Quantitative data collection A meta view

Quantitative research is first and foremost concerned with the measuring, indeed, the quantification of the object of study. However, quantifying observed phenomena of our social world, such as segregation, is not merely a particular way of measuring that differs from (and complements) other ways of measuring, which are placed in the ‘qualitative’ domain that will be discussed in chapters 3 and 5. As discussed in the introduction to this volume, quantitative methods are associated with specific epistemologies that do not just refer to data collection and analysis, but also – and perhaps even more so – to the types of questions asked and the interpretation of research findings. Quantitative methods are generally, though not exclusively, associated with positivist epistemologies, in which theories about the social world are tested rather than inferred. Quantitative methods are generally applied in research that aims to know the world as it is. Measuring the world will reveal bits and pieces of its reality. However, apart from the sheer difference between the types of data through which meaning is expressed in numerical terms versus qualitative data, whose meaning lies in representations and construction of reality, quantitative methods are part of a broader cluster of research strategies, epistemologies, and ontologies. Notwithstanding this often iterated dichotomy, quantitative methods are also used by researchers that do not adhere to orthodox positivist and objectivist academic approaches. Quantitative methods can also be used to infer theory, to be critical of the possibility of knowing the ‘real world’, and to work from other epistemologies than positivism. Quantitative data and methods are indispensable for urban research as they are better equipped to address questions related to the aggregated level (e.g. region, city, (sub)population) than qualitative data and methods. To make sense of an urban and urbanizing world we need to be able to generalize for, but also beyond specific urban contexts. To address the question ‘What is the urban?’ (Castells, 1977) quantitative data and methods are a crucial element of our research.