1. Week 10
Intro. to Quantitative Methods
1 Prof. Michelle Brady and Lindsay Tedds
Basic Concepts

2. Overview
• Qualitative vs. Quantitative
• Main Goals of Quant Research
• Operationalization & Measurement
• Types of Variables
• Levels of Measurement (Variables)
• Data & Statistics @ Uvic
2

3. Introduction
Prof. Michelle Brady & Lindsay Tedds3
 Qualitative vs. Quantitative
 Characteristics of Quant. Analysis (Positivism)
 Numbers and statistics (counting)
 Objective, context-free
 Researcher is separate from the data
 One reality
 Representative
 Efficient
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDo7jwikqqI

4. Main Goals of Quantitative Researchers
Prof. Michelle Brady & Lindsay Tedds4
 Measurement
 Generalization
 External Validity
 Replication
 Reliability
 Establishing causality (Sometimes)
 Internal Validity

5. Operationalization & Measurement
Research
Question
Operationalizing
Variables
Measuring
Variables
5
Construct Validity Reliability

6. Types of Variables
Variables
Categorical or
Qualitative
Numerical or
Quantitative
Discrete Continuous
6

7. Levels of Measurement
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio
Levels of Measurement
 Data can be classified into one of four levels of
measurement
Page 7

8. Atlantic Canada 1 60
Quebec 2 316
Ontario 3 343
Prairies 4 114
B.C. 5 77
Levels of Measurement
1. Nominal
 Qualitative variable that can only be classified into
categories and counted
 Categories have no logical order
 Categories are mutually exclusive and exhaustive
Page 8

9. Never 1 4
Sometimes 2 23
Frequently 3 27
Always 4 8
Levels of Measurement
2. Ordinal
 Mutually exhaustive and exclusive
categories, counted, and ranked but we
can’t distinguish the magnitude of the
difference between the categories
 E.G. is “Always” twice as much as
“Sometimes”?
Page 9

10. 3. Interval
 Mutually exhaustive and exclusive
categories, counted, and ranked and we
can distinguish the magnitude of the
difference between the categories and
the difference between values is a
constant size
 0, if present, is just a point on the scale
and does not represent the absence of
the condition
 Rare in data: E.g. temperature, dates
Levels of Measurement
Page 10

11. 4. Ratio
 Mutually exhaustive and exclusive categories,
counted, and ranked and we can distinguish
the magnitude of the difference between the
categories and the difference between values
is a constant size
 The zero point is meaningful as is the ratio
between two number
 Most quantitative data fall into this category
 E.G. Income
Levels of Measurement
Page 11

12. Measurement Levels
Page 12
Interval Data
Ordinal Data
Nominal Data
Quantitative Data
Qualitative Data
Categories (no ordering
or direction)
Ordered Categories
(rankings, order, or
scaling)
Differences between
measurements but no
true zero
Ratio Data
Differences between
measurements, true
zero exists

13. Data & Statistics: Where to find them
Prof. Michelle Brady & Lindsay Tedds13
 For help with Data and Statistics sources, contact
Kathleen Matthews, Data Services Librarian
kmatthew@uvic.ca
http://library.uvic.ca/site/data/default.html
 Published statistics are available from a variety of print
and online sources. Consult the Libraries Subject
Guides.
For a quick overview, you can check statistics by topic
from Statistics Canada.
For help in finding published statistics, Ask a Librarian, or
contact the Subject Librarian of your choice.
http://webapp.library.uvic.ca/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=35

14. Next Week
Prof. Michelle Brady & Lindsay Tedds14
 We are in the computer lab (See Moodle)
 Work through the Excel tutorials in
advance
 We will cover based data analysis
techniques and practice them in the lab

15. Scoping Review
Prof. Michelle Brady & Lindsay Tedds15
 Scope and Limitations
 Template