district. One of them gets the intervention and the other doesn’t. Students are
measured before and after the intervention to see whether their reading scores improve. This design
contains many of the elements of a true experiment, but the participants are not assigned randomly to the
treatment and control groups.

8. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH and PSYCHOLOGY

Mertens (2005) says that the dominant paradigms that guided early psychological research were
positivism and its successor, post-positivism. Positivism is based on rationalistic, empiricist philosophy that
originated with Aristotle, Francis Bacon, John Locke, August Comte, and Immanuel Kant. the underlying
assumptions of positivism include the belief that the social world can be studied in the same way as the
natural world, that there is a method for studying the social world that is value-free, and that explanations
of a causal nature can be provided.

9. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH & SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, and MATHEMATICS

Medical practitioners, for example, research to obtain significant information about disease trends
and risk factors, results of various health interventions, patterns of care, and healthcare cost and use. The
different research approaches provide complementary insights. Researchers help in determining the
effectiveness and even side effects of drugs and therapies in different populations and various institutions. It
is also necessary in evaluating experiences in clinical practice to develop mechanisms for best practices and
to ensure high-quality patient care. Researchers in these fields ultimately aim for man’s longevity. As for
engineers, architects, and other builders, research helps in providing designs that are creatively beautiful
and at the same time give more convenience and efficiency as they utilize modern technology to adapt to
the ever-changing society.

Conclusion/Summary
The importance of quantitative research lies greatly in the production of results that should reflect
precise measurement and an in-depth analysis of data. It is also useful in obtaining an objective understanding
of people, things, places, and events in this world; meaning, attaching accurate or exact meanings to objects or
subjects, rather than inflated meanings resulting from the researcher’s bias or personal attachment to things
related to the research. Requiring the use of reliable measurement instruments or statistical methods, a
quantitative study enables people to study their surroundings as objectively as they can. This kind of research
is likewise an effective method to obtain information about specified personality traits of a group member or
the group as a whole as regards the extent of the relationship of their characteristics and the reason behind
the instability of some people’s characteristics. (Muijs 2011; Gray 2012).

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References and Supplementary Materials

Online Supplementary Reading Materials

1. Communication Process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z1BIeje_ko
2. http://libweb.surrey.ac.uk/library/skills/Introduction%20to%20Research%20and%20
Managing%20Information%20Leicester/page_45.htm
3. https://kupdf.net/download_practical-research-2_599acfd8dc60851153a1fb_pdf

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