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Researchers conduct quantitative research to establish a relationship between one variable and the other, in other words, the independent and the dependent variables. There are two common research design used in quantitative research: descriptive and experimental. A descriptive quantitative research study tries to establish a connection between two variables, whereas an experimental quantitative study seeks to establish causality.
The central tenets of quantitative research are as follows. The findings are typically collected by the use of more structured quantitative research tools. The findings are built around a large participant sample size that is ideally representative of the overall population. Quantitative research is easy to replicate which gives it a higher validity as opposed to qualitative research methods.
Common Purposes and Use Cases
There are many purposes of quantitative research; however for market research here are some of the most important ones:
- It helps researchers know whether or not there is an actual demand or market for the product or services that the company is offering.
- Tell the researchers if your target consumers are already aware of your brand.
- Give a close approximate of the number of people who are willing to avail your product or service.
- Identify your most ideal target demographic.
- Give a glimpse of your target consumers’ purchasing behaviour.
- Identify the change in market trends and patterns.
Fundamentals of High-Calibre Quantitative Research
It is critical that objectivity is maintained throughout a quantitative research. Researchers would usually avoid tainting the findings because of their presence and critically assess the findings for any signs of bias from them or the participants involved in the research. Researchers should also work hard on maintaining the validity of the study and making sure that they are only measuring what they say they are measuring.
- Controlling Variables – There are also wide arrays of external variables that can affect the findings of the study and should be controlled by the researcher. In certain cases, where it is impossible to completely remove a confounding external variable from the study, the researcher should acknowledge its presence and how it may have affected the findings of the study.
- Deductive Reasoning – Another central aspect of quantitative research is deductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning means that your approach will gradually narrow down from being too generic to being specific. This guarantees that the hypothesis or the argument being made at the beginning of the study are accurate. Most researchers, however, would incorporate inductive reasoning at certain points in the research.
- Sample Sizing – Researchers should also strive to make their sample or participants as representative of their target population as possible. This involves careful planning and using an effective selection process. To get maximum accuracy for their findings, researchers often go for random sampling.
- Get Outside the Lab (So to Speak) – It is also important that the study’s findings are not only generalisable in terms of the people involved in it but also situational. This means that the study should be as high on external validity as possible. External validity being how close findings of the research is to real life.
- Integrate Modern Technologies – Technology in research has come a long way and quantitative research platforms today provide customizable surveys, branching logic and monadic testing features. They also integrate with qualitative research to empower researchers to conduct interviews and focus group discussions online. This makes it easy for researchers in analysing the insights using transcriptions, highlights, tags and sentiment analysis. Lastly, AI technologies like Facial Coding and Eye Tracking are readily integrated with surveys to capture deep consumer behaviour and reduce bias in surveys.
Analysis of Core Quant. Research Methods
Survey
Survey methods collects data gathered from responses given by the participants through questionnaires. These questionnaires are usually close-ended and do not require the participant to spend time elaborating their answers. Survey questionnaires should be easy to understand and quick to answer. Researchers usually dispatch survey questionnaires via post or by hand.
However, nowadays there are cheaper and more convenient ways of distributing survey questionnaires. Surveys are one of the preferred methods for quantitative research because it gives objective data and can reach a huge number of people. One of its downsides is that participants usually do not take surveys seriously and therefore, there is no way for the researcher to vouch for its validity unless if other methods are used alongside it to rectify this disadvantage.
Tracking
Tracking is simply following the behaviour of the participants and observing them until you can create a pattern. This is most commonly used by websites who deploy trackers that will let the servers know your internet surfing habits and send you advertisements according to your interest based on the websites you frequent the most.
Tracking is slowly becoming a popular method that is used by market researchers. There is also a significant progress on the technology that allows for researchers to track customer behaviour.
Tracking may give you a good insight as to who your customers are, but some of them may not be comfortable with the idea of being tracked and may view such methods as an intrusion of privacy.
Experiments
Quantitative researchers also make use of experiments wherein they manipulate one variable to produce a change in the other variable. The data and findings that emerge from experiments are highly valuable especially for product testing, trying to find out how people are reacting to certain tweaks to an already existing product, consumer decisions, effect of your new advertising campaign and gauging the pricing of your products or services.
Experiments surely give reliable and valid findings. However, they can be expensive and time-consuming because of the amount of variables that you intend to control. Nowadays, market researchers are trying to formulate methods and techniques that are more cost-efficient than conventional experiments.
Structured interviews
The best way to know what people think about your product or service is by asking them in interviews. A structured interview involves a set of questions that the researcher has already planned and thought about before the meeting and only these questions will be asked to the participant.
This is the opposite of open-ended interviews wherein the participant is encouraged to be as descriptive as possible, and the researcher just picks up on things that the participant said that they think should be probed further. Open-ended interviews flow in a conversational manner, whereas structured interviews are to the point.
Structured interviews are easier to quantify than open-ended interviews because structured interviews limit the answers that are allowed to be given during the interview. With the data gathered from a structured interview, the researcher can then come up with a quantitative data by turning their responses into, say, percentages or give it a numeric value.
It will be easier to cross-check responses from different sets of participants and emerge with a more conclusive finding that is borne out of straightforward answers from the participants. Despite this, structured interviews still have some disadvantages. Due to its straightforward nature, there is no way for researchers to know the motivations and reasons behind the participant’s answer.
