We have to go even to Latin, symbolically speaking, in order to find the etymological origin of the quantitative word that now concerns us. It derives from the sum of two clearly differentiated parts:
- “Quantum”, which means “how much”.
- The suffix “-tivo”, which is used to indicate a passive or active relationship.
Quantitative is an adjective that is linked to quantity. This concept, for its part, refers to an amount, a magnitude, a portion or a number of things.
The quantitative is that which is linked to a quantity.
- Abbreviationfinder: Find definitions of English word – Municipal. Commonly used abbreviations related to word are also included.
Concept of quantitative
The quantitative, therefore, presents information about a certain quantity. For example: “The quantitative analysis of the medals obtained shows a poor performance of our athletes in the Olympic Games”, “The manager asked me for a quantitative report on the meetings we had with suppliers in the last year”, “I prefer to focus on other things beyond the quantitative, since the figures do not express all the complexity of the phenomenon”.
The existence of what has been called quantitative research must be highlighted. She intends to make a decision regarding certain alternatives, which have the peculiarity that between them there is a relationship that can be represented numerically.
The conclusions of a quantitative analysis can be expressed numerically.
Type of research
Within this type of quantitative methodology, various modalities are also included, such as descriptive, experimental, analytical or quasi-experimental.
All this without forgetting that this type of research is defined by the following characteristics:
- It is based on logical positivism.
- It has a marked particularistic character, since what it does is analyze the existing reality by breaking it down into different variables.
- It is also based on the stimulus-response binomial.
- It is responsible for generating numerical data to proceed to represent the social group.
- Offers a static reality.
- It is considered to be objective.
- To analyze the data in his possession, he proceeds to make use of both statistical methods and theories or procedures of statistical inference.
- This kind of research, also called quantitative methodology, is defined, in the same way, by the fact that it carries out a controlled measurement of the situation and that it is clearly oriented towards achieving a specific result.
Quantitative analysis vs. qualitative analysis
It is common for quantitative analysis (aimed at studying the quantities of something) to oppose qualitative analysis (focused on quality or quality ). Let us suppose that a sports journalist analyzes the trajectory of two tennis players. One of them won four Challenger category tournaments, while the other won only one title, but that is part of the Masters. A quantitative analysis will leave the first tennis player better positioned (he won four tournaments against one of the other athlete), but a qualitative analysis will reveal that the Masters tournament is more important than the four Challenger tournaments.
The employee of a cookie factory, for his part, can present quantitative reports of his work when he reports how many cookies he produced in a certain time (twenty kilograms in eight hours, to cite one possibility). If the worker, instead, reports on the composition of the cookies (chocolate, vanilla, etc.), he will have carried out a different analysis of his work.
