Using Quantitative Methods 1

USING QUANTITATIVE METHODS ENHANCES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF

PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA

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 Using Quantitative Methods 2

USING QUANTITATIVE METHODS ENHANCES OUR UNDERSTANDING OF

PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA

Psychologists use quantitative research methods to generate knowledge and understand

the social world, psychological phenomena. Psychologists use quantitative research techniques to

observe occurrences or phenomena affecting individuals. Therefore, the technique is used to

learn about the sample population or a particular group of individuals. The quantitative research

results explain and answer questions about the magnitude to which the phenomena influence the

sample population or the frequency of a phenomenon. This relies on observed data or the

measured data to investigate the inquiries about the sample population to understand the

psychological phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how quantitative methods

enhance our understanding of psychological phenomena.

Bigelow and La Gaipa conducted an essential study on the friendship of children aged

between six and 14 by providing evidence of the varying nature of the expectations of friendship

(Brownlow et al., 2020, p. 241). They aimed at showing how qualitative data can be transformed

into quantitative data using content analysis. While conducting their research, La Gaipa and

Bigelow transformed their qualitative work into quantitative data by looking for the previous

occurrences that had on categories (Brownlow et al., 2020, p. 243). They developed numerical

summaries in terms of frequency counts. Their quantitative research method allowed children to

write their accounts of friendship expectations. The comparison of individual friendship

expectation accounts were conducted and scored according to the set of predetermined

expectations of friendship. This was achieved by changing the nature of the data used in the

research from description to frequency counts. The transformed quantitative data from the

qualitative data made them lose the individual dimensions of children's accounts.
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The quantitative data was used to generate the numerical summaies that aided them to

generate inferences concerning the association between the age groups of the children and thus

making systematic assessments between the gender of the children. The quantitative technique

used by La Gaipa and Bigelow is essential since it enhances our understanding of children for

various reasons. Their approach placed the children’s friendship concept of on the research

agenda. Besides, the method offered some thought-provoking study findings regarding the

changing nature of friendship regarding how friendship changes, and how friendship

expectations are created as children grow. Lastly, La Gaipa and Bigelow presented an

interestingly essential and new research technique for investigating the association using

descriptive and written data accounts.

Besides, the quantitative research method can determine how cultural issues influence the

expectation and formations of friendship. The influence of culture in various perspectives is

becoming essential in psychological research, and quantitative research techniques can enhance

our understanding of this topic. For instance, various researchers researched to explore the

influence of culture by comparing friendship in collectivist culture and individual culture. The

researchers suggested that individualistic cultures can be linked to the value of personal goals

and achievements. However, this can be regarded as being unpredictable with the close

friendship responsibilities. On the other hand, collectivist culture was categorized by the

researchers as those which centers on values like maintenance of harmony among friends and

concern for others. The features are considered to be essential for the establishment of a close

relationship.

Therefore, the researchers used quantitative research to study the possible variations

between friendship in two different cultures by comparing the adolescent friendships in Canada
 Using Quantitative Methods 4

and Cuba by drawing an example on individualistic and collectivist cultures, respectively. To

enhance our understanding of these psychological phenomena using the quantitative technique,

the researchers asked 294 Canadian and 300 Cuban adolescents to write an essays concerning

their best friends of similar gender by considering their friendship expectations (Brownlow et al.,

2020, p. 242). The research participants were mainly considered their best friends by considering

the features that made their best friends different from other friends. Besides, they were required

to think about the features that make best friends different from other schoolmates. Gonzalez et

al. analyzed the essay by checking and counting the occurrences of the category sets using the

quantitative method (Brownlow et al., 2020, p. 259).

In the research, the quantitative method indicated essential differences and similarities

between the two groups of the research participants. The essays collected in both countries

showed features such as acceptance, loyalty, and authenticity. However, the Cuban adolescent

essays likely were found to debate issues about the exchange of help. They also focused on the

admiration character as a criterion for the close association. However, the Canadian adolescent

essays likely focused more on the shared history of social interaction and the sharing of the

common interest. It was also determined that the Cuban and Canadian adolescent essays

reflected numerous aspects of the society's cultural values in which the participants were raised.

It was suggested that the Canadian responses prioritized on the preferences and choices of an

individual. In contrast, the Cuban responses focused on mutual assistance where other group

members' interests and welfare were equally important. These findings were made successful

through the use of the quantitative research method.

In addition, Adorno et al. investigated authoritarian personality using a quantitative

research method to uncover the aspects of personality that make some individuals predisposed to
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embrace various aspects such as racist, violent, and extremist ideologies espoused in Germany

under the leadership of Hitler (McAvoy et al., 2020, p. 25). The critical task of psychologists is

to explain the behavior of individuals by defining, categorizing, and measuring personality. This

is because personality comprises characteristics and dispositions susceptible to individual

variations, definition efforts, and personality measures as part of the psychology sub-discipline

concerned with studying individual differences.

The researchers used a quantitative method to explain factors that make people involved

in extreme violence. Adorno et al. studied what makes individuals vulnerable to extreme

ideologies like Nazism, leading to authoritarian personality. Personality plays a vital role in how

we behave. The quantitative research technique used by Adorno was the most extensive in

studying authoritarian personality. The perspective of measuring personality is relatively a weird

one that the researchers initially set out to resolve. They made assumptions that the attitude of

individuals reflects their underlying characteristics of personality. Adorno et al. argued that

measuring corresponding attitudes of individuals helps in tapping into the human aspect of

personality.

Adorno used scales to measure individuals' attitudes by asking the participants to rate

their agreement with every statement. The ratings of individual items were then added to provide

a general score for every participant. The person with a higher score was said to exhibit the

character in question. Therefore, the person who agreed with the statement indicated the support

for the statement. Another scale, the potential for fascism scale, was added, which was central to

the study. The researchers came up with many more general statements where questionnaires

were administered to more than 2000 participants and the other three scales. It was argued that

the participants who scored highly on the fascism scale revealed an authoritarian personality
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while those with low scores showed a non-authoritarian personality. The characteristics were

more interconnected, thus forming a single enduring structure in a person.

The quantitative research method in the experiment of authoritarianism was used in

measuring and locating individuals on their tendencies of authoritarianism. Besides, the method

was used to show where the authoritarian personality came from. Scoring the responses on a

numerical scale enabled the researchers to transform a complex series of questions regarding

attitudes and beliefs into a single numerical score (McAvoy et al., 2020, p. 33). The data was

collected quantitatively since there was some measurement involved. The scores were potentially

made to directly compare with others since the response of individuals were transformed into

scores.

In order to understand the study about the reconstruction of automobiles, the researchers

Loftus and Palmer used the quantitative method by asking the participants to estimate the speed

of the cars (Pike et al., 2020, p. 374). The researchers examined the estimates of speed by

varying key verbs used in the question by rephrasing it. The mean speed for each of the verbs

was used to determine the car speed. The quantitative method used in the research by Loftus and

Palmer was designed to investigate an issue of relevance to the witnesses and accident

investigation. They designed a study in such a way that provided meaningful and valuable results

to the research question.

A sophisticated research approach, that is, a quantitative research method, is essential

when involved in the study to obtain the complexities involved in the psychological phenomena.

The pioneering work of Bigelow and La Gaipa played a vital role in highlighting the shifts in the

development of friendship expectations among children. Besides, their quantitative technique

enabled them to understand how friendship change as children mature. However, the challenge is
 Using Quantitative Methods 7

for psychologists is to determine how to address the advance in technology and the changing

nature of human association. The quantitative research method in the authoritarian personality

addressed the issue of bias related to acquiescence response in designing the F-scale (McAvoy et

al., 2020, p. 31). It was found that authoritarianism is an essential phenomenon. Although there

might be some disadvantages of the quantitative method used in the studies, this technique has

various advantages over other methods. The key focus of the quantitative method is to address

issues of real life in relevance. Therefore, it mimics real-world conditions in the best way

possible. Psychologists should use quantitative methods in testing the hypothesis and studying

complex issues in the real-world setting.

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References

Pike, G., Byford, J., & Brace, N. (2020). Witnessing and remembering. In N. Brace (Ed.),

Investigating Psychology: key concepts, key studies, key approaches (1st ed., pp. 365–400).

essay.

Brownlow, C., & Byford, J. (2020). Making friends. In N. Brace (Ed.), Investigating

Psychology: key concepts, key studies, key approaches (1st ed., pp. 237–269). essay.

McAvoy, J., & Byford, J. (2020). Exposing the authoritarian personality. In N. Brace (Ed.),

Investigating Psychology: key concepts, key studies, key approaches (1st ed., pp. 365–400).

essay.