Quantitative Research

ApproachesDr Sadasivam Karuppannan

Quantitative approach

• The quantitative approach views phenomena as being amenable to objective study i.e. able to be measured.

• It has its roots in positivism• It is the whole design:

– Assumptions– Process of inquiry– Type of data collected– Measuring of findings

Characteristics of quantitative and qualitative

research

Source: Quoted from : Maginn, P.J. (2006) Urban Policy Analysis Through a Qualitative Lens: Overview to Special Issue, Urban Policy and Research, Vol 24(1) pp. 1-15.Franklin, A. (1986) Ethnography and housing studies, Housing Studies, 5(2), pp. 92–111.Punch, K. (1998) Introduction to Social Research (London: Sage).Spencer, L., Ritchie, J., Lewis, J.& Dillon, L. (2003) Quality in Qualitative Evaluation: A Framework for Assessing Research Evidence, Occasional Papers Series No. 2 (London: Government Chief Social Researcher’s Office).Winchester, H. P. M. (2000) Qualitative research and its place in human geography, in: I. Hay (Ed.) Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography, pp. 1–22 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).

Quantitative research

Quantitative research aims at (causal) explanation. It answers primarily to why?

Both qualitative and quantitative research can aim at description of built environment.

Complementary - not contradictory different kinds of research questions and

objects of research different perspectives on the same research

objects / questions (methodological triangulation)

Quantitative vs. Qualitative

•There is no rivalry between quantitative and qualitative methods

•Quantitative data and findings have underlying qualitative dimension

•Quite often availability of data and its characteristics determine the method and what is possibleSource: Analysis of Census 2006 data by author

Choosing a methods

• Include a rationale for using the chosen method

• Sequence in which approach has data collected first

• Appropriate data analysis techniques

Research methods

• Defining and justifying research problems for quantitative studies

• Theory and measurement• Sampling, survey, data collection,

questionnaires• Experimental design• Choosing methods to match research

problems

Distinction between ‘Method’ and ‘Techniques and tools’ should not be confused

Quantitative methods

• Based on the idea that aspects of built environment can be quantified, measured and expressed numerically.

• The information about a phenomenon of built environment is expressed in numeric terms that can be analysed by statistical and spatial methods.

• The observations can be directly numeric information or can be classified into numeric variables.

Steps

• Stating in advance the hypothesis and research question.

• Determine the methods of data collection and analysis.

• Presenting the findings in statistical language.

• It is similar to traditional scientific method

Quantitative data

• Data are used to classify groups.• Examples; numbers, quantity,

prevalence, incidence.• Variables can be classified as

physical (population, infrastructure), social (poverty, slums), spatial (land use, proximity) etc.

Quantitative data – example

Measurement

Measurement in quantitative research should fulfill

• Validity - Are you measuring what you think you are measuring?

• Objectivity - researchers stand outside the phenomena they study. Data collected are free from bias.

• Reliability - if something was measured again using the same instrument, would it produce the same or nearly the same results?

• Accuracy – Are the methods adequate to answer your questions?; reveal credible information?; convey important information?

• Precision – How much trustable, how confident is the result.

Research questions: What will be the shape and structure of Delhi in 20 years?How to predict?

Source: Karuppannan, S (2000) Modelling the city, PhD Thesis, Melbourne University.

Master Plan for Delhi 2001

The Plan - Urban extensions

Source: GIS database by the author

Model results and validation

Technique - Probability model validated through GIS simulation

Jaffrabad

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70other residential

informal A

informal Bformal high density

other urban

Mangolpuri North

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70other residential

informal A

informal Bformal high density

other urban

Shastri Nagar

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70other residential

informal A

informal Bformal high density

other urban

Laxmi Nagar

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70other residential

informal A

informal Bformal high density

other urban

Mangolpuri South

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70other residential

informal A

informal Bformal high density

other urban

Minto Road

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70other residential

informal A

informal Bformal high density

other urban

Source: Baud, I., Kuffer, M., Pfeffer, K., Sliuzas, R. & Karuppannan, S. (2010) Understanding heterogeneity in metropolitan India: the addedvalue of remote sensing data for analyzing sub-standard residential areas, International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, Vol. 12 (5) pp. 359-374.

Poverty map of Delhi, using multiple deprivations index Heterogeneity of urban land uses and incidence of poverty

Research question: Is built environment proxy to poverty?

Limitations of observations• Difficulties in distinguishing

opinions and facts from surveys

• Results from surveys sometime have serious limitations

• Person’s own perception and scientific observation can contradict

• “...internal assessment of morbidity may be seriously limited by his or her social experience...”

Source: Amartya Sen (2002) Health: perception versus observation, British Medical Journal, Vol 324, 13 April.

Practicing Quantitative approach

Climate change; changing urban planning policy and system : a study of Bangladesh

Reazul AhsanPhD candidate

School of natural and Built Environments

University of South Australia

Quantitative research

•Quantitative research stands for an systematic empirical investigation of quantitative phenomenon and properties;

•The aim of quantitative research is to develop a hypothesis pertaining to phenomena;

•Numeric analysis and measurement are the key parts of quantitative research that state the fundamental connection between observation and analytical statement;

•Quantitative methods are mostly used to justify the hypotheses and draw a general conclusion on selected hypotheses;

•Statistics, tables and graphs, are often used to present the results of these methods.

Summarizing Data: variables; simple statistics; effect statistics and statistical models; complex models.

Generalizing from Sample to Population: precision of estimate, confidence limits, statistical significance, p value, errors.

Data are a bunch of values of one or more variables.A variable is something that has different values.

Values can be numbers or names, depending on the variable:Numeric, e.g. year of migrationCounting, e.g. number of natural disastersOrdinal, e.g. distance of migration destination(values are numbers/names)Nominal, e.g. sex or age (values are names)

Y X Effect statisticsModel/Test

numeric numeric slope, intercept, correlation regression

numeric nominal

nominal nominal

nominal numeric

mean difference

frequency difference or ratio

frequency ratio per…

T test, ANOVA

chi-square

categorical

Quantitative research

Using quantitative approach....

Research Aim

Review the dimension and extent of forced migration/displacement due to climate changing process

Investigate how the urban planning policy and strategies can address the impacts of climate change (tertiary impacts) like forced migration/displacement, rapid urbanization, demand for urban service facilities and changing land-uses under the traditional planning practice as a part of planning challenges

Evaluate the alternative approach (adaptation/mitigation and management) to address the tertiary impacts of climate change process

Identify the alternative urban planning policy scopes to incorporate climate change (tertiary impacts) in the urban planning process and practice in different planning tiers (national, regional and local level)

Supportive objectives Supportive objectives /contexts/contexts

Quantitative analysis...No of events: 219

No of people killed:

191,344

Average killed per year:

6,598

No of people affected:

317,454,534

Average affected per year:

10,946,708

Economic Damage (US$ X 1,000):

16,802,500

Quantitative analysis...

Quantitative analysis...

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Distance of migration destination

Migrants

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