The Objective of this video-based crash course is to give a solid understanding of the foundations of quantitative research.
The crash course Foundations of Quantitative Research consists of seven video lectures:
- Philosophical & Theoretical Foundations of Empirical Research
- Excursus: Qualitative Research
- Quality Criteria of Quantitative Research
- Research Designs
- Inductive Statistics
- Descriptive Statistics
- Inferential Statistics
1 Philosophical & Theoretical Foundations of Empirical Research
Empirical research is not an end in itself but should contribute to our understanding of the world so that we are enabled to improve our lives. Against this backdrop, this first part of the crash course elaborates on the understanding of reality, theory and their relationship as well as the philosophical foundations of qualitative and quantitative research.
2 Excursus: Qualitative Research
A good empirical researcher should not only understand quantitative research but should also have an at least basic understanding of qualitative research. Thus, the second part of this crash course characterises qualitative research with regard to its approach, the data collection and analysis.
3 Quality Criteria of Quantitative Research
The third part of the crash course Foundations of Quantitative Research gives an overview of the quality criteria of quantitative research. Furthermore, reliability and validity are explained in more detail.
4 Research Designs
Quantitative research normally examines the relationships between variables, which are introduced in the beginning of the fourth section of this crash course. On this basis, experimental, longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs are explained.
5 Inductive Statistics
The fifth section of this crash course is dedicated to inductive statistics, which determines with which probability and margin of error results of a sample reflect the true values of the respective population.
6 Descriptive Statistics
In the sixth section if this crash course, you will learn what the purpose of descriptive statistics is and how you should utilise frequencies, measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion in a quantitative research project.
7 Inferential Statistics
Inferential statistics are required in virtually every quantitative research project and therefore play a central role in academic research. At the start of the seventh section of this crash course, hypotheses and alpha and beta errors are introduced, as these form the basis for inferential statistics. Then, the logic of inferential statistics is explained and you are given an overview inferential statistical test so that you know when to apply which test.
Lecture Notes - Download
You can download the lecture notes here: