quantitative research methods textbook

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8 Good Books on Quantitative Research

By Med Kharbach, PhD | Published: June 20, 2023 | Updated: August 5, 2024

Having navigated the intricate landscape of academic research during my doctoral studies, I understand the crucial role that high-quality, accessible resources play. With this post, I aim to offer fellow researchers and anyone interested in social research a meticulously selected collection of books on quantitative research.

Quantitative research emphasizes objectivity and measurement, representing a broad and nuanced field. The books I’ve chosen delve into its theoretical foundations, practical implementations, and the interpretative challenges it poses. Each book was picked for its thoroughness, clarity, and utility, providing a solid base for anyone eager to explore quantitative methods.

This selection is designed to support researchers at all levels. Whether you’re refining sophisticated survey techniques or navigating complex statistical analyses, these books address essential aspects of the quantitative research process.

For those of you interested in qualitative research, check out my other post entitled best books on qualitative research .

1. Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches , by John W. Creswell and J. David Creswell

This widely recognized book offers a comprehensive study of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methodologies. Its distinguishing feature is its juxtaposition of all three research designs, making it a valuable resource for both new and experienced researchers. The authors provide a meticulous guide that starts with a fundamental understanding of philosophical suppositions, essential aspects of the research process, literature review, theory application in research, and the significance of writing and ethics in academic inquiry.

The updated edition includes a detailed discussion on research proposal design and research study steps. It sheds light on the positioning of epistemological and ontological views in relation to the selected research question and methodology. It also delves into the transformative worldview and features expanded insights into case studies, participatory action research, visual methods, and action research in mixed methods.

2. Quantitative Research in Education: A Primer , by Wayne K. Hoy and Curt M. Adams

This book is a practical guide to help you with your quantitative research. The authors first introduce readers to the nature of research and science, before presenting the meaning of concepts and research problems. They aim to dispel the notion that quantitative research is overly difficult, too theoretical, and lacks practicality.

The book is rich with concrete examples and illustrations, and emphasizes conceptual understanding and the practical use of quantitative methods while teaching strategies for developing original research hypotheses.

3. Quantitative and Statistical Research Methods , by William E. Martin and Krista D. Bridgmon

This user-friendly textbook helps students to understand and apply procedural steps in carrying out quantitative studies. It explains statistics while guiding readers through the steps of the hypothesis-testing process, from hypothesis to results.

The book offers a hands-on resource for each chapter, covering a single research problem and providing directions for implementing the research method from start to finish. It also features a Research Analysis and Interpretation Guide to help students analyze research articles.

4. Quantitative Research Methods for Communication , by Jason S. Wrench, Candice Thomas-Maddox, and Virginia Peck Richmond

This book provides a relevant and accessible guide to quantitative research in the field of communication. The authors encourage students to take an active role in the learning process, equipping them with the tools needed to locate, conduct, collect, and present their research.

The authors use real communication studies and data sets to make communication research relatable for students. The text features chapter objectives, case studies, data sheets, and key terms throughout to facilitate learning.

Related: Books on Mixed Methods Research

5. Doing Survey Research: A Guide to Quantitative Methods , by Peter M. Nardi

This book is a practical guide for those who want to learn how to conduct quantitative studies, either for an undergraduate project, a graduate-level thesis, or a survey that an employer may require. The book prepares beginners to conduct their own survey research, write up the results, and understand and critically interpret other people’s research.

6. Quantitative Methods for the Social Sciences , by Daniel Stockemer

This textbook provides an essential introduction to survey research and quantitative methods. The book guides students through the various steps of the survey research process and helps them apply those steps toward a real example.

More specifically, the book introduces students to the importance of survey research, preparing a survey, conducting a survey, and analyzing a survey.

Students are shown how to create their own questionnaire, achieve empirical findings, and use the data to test their hypotheses in a bivariate and multivariate realm. Additionally, the book explains the theory, rationale, and mathematical foundations of these tests, and provides instructions on how to conduct the tests in SPSS and Stata.

7. Quantitative Research Methods: From Theory To Publication , by Dr. Nicholas Harkiolakis

This book covers the vast majority of quantitative methods found in social sciences research. The author designed the book based on his years of experience teaching quantitative methods courses for graduate programs in Europe and the USA. The book is intended for readers who don’t have a background in quantitative research.

All concepts presented in this book are defined and introduced, and alternative and overlapping expressions and keywords used in quantitative research are presented to enhance the reader’s understanding.

The book includes examples that are easily replicated in spreadsheets like Excel, and provides commands for executing the various methods for SPSS in footnotes. The book’s website provides additional material for executing the methods discussed, as well as all book images in higher resolution and links to other sources online.

8. Quantitative Research for the Qualitative Researcher , by Laura M. O′Dwyer and James A. Bernauer

This book underlines the complementary nature of quantitative and qualitative research and elucidates the fundamental structure and purposes of design, measurement, and statistics within the framework of a research report, including a dissertation.

The text encourages the reader to perceive quantitative methodology as a process for systematically discovering new knowledge that can help describe, explain, and predict the world around us.

Final thoughts

Wrapping up this compilation of insightful reads on quantitative research, it’s clear that each of these books brings something unique to the table, making them indispensable resources for researchers at various stages of their careers. From the foundational understanding of quantitative methods to advanced statistical analysis, these books collectively cover a spectrum of topics that are vital for conducting robust and meaningful research. The practical advice, real-life examples, and step-by-step guides provided across these texts are designed to demystify the world of quantitative research, making it more accessible and less daunting, regardless of your level of expertise.

Related Posts

Meet Med Kharbach, PhD

Dr. Med Kharbach is an influential voice in the global educational landscape, with an extensive background in educational studies and a decade-long experience as a K-12 teacher. Holding a Ph.D. from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax, Canada, he brings a unique perspective to the educational world by integrating his profound academic knowledge with his hands-on teaching experience. Dr. Kharbach's academic pursuits encompass curriculum studies, discourse analysis, language learning/teaching, language and identity, emerging literacies, educational technology, and research methodologies. His work has been presented at numerous national and international conferences and published in various esteemed academic journals.

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Best Practices in Quantitative Methods

• Edited by: Jason Osborne
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc.
• Publication year: 2008
• Online pub date: January 01, 2011
• Discipline: Anthropology
• Methods: Statistical inference , Effect size , Regression analysis
• DOI: https:// doi. org/10.4135/9781412995627
• Keywords: educational psychology , estimates , parameters , population , propensity score , software , students Show all Show less
• Print ISBN: 9781412940658
• Online ISBN: 9781412995627
• Buy the book icon link

Subject index

The contributors to Best Practices in Quantitative Methods envision quantitative methods in the 21st century, identify the best practices, and, where possible, demonstrate the superiority of their recommendations empirically. Editor Jason W. Osborne designed this book with the goal of providing readers with the most effective, evidence-based, modern quantitative methods and quantitative data analysis across the social and behavioral sciences. The text is divided into five main sections covering select best practices in Measurement, Research Design, Basics of Data Analysis, Quantitative Methods, and Advanced Quantitative Methods. Each chapter contains a current and expansive review of the literature, a case for best practices in terms of method, outcomes, inferences, etc., and broad-ranging examples along with any empirical evidence to show why certain techniques are better. Key Features: Describes important implicit knowledge to readers: The chapters in this volume explain the important details of seemingly mundane aspects of quantitative research, making them accessible to readers and demonstrating why it is important to pay attention to these details. Compares and contrasts analytic techniques: The book examines instances where there are multiple options for doing things, and make recommendations as to what is the “best” choice-or choices, as what is best often depends on the circumstances. Offers new procedures to update and explicate traditional techniques: The featured scholars present and explain new options for data analysis, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the new procedures in depth, describing how to perform them, and demonstrating their use.

Front Matter

• Using Best Practices is a Moral and Ethical Obligation
• 1 | The New Stats Attitudes for the 21st Century
• 2 | Setting Standards and Establishing Cut Scores on Criterion-Referenced Assessments Some Technical and Practical Considerations
• 3 | Best Practices in Interrater Reliability Three Common Approaches
• 4 | An Introduction to Rasch Measurement
• 5 | Applications of the Multifaceted Rasch Model
• 6 | Best Practices in Exploratory Factor Analysis
• 7 | Replication Statistics
• 8 | Mixed Methods Research in the Social Sciences
• 9 | Designing a Rigorous Small Sample Study
• 10 | Replicated Field Study Design
• 11 | Best Practices in Quasi–Experimental Designs: Matching Methods for Causal Inference
• 12 | An Introduction to Meta–Analysis
• 13 | Best Practices in Data Transformation: The Overlooked Effect of Minimum Values
• 14 | Best Practices in Data Cleaning: How Outliers and “Fringeliers” Can Increase Error Rates and Decrease the Quality and Precision of Your Results
• 15 | How to Deal With Missing Data Conceptual Overview and Details for Implementing Two Modern Methods
• 16 | Is Disattenuation of Effects a Best Practice?
• 17 | Computing and Interpreting Effect Sizes, Confidence Intervals, and Confidence Intervals for Effect Sizes
• 18 | Robust Methods for Detecting and Describing Associations
• 19 | Resampling A Conceptual and Procedural Introduction
• 20 | Creating Valid Prediction Equations in Multiple Regression Shrinkage, Double Cross–Validation, and Confidence Intervals Around Predictions
• 21 | Best Practices in Analyzing Count Data Poisson Regression
• 22 | Testing the Assumptions of Analysis of Variance
• 23 | Best Practices in the Analysis of Variance
• 24 | Binary Logistic Regression
• 25 | Bringing Balance and Technical Accuracy to Reporting Odds Ratios and the Results of Logistic Regression Analyses
• 26 | Multinomial Logistic Regression
• 27 | Enhancing Accuracy in Research Using Regression Mixture Analysis
• 28 | Mediation, Moderation, and the Study of Individual Differences
• 29 | A Brief Introduction to Hierarchical Linear Modeling
• 30 | Best Practices in Analysis of Longitudinal Data: A Multilevel Approach
• 31 | Analysis of Moderator Effects in MetaAnalysis
• 32 | Best Practices in Structural Equation Modeling
• 33 | Introduction to Bayesian Modeling for the Social Sciences
• 34 | Using R for Data Analysis: A Best Practice for Research

Back Matter

• About the Editor
• About the Contributors

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Introduction to Quantitative Research Methods An Investigative Approach

• Mark Balnaves - University of Newcastle, UK
• Peter Caputi - University of Wollongong, Australia
• Description

The original CD-ROM accompanying the book and its content are no longer available.

I like how it's organized!

A must for anyone interested in research. Clear, focussed and easy to understand. All you need to get your research started.

A very useful text, that helps students understand the basics of quantitative research methods. Very user friendly, and will be recommending this to my students within the social sciences.

Good comprehensive text on quantitative research methods

Very useful text, well written, comprehensive coverage of basics of statistics and quantitative research methods. Easy to follow and sociologically interesting examples. I find this book very useful as a supplementary text in teaching an undergraduate quantitative research methods course.

Very good read, with lots of key elements we are looking to involve within the course

I recommended adoption to the course monitor, but they did not adopt. I recommend this text to my students though. Thank you.

Balnaves introduction to the (quantitative) research process is a good source for students of the social sciences who look for an accessible and comprehensive explication of standard requirements of their practice. The book is well-written without oversimplifying complicated issues.

A good 'all round' introductory text. I will be using this with Masters Level students as it provides a good overview of different research techniques. The book is also user friendly and written in language which is easy to read and understand.

This is a particularly useful introduction to quanititative methods that is relevant for a wide range of social science disciplines including law.

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With SAGE Research Methods, researchers can explore their chosen method across the depth and breadth of content, expanding or refining their search as needed; read online, print, or email full-text content; utilize suggested related methods and links to related authors from SAGE Research Methods' robust library and unique features; and even share their own collections of content through Methods Lists. SAGE Research Methods contains content from over 720 books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and handbooks, the entire “Little Green Book,” and "Little Blue Book” series, two Major Works collating a selection of journal articles, and specially commissioned videos.