Quantitative Research and Three Type of Basic Quantitative Research

Chapter 1

Introduction

Learning and understanding of the quantitative method is very important for us as communication students and scholars. In this weekly discussion I will explain what the quantitative method is (including its differences with qualitative research) and explain the three types of basic quantitative methods (and give some example of the title research or article in journal for each of those types). 

Key words: Quantitative Research, Types of Quantitative Research, The Example of Title Research, Comparison for Each Types of Research

Chapter 2

Quantitative Method: An Introduction

Quantitative research is a research method based on the philosophy of positivism, which is used to examine certain populations or samples, which are generally random sampling, and data is collected using research instruments, then analyzed quantitatively / statistically with the aim of testing predetermined hypotheses (Sugiyono, 2010). While according to (Creswell, 2014) Quantitative research is an approach for testing objective theories by examining the relationship among variables. These variables, in turn, can be measured, typically on instruments, so that numbered data can be analyzed using statistical procedures.

“Quantitative approaches focus on objective measurements and statistical, mathematical, or numerical analysis of data acquired through polls, questionnaires, and surveys, as well as modifying pre-existing statistical data using computing techniques. Quantitative research is concerned with collecting numerical data and generalizing it across groups of people or explaining a phenomenon (Babbie, 2010) (Muijs, 2010)”

Quantitative research is widely used in research in the natural sciences although it is also currently starting to be used in social research. This is because its scientific nature and objectives are highly emphasized. 

To understand the quantitative methods below are the main characteristic of quantitative methods (Babbie, 2010) (Creswell, 2014) :

1.     The data is usually gathered using structured research instruments.

2.     The results are based on larger sample sizes that are representative of the population.

3.     The research study can usually be replicated or repeated, given its high reliability.

4.     Researcher has a clearly defined research question to which objective answers are sought.

5.     All aspects of the study are carefully designed before data is collected.

6.     Data are in the form of numbers and statistics, often arranged in tables, charts, figures, or other non-textual forms.

7.     Project can be used to generalize concepts more widely, predict future results, or investigate causal relationships.

8.     Researcher uses tools, such as questionnaires or computer software, to collect numerical data.

As for being able to distinguish it from qualitative research, the following below is the character of qualitative research compared to quantitative research:

Source: http://shayaaresearch.blogspot.com/2011/04/qualitative-vs-quantitative-research

Meanwhile, between quantitative and qualitative research is also explained by (Neuman, 2003) as follows:

Criteria	Quantitative Method	Qualitative Method
Research guide frame	Hypothesis, tested	Find the meanings
Concept	Found from different variables	It is found in themes, motifs, generalizations and taxonomy.
Measurement	Systematic; carried out before data collection; standardized.	Done separately; individual according to the setting of the researcher.
Data	In the form of numbers; precision.	In the form of text, images; derived from documents, observations and transcripts.
Theory	Very decisive; Deductive.	It can be decisive or not so decisive; often inductive.
Procedure	Standard	Special
	Using statistics, tables, diagrams; related to hypotheses.	It is done by extracting themes or generalizing from the evidence of findings and organizing data to find data coherence and consistency.

Source: Lawrence W. Neuman (2003) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches, Fifth Edition. Boston: Pearson Education Inc, page. 145.

The difference between quantitative research and qualitative research can also be seen below, according to (Kuswandoro, 2015):

Criteria	Quantitative Method	Qualitative Method
Research objectives	Testing the theory	Building, critiquing theories
Paradigm	Positivism	Non positivism: post-positivism, critical.
Sensing of social reality	Toughness, has a natural diversity, can be observed, can be measured, can be conceptualized, perceived.	It has no weight, mystery, it is not always apparent, it needs to be dug deeper.
Observation of Facts	Variable	Situation.
Representation of facts	Numeric (numbers)	Non-numerical (text).
Mindset	Deductive	Inductive.
Research flow	Linier	non-linier.
Pattern (process) of research	There is no novelty; standard; Mechanical	There's always something new; unique (different from each researcher).
The role of theory	Central, dominant, tight	Not central, not dominant but still necessary.
Theory functions	Frame the researcher strictly.	Guiding the researcher at the starting point, next the researcher understands social reality naturally.
The nature of the research results	Macros; explaining the phenomenon that appears to be on the surface.	Profound, explaining the phenomenon to "behind reality".
Point of view	Researcher’s point of view	Native’s point of view
The nature of the method	Static, rigid	Dynamic, flexible.
Relation to Object / Subject (O / S) Research	To put distance	Close, interactive.
O/S Research	Respondent	Informants, interviewees
O/S Research Selection	Random (simple random sampling, stratified sampling, multi-stage random sampling)	Selected, based on the qualifications and proximity of the informant to the problem under study; snow-ball.
Data collection	Direct or indirect interview (post, internet)	Face-to-face in-person interviews, in-depth interviews.
Instruments	Questioner	Interview guide.
The nature of the question	Structured	Semi-structured, unstructured, open-ended questions.
The nature of the analysis	Numerical, mathematical, statistical	Reflective, interpretive, praxis.
Analysis tools	Statistical	Analytical acumen and researcher instincts.
Assistive software	SPSS, AMOS, etc.	CDC EZ Text, NVivo
Validity	Sample size, number of respondents (reducing the margin of error).	The number of informants is not important, the most important thing is the depth of the data, the quality of the informants.
The nature of the results	Value-free.	Not value-free; praxis.
Researcher's position	Beyond O/S research.	Joint O/S research; bricoleur.
Debilitation	Failing to explain the real phenomenon; the respondent can give an answer that is not true.	Vulnerable to bias of researchers due to the researcher's proximity to the O/S of the study.
Research examples	Surveys, experiments, correlations, descriptive, comparative, etc.	Ethnography, phenomenology, cultural studies, case studies, hermeneutics, Critical Discourse Analysis, etc.

Source: (Kuswandoro, 2015)

Chapter 3

Three Types of Basic Quantitative Methods

Quantitative research comes in a variety of forms. Understanding the many sorts of study is critical for a researcher. Choosing or settling on the suitable form of quantitative research design is critical for a researcher because it will affect several aspects in the research, including suitability with the research objective, and methodology (especially in the data collection phase).

We can find a wide variety of approaches in grouping types of quantitative research, from the simplest grouping (Exploratory and conclusive research), four types of quantitative design research (such as descriptive, correlational, causal-comparative, and experimental experimental research), to seven groups of quantitative.  

In this paper I would like to explain the categorization into 3 types of quantitative research according to (Nurhajati, 2022) :

1. Exploratory Research

Exploratory research is conducted to learn more about a topic, issue, or problem in more depth. This research is usually done when the scope of the study is uncertain/unclear or overly wide or too broad. It is a good starting point to get familiarized with some insights and ideas (Nurhajati, 2022).

An exploratory research tries to look into a problem that hasn't been properly investigated or hasn't been studied before. The goal of this exploration study request is to gain a deeper knowledge of an existing problem; however, the outcomes are rarely conclusive.

Here is some example of title research (journal) in exploratory research:

1. How cartoon characters and claims influence children’s attitude towards a snack vegetable – An explorative cross-cultural comparison between Indonesia and Denmark (Valerie Hémar-Nicolas, 2021).

2. The Fight Against Hoax: An Explorative Study towards AntiHoax Movements in Indonesia (Nurlatifah, 2019)

3. How nurse express their caring behavior to patients with special needs (Nurachmah, 2001)

Picture 3.1

Illustration

Source: Google.com

2. Descriptive Research

Descriptive method research conveys facts by describing from what is seen, obtained, and perceived.  In this descriptive method Researchers simply write down or report the results of their eye view reports in journalistic language, simply describing the subject of the object under study without engineering or something (Creswell J. , 2012).

     

Descriptive research is typically performed to explain an occurrence or an event that requires precise facts. When discussing the population of a country, for example, we will debate population data based on gender, population growth trends, population density, and so on.

In descriptive research, there are 5 types of descriptive research: case studies, case series studies, cross-sectional, longitudinal, retrospective (worldsustainable.org, 2020).

Here is some example of title research (journal) in descriptive research:

1. A Study of Landslide Areas Mitigation and Adaptation in Palupuah Subdistrict, Agam Regency, West Sumatra Province, Indonesia (Oktorie, 2017)

2. The development of corporate social responsibility in accounting research: evidence from Indonesia (Gunawan & Setin, 2018)

3. Evaluation of Online-Based Student Learning: Models During New Normal Pandemic Covid-19 in Indonesia (Siswati, Astiena, & Savitri, 2020)

Picture 3.2

Illustration

Source: Google.com

3. Causal Research

Causal research is a form of study that seeks to establish a causal link between variables. We need to figure out which variables are causal and which are causative in this investigation. The statistical procedure itself will reveal and uncover this causal relationship (Creswell J. , 2012).

Usually, we refer to causal variables as independent variables and effect variables as dependent variables (worldsustainable.org, 2020). In the causal research we can classify into: experimental research and quasi-experimental research.

Here is some example of title research (journal) in causal research:

1. Income Shocks and Suicides: Causal Evidence from Indonesia (Christian, Hensel, & Roth, 2018)

2. The Effect of The Effectiveness of Collecting Duties on The Acquisition of Land and Building Right (BPHTB) on The Original Income of The Region with The Number of Inhabitants as A Moderating Variable (Rizkina, 2019)

3. The Effect of Internal Audit Quality on Financial Accountability Quality at Local Government (Zeyn, 2018)

The differences between these three types of quantitative research can also be understood through the explanation by (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2012) below:

Figure 3.3

Variable	Exploratory research	Descriptive research	Causal research
Amount of uncertainty characterising decision situation	Highly ambiguous	Partially defined	Clearly defined
Key research statement	Research question	Research question	Research hypotheses
When conducted?	Early stage of decision making	Later stages of decision making	Later stages of decision making
Usual research approach	Unstructured	Structured	Highly structured

Variable

Exploratory research

Descriptive research

Causal research

Examples

‘Our sales are declining for no apparent reason’   ‘What kinds of new products are fast-food consumers interested in?’

‘What kind of people patronize our stores compared to our primary competitor?’   ‘What product features are the most important to our customers?’

‘Will consumers buy more products in a blue package?’   ‘Which of two advertising campaigns will be more effective?’

Source: (Zikmund, Babin, Carr, & Griffin, 2012)

Chapter 4

Conclusion

Quantitative research has many types of research. It is important for a researcher to understand these types of research comprehensively so as to help researchers also in coming up with research ideas, research objectives as well as getting a complete picture of supporting research methods, especially in the data collection process (sampling methods used and others). A comprehensive understanding helps researchers design a study that has elements of research that support each other and are appropriate so as to help improve the quality of research. 

References

Babbie, E. R. (2010). The Practice of Social Research. 12th Ed. Belmont: Wadsworth.

Christian, C., Hensel, L., & Roth, C. (2018). Income Shocks and Suicides:. Libs-Publication.

Creswell. (2014). Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches 4th ed. New York United State of America: SAGE.

Creswell, J. (2012). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative Research 4th ed. United state of America: Pearson Education.

Gunawan, J., & Setin. (2018). The Development of Corporate Social Responsibility in Accounting Research: Evidence from Indonesia. Social Responsibility Journal. Volume 15 No.5, 671-688.

Kuswandoro, W. (2015, October 09). WK Wawan Kuswandoro FISIP Universitas Brawijaya . Retrieved from http://wkwk.lecture.ub.ac.id: http://wkwk.lecture.ub.ac.id/2015/10/perbandingan-penelitian-kuantitatif-dan-kualitatif/

Muijs, D. (2010). Doing Quantitative Research in Education with SPSS.2 Edition. London: SAGE Publications.

Neuman, L. W. (2003). Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Fifth Edition. Boston: Pearson Education.

Nurachmah, E. (2001). How Nurse Express Their Caring Behavior to Patiens with Special Needs. Jurnal Keperawatan Indonesia.

Nurhajati, L. (2022). Quanitative Research. Jakarta: LSPR .

Nurlatifah, M. (2019). The Fight Against Hoax : An Explorative Study towards Anti Hoax Movements in Indonesia. Jurnal Komunikasi Ikatan Sarjana Komunikasi Indonesia, 46-54.

Oktorie, O. (2017). A Study of Landslide Areas Mitigation and Adaptation in Palupuh Subdistrict, Agam Regency, West Sumatera Province, Indonesia. Sumatra Journal of Disaster, Geography and Geography Education. Volume 01.

Rizkina, M. (2019). PENGARUH EFEKTIVITAS PEMUNGUTAN BEA PEROLEHAN HAK ATAS TANAH DAN BANGUNAN (BPHTB) TERHADAP PENDAPATAN ASLI DAERAH DENGAN JUMLAH PENDUDUK SEBAGAI VARIABEL MODERATING. Jurnal Perpajakan Volume 01 No.01, 80-94.

Siswati, S., Astiena, A., & Savitri, Y. (2020). Evaluation of Online-Based Student Learning: Models During New Normal Pandemic Covid-19 in Indonesia. Journal of NonFormal Education. Volume 6 No.2.

Sugiyono. (2010). Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif Kualitatif dan R&D. Bandung: Alfa Beta Bandung.

Valerie Hémar-Nicolas, H. P. (2021). How Cartoon Characters and Claims Influence Children's Attitude towards an Snack Vegetable-An Explorative Cross Cultural Comparison between Indonesia and Denmark. Food Quality and Preference volume 87.

worldsustainable.org. (2020, May 31). World Sustainable : Keep The World Sustainable. Retrieved from https://worldsustainable.org: https://worldsustainable.org/types-of-quantitative-research/

Zeyn, E. (2018). The Effect of Internal Audit Quality on Financial Accountability. Research Journal of Finance and Accounting. Volume 09 No.1, 34-43.