Quantitative Data

Question 1

Overview

Answer 1

Quantitative data refers to information collected in numerical form – often in statistics (e.g. percentages, averages, tally scores, etc.), graphs & charts. Some research methods allow the findings gathered by the study to be easily quantified & expressed numerically, e.g. carrying out a questionnaire in your school to see how many students think school uniform should be abolished.

Question 2

Advantages

Answer 2

✓ Easy to analyse & interpret. Methods that collect quantitative data allow the numbers to be quantified & summarised, which makes it easy to analyse & interpret the data to see if they identify patterns or causal links. This allows us to make generalisations about cause & effect in human behaviour, e.g. whether the amount of time young children spend playing violent console games leads to an increase in aggressive physical behaviour at school.

Question 3

Disadvantages

Answer 3

Limits deeper validity. Reduces thoughts & feelings to numbers, which limits a deeper understanding of human behaviour & experiences. Quantitative data cannot explain why people do things, just identity trends or relationships. E.g. sociologists have found a relationship between