This document discusses the importance and applications of quantitative research across various fields including anthropology, communication, sports medicine, medical education, behavioral sciences, education/psychology, and social sciences. It provides examples of quantitative research questions and methods used in these fields, including experiments, surveys, and correlational studies. The key aspects of experimental design are outlined, including the need for treatment and control groups, random assignment, pre-and post-testing, and how field experiments differ from lab experiments.

1. Lesson # 2
Importance of
Quantitative
Research Across
Fields

2. Quantitative Research &
Anthropology
5 steps to follow in conducting true
experimental research with people:
1. You need at least 2 groups,
called the treatment group (or the
intervention group or the stimulus
group) and the control group.

3. Quantitative Research &
Anthropology
2. Individuals must be
randomly assigned,
either to the
intervention group or to
the control group.

4. Quantitative Research &
Anthropology
3. The groups are
measured on one or
more dependent
variables; this is called
the pre-test.

5. Quantitative Research &
Anthropology
4. The intervention
(the independent
variable is introduced).

6. Quantitative Research &
Anthropology
5. The dependent
variables are measured
again. This is the
posttest.

7. True Experiment in the Lab
• Often produce results that beg to be tested in
the natural world by anthropologists.

8. True Experiment in the Field
• When they are done outside the lab,
experiments are called field experiments.

10. Quasi-Experiments
• Are most often use in evaluating a social
programs
• Students are measured before and after the
intervention to see whether their reading
scores improve.

12. One-shot Case Study, or One-Group
Posttest Only Design
• A single group of individuals is
measured on some dependent
variable after an intervention has
taken place.
• The researcher evaluates the
experiment by interviewing people
and trying to assess the impact of
the intervention.

14. One-shot Case Study, or One-Group
Posttest Only Design
• Like all experimental designs, the goal is to
determine if the treatment had any effect on the
outcome.
• Without a comparison group, it is impossible to
determine if the outcome scores are any higher
than they would have been without the
treatment.
• And, without any pre-test scores, it is impossible
to determine if any change within the group
itself has taken place.

15. Two-Group Posttest Only Design
• You measure a series of variables
• This design is quite convincing.
• Lots of participants observation

17. One-Group Pre-test-Posttest Design
• Some variables as measured (observed)then
the intervention takes place, and then the
variables are measured again.
• There is a significant difference on the pre-test
and posttest measurements.

19. Quantitative Research &
Communication

20. Quantitative Research &
Communication
• Researchers are often interested in
how an understanding of a
particular communication
phenomenon might be generalized
to a larger population.
• Ex. What communicative behaviours
are associated with different stages
in a romantic relationship?

21. Quantitative Research & Sports
Medicine

22. Quantitative Research & Sports
Medicine
• Example, in a quantitative
research conducted, the study
concluded that physical
activity affects effectively the
children’s weight control.

23. Quantitative Research &
Medical Education

24. Quantitative Research &
Medical Education
• Quantitative research in
medical education tends to be
predominantly observational
research based on surveys or
correlational studies.

25. Quantitative Research &
Medical Education
• Experimental research designs may
enhance the quality of medical
education. Said designs test
interventions like curriculum,
teaching-learning process, or
assessment with an experimental
group..

26. Quantitative Research &
the Behavioral Sciences

27. Quantitative Research &
the Behavioral Sciences
• Contemporary quantitative scholars
are interested in two types of
questions.
1. Questions of relationships and
2. Questions of differences
• Relationship questions tend to explore
how ne behavior exhibited by people is
related to other types of behavior.

28. • Questions of difference explore how
patterns of behavior or perceptions
might differ from one group or type
of person to another.

29. Quantitative Research in Education &
Psychology
• Mertens (220) says that dominant
paradigms that guided early
educational and psychological research
were positivism and post positivism.
• Positivism in based on the rationalistic,
empiricist philosophy that originated
with Aristotle et al.

32. Quantitative Research in Education &
Psychology
• 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.

33. Quantitative Research & the
Social Sciences

34. Quantitative Research & the
Social Sciences
• The term “quantitative method”
refers to the adoption of the natural
science experiments as the model
for scientific research.
• The logic of such research is to:
1. Collect data using standardized
approaches on a range of
variables;

35. Quantitative Research & the
Social Sciences
2. Search for patterns of causal
relationships between these
variables; and
3. Test given theory by
confirming or denying precise
hypotheses.

36. Quantitative Research & the
Social Sciences
• Sample Survey and the experiment
are popular methods.
• People use social research to raise
children, reduce crime, improve
public health, sell products or just
understand one’s life ( Neuman,
2007).