Quantitative data

Quantitative data means numerical data which can be one of:

-a raw number

-a percentage = [the number of people per 100 in a population]%

-a rate = the number of people per 1,000 in a population

It is often associated with structured interviews, official statistics, and lab experiments

Strengths
Replicable, thus more reliable

Objective, so less researcher bias

Easy to make statistical comparisons and correlations

Possible to track changes over time (for longitudinal studies)

Limitations
Not naturalistic; puts participants in an artificial social setting

Lacks depth; doesn't explain the numbers

Difficult/impossible to quantify complicated behaviours

As a result, the validity of quantitative data is limited