he again began to whimper, and started to cry in earnest when I tried to imitate his interrupted whimpering. A mere whistle failed to produce any reaction. (Piaget, 1962, p. 7)
Horvath (1985) reports that quantification can be defined as a numerical method of description. Connotations include accuracy and precision. Therefore, quantitative research can be defined as studies in which the phenomena of interest are assessed using some form of numerical measurement with a given level of accuracy and precision (Horvath, 1985).
It needs to be pointed out here that there is variance among numerical measurement types, a fact that has implications for quantitative research because this variance is associated with the precision of collected information. Specifically, quantitative measurement grows increasingly more accurate and precise as the quantitative scale being used by the researcher shifts from that of a nominal scale to an ordinal scale to an equal-interval scale, to a ratio scale (Lapin, 1980). Further, i
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