Quantitative Approach §

• Quantitative Research is the use of numbers and data to prove arguments.
  • In political science: data is collected using Observational Data instead of Lab data since countries and people can’t be control-grouped.

Research Variable §

• represent amounts of things (e.g. the number of trees in a forest). Types of quantitative variables include:
  • Ratio Variables: represent measures and can usually be divided into units smaller than one (e.g. 0.75 grams).
  • Integer Variables: represent counts and usually can’t be divided into units smaller than one (e.g. 1 tree).
• In political science, the most reliable data are collected by governments annually (GDP, Immigration, Birth Rates)
  • Researchers, individuals, agencies can only survey a small sample of population