Evidence of the integration of quantitative methods in US society

¶ … Integration of Quantitative Methods in U.S. Society

The American society of today is more developed than it has ever been; but it is even more pressuring than it has ever been. It for instance presents individuals and groups with numerous opportunities for growth and development, but it also presents them with countless challenges. An economic agent for instance is now able to transcend boundaries and benefit from the comparative advantage of other regions, but on the other hand, it will also face incremental competition within the domestic market. At the level of the individual, he/she is presented for instance with the opportunity of enhancing their educational attainment and improving their job prospects, but they will then have to fight the fierce competition for the positions; will have to prove their worth and continually develop in order to maintain the position.

In order to make sense of this amalgam of opportunities and challenges, individuals and groups have to constantly review the issues with which they are presented and decide what best suits them. The decision making process of today then is highly complex and involves a wide array of components. Two of the most relevant components of decision making are represented by qualitative and quantitative methods. At a general level, qualitative methods are non-numeric and based on observations, whereas quantitative methods are based of facts and figures. This latter category of decision making tools represents the focus of the current project and emphasis falls on the identification of examples as to how quantitative methods are used within the modern day American society. Before launching such an investigation however, it is necessary to provide a deeper understanding of quantitative methods and reveal the forms in which they are applied.

2. Understanding quantitative methods

The quantitative methods refer to a multitude of numeric-based processes and techniques which process factual information and create measurable results and outcomes. In a more professional -- yet highly simplistic -- formulation, the quantitative techniques are defined as "the range of mathematical and statistical techniques used to analyze data" (Answers, 2011).

Quantitative techniques reduce the influence of the researcher by striving to eliminate human bias and focusing alone on facts and figures. Unlike qualitative analysis -- where the results only describe the features of the assessed sample -- the results retrieved with the aid of quantitative analyses can be extrapolated to explain the behavior of the entire community.

The selection of the qualitative vs. quantitative methods depends on the preference of each individual researcher, but also on the features of the researched phenomenon. A phenomenon which is for instance described in words and observations would be dealt with through the qualitative approach, whereas a phenomenon which has a numeric manifestation would be dealt with through the quantitative approach. Overall, the quantitative research methods are characterized by four specific features, which differentiate them from qualitative methods:

They use figures, rather that words

They are objective, rather than subjective

They use deductive approaches rather than inductive ones

They generate results that can be generalized, rather than results only valid of the restricted sample (Fortune City, 1999).

3. Types of quantitative methods

The use of quantitative methods has significantly increased throughout the years and this is due to the flexibility of the techniques. However this might seem a paradox since quantitative tools are rigid and figure based, they have in fact evolved throughout the years and have become more specific. This virtually means that the modern day researcher, student, organization and so on is now able to implement the precise type of quantitative technique which best suits the endeavor for which they had set forward.

Fortune City (1999) identified three major categories of quantitative research, namely:

Descriptive quantitative techniques

Quasi-experimental quantitative research techniques, and Experimental quantitative research techniques.

Each of these categories of techniques is characterized by its own features. Descriptive quantitative techniques for instance are developed and implemented without any data manipulation and do not strive to establish causality. They are used for reasons such as identifying what another party is doing in a similar situation, to identify a problem, to identify the specifics of an issue and so on.

Experimental quantitative research occurs when a particular phenomenon is observed through an experiment or a randomized control trial (RCT). The scope of this quantitative approach is that of assessing the behavior of the phenomenon and the relationship between its variables -- emphasis is placed on causality. The three common forms of experimental research are manipulation, control and randomization.

Through manipulation, the researcher influences at least some participants in the sample; in the case of control, the experimental situation is controlled with at least one control technique; finally, with randomization tool, the researcher divides the participants in the experiment in various groups, in a random manner.

The quasi-experimental tool of quantitative research has been developed as an alternative solution to experimental research and is applied when true experiments cannot be created for a sample (Fortune City, 1999). Within the United States society, all categories of quantitative research are implemented, with numerous variations and in countless applications.

4. Evidence of quantitative methods in U.S. society

Despite the fact that this is not often realized, quantitative methods are present in countless contexts of the personal and professional lives. The current section is focused on revealing some of the more relevant examples of the usage of quantitative methods in every day life and within the American society.

a) Elections

A first relevant example of how quantitative methods are used within the modern day American society is represented by elections. In the United States, elections have not only a political importance, but also a cultural one, since freedom and democracy are the core values at the basis of the American nation. Elections as such represent the process by which Americans select their leaders, who represent their hopes and dreams of a better life. And not only that they have the responsibility of serving the American people, the American presidents are the most powerful people on Earth.

In this context and importance of the elections, quantitative methods are an omnipresent tool to the management of the elections. Some specific examples as to how quantitative methods are used in the election process refer to the following:

Before the elections, statistics are completed to estimate the popularity of the candidates. Even before people come to vote, the primary competitors are identified and assessments are made on who would win the competition and even with how many votes.

During the actual day of the election, the quantitative methods are used to express the numbers and percentages of the people voting, the demographic description of the votes (e.g. The states with the higher levels of presentation to the voting vs. The states with the lowest levels of voting participation), the percentages of votes obtained by each candidate as well as other issues relevant in the election process.

When the election process is complete, the use of the quantitative methods allows for the creation of the lists which reveal who had won the elections, the percentage of votes received, but also the places onto which the other candidates have placed.

After election statistics are also used to reveal the characteristics of the people who voted in a specific manner. In the 2008 presidential elections for instance, the quantitative tools revealed the following:

64.1 per cent of the Americans votes, the highest participation rate since 1908

49 per cent of the American men voted for Barack Obama and 48 per cent voted for John McCain; 56 per cent of the American women voted for Obama and 43 per cent of them voted for McCain

66 per cent of the votes under the age of 30 voted for Obama

95 per cent of the African-Americans, 66 per cent of the Latinos and 61 per cent of the Asian-Americans voted for Obama. Subsequently, however Obama had the support of numerous whites, it was the support of the minorities that made the difference (The Society Pages, 2008).

Overall, the post-election findings allow for the politicians to better understand their supporters. These results would help politicians improve their future campaigns by identifying the population samples which were unaddressed and which did not vote for them.

b) Medical trials and drug tests

The contemporaneous American society is filled with paradoxes, one of them being revealed at a medical level. While living in the day and age of revolutionary medical evolution, the population in the United States is sicker than it has ever been. The higher rates of illness are generally linked to an unhealthy lifestyle, through lack of physical exercise and inadequate nutrition. With the aid of technology however, the medical field is advancing and striving to create solutions to the medical problems of the century. Most of these efforts are however in a trail version and they have to be tested on patients in order to reveal their effectiveness and their results. In such a context then, quantitative methods play an increased role within the creation and management of medical trials and drug testing. Some specific examples of this include the following:

Quantitative methods are used to construct the sample of participants to the drug test or clinical trial

Quantitative methods are used to describe the features of the participants, such as their age, their medical history, the gravity of their conditions, the projections of success of the trial / drug test for the various patient categories and so on Quantitative methods are used to identify the proper dosage of the new drug to be administered and the intervals to which it would be administered in order to maximize its efficiency

Finally, quantitative methods are used to assess the rates of success for the drug test and the medical trial by assessing the patient responses to the administered treatment.

Overall then, quantitative methods do not only support the advancement of modern day medicine, but they are essential to the creation of new drugs and new treatments.

c) Outsourcing

This third example of how quantitative analysis is used within the modern day American society is a rather sensitive issue for the domestic population and this is due to the fact that its application has often materialized in the loss of jobs. Specifically, the opening of boundaries and the liberalization of markets has created a context in which American economic agents were able to transcend boundaries and benefit from the comparative advantage of other regions. While in some cases, this advantage referred to natural resources or technological skills, in most cases it revolved around cost effective labor force.

The United States firms as such seized the opportunity to increase their profitability rates and closed their plants in the country, to open new manufacturing or service delivery plants in other states. These new plants operated at lower costs and as such the plant owners substantially increased their profits. But the American citizens lost their jobs and the social costs were tremendous. Some examples as to how quantitative methods are applied in the process of outsourcing -- and its outcomes -- include the following:

The computation of the costs incurred by the firm by operating the plant in the United States and their comparison with the costs incurred in the operation of a plant in a more cost effective foreign country. The computation of the costs in various foreign countries considered as viable solutions.

The analysis of the barriers to entering a specific country, such as political, social or economic barriers and the computation of the resources to be consumed in the overcoming of the barriers.

The analysis of the estimated return on the investment, the percentage increase in profitability, the number of years it would take for the investment to become profitable and so on.

The measurement of the social and economic impact of job loss in the United States through the assessment of elements such as unemployment rate, the costs for the federal budget with the increasing unemployment, the impact on the education of the children whose parents were downsized; the living standards of the population, the impact on crime rates and so on.

Aside from the examples above mentioned, quantitative analysis is present in numerous other fields and instances. The list of such instances is virtually endless, but some examples worth noting refer to the following:

The percentages of immigrants in the United States, including both legal immigrants and the illegal immigrants, with the socio-economic impacts they generate for the state, such as the revenues generated to the state budgets by the legal immigrants vs. The costs incurred by the federal authority in the provision of education and medical care to the illegal immigrants and their children, imprisonment and so on.

The crime rates in the state, their evolution through time, the profiles of the criminals, the zones with the lowest crime rates vs. The areas with the highest crime rates.