The purpose of this research is to demonstrate an
understanding of the basic principles of quantitative analysis, ì
as these principles are relevant to educational research. Two ì
objectives of this paper are to demonstrate an understanding of ì
the material presented in the text, and to discuss how the ì
concepts and principles may be applied in practice.ì
Principles of Quantitative Analysisì
In scientific inquiry, a proposition is a statement "about ì
concepts which may be judged as true or false if it refers to ì
observable phenomena. When a proposition is formulated for ì
empirical testing we call it a hypothesis." 3.ls1
1C. W. Emory, Research Methods, 5th ed. (Homewood, Illinois: ì
declarative statements that are both tentative and conjectural in ì
character. Hypotheses may be both descriptive and relational in ì
Theory, in scientific inquiry, is, in effect, a descriptive ì
explanation of how something works--an explanation of the ì
interrelated actions within a system. While hypotheses may be ì
derived from observed facts, they may also be deduced from ì
+ In scientific inquiry, theory provides a basis for the ì
narrowing of the body of facts that must be studied to ì
investigate a problem. Theory also suggests the most productive ì
approaches to the investigation of a problem. Lastly, theory ì
summarizes what is already known about a problem.
Research data may be evaluated through the application of ì
either quantitative or qualitative analytical procedures. ì
Quantitative approaches are more easily defined than are ì
qualitative procedures, because qualitative research may refer to ì
either the way data are measured or the way such data are ì
3G. W. Summers, W. S. Peters, and C. P. Armstrong, Basic ì
Statistics in Business and Economics, 6th ed. (Belmont, ì
California:...