Quantitative Research Study

Quantitative research study performs statistical inference or estimation and mathematical modeling as a way of testing the relationship between two variables in an objective theory. Quantitative research further gathers data which are in numerical forms and puts them in a given rank order, categories or in a given measurement. The data then can be used to construct tables and graphs of raw data which show the relationship between the variables involved. To elaborate this I will use the below psychology research.

Personality and leadership: A quantitative and quantitative review
Summary and interpretation of the research study
This is a research where the researchers are trying to analyze the relationship that exists between one's personality and leadership traits. The researchers recognize the existence of a relationship and conduct the research to verify the specific traits and personality that makes a good leader (Timothy, Bono, Ilies, and Megan, 2012). Quantitative research, in this case, is used to show the extent to which good traits attributes to a good leader among some few factors that make a good leader. The researchers used the 5-factor model as their organizing framework to try and show the quantitative relationship of the two variables followed by a meta-analysis of the same.

The authors' meta-analyzed 222 correlations from seventy-three samples. The personality attributes analyzed in the 5-factor model were an openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism. The overall correlations with leadership were as follows:

Extraversion
31

Conscientiousness
28

Neuroticism
24

Openness to Experience
24

Agreeableness
08

 The above results indicate that the relationship that exists between openness to experience, extraversion, conscientiousness, and neuroticism with leadership as a generalized variable is more than 90% of all the individual correlations greater than 0. When a given two sets of data are strongly correlated in our case extraversion and leadership, we say the two are strongly linked together (Timothy, Bono, Ilies, and Megan, 2012). Thus one can conclude that based on this research findings, extraversion is the strongest linked attribute to leadership.
If the five attributes are represented in a bar graph, they take the following nature (fig 1):

 Results:
 The above study is a quantitative study; this can readily be seen based on the finding of the research. The numerical representation of the variables of interest proves the research to be quantitative. According to (Smith, 2015), representative diagrams can be used to represent the findings of a quantitative research. In this case, the above can be seen in the research study above. The essence of diagrammatically representing quantitative data is so as to ease the process of interpretation. At a fist glance of the bar graph above one can depict that extraversion has a greater impact on the instigated variable as compare to agreeableness.

 The results of this study clearly indicate that the variables in the chosen 5 factor model of analysis affect leadership. Thus in a case scenario where leaders are needed, the first qualifying factor based on this study should be extraversion. This research tells us, analyzing leadership as a general topic, a person with the stated variables in descending order as diagrammatically represented in the bar graph automatically makes a good leader. The above quantitative research is aimed at helping psychologists know what attributes to use when selecting a leader. It further guides them on the type of attributes to give priority over those that may not necessary be useful.
Quantitative research method
This is a research method that gives a numerical analysis of the variables involved in research. The variables can them be represented in diagrammatic form for easy interpretation. As a result, quantitative research method has both advantages and disadvantages that make it an effective as well as an ineffective method of conducting research.

The following are the advantages of using quantitative research method:
This method of research allows for a broader study; this simply implies that a greater number of subjects to be researched upon and as a result, it enhances the generalization of the final findings.

Secondly, quantitative method of research allows for greater accuracy as well as objectivity. This is realized because quantitative research method is designed to give room for data summaries and generalization of the phenomenon under research (Creswell, 2015). Quantitative research thus incorporates many cases and few variables with prescribed procedures aimed at guaranteeing reliability and validity of the final findings.
Thirdly, quantitative research can be replicated by several other research groups and the different findings analyzed and compared to previous similar research. This simply implies that employing a quantitative method of research allows the researchers to study as well as summaries large sources of information as well as come up with a comparison across similar categories over time.

Finally, with the quantitative method of research, personal biasness can be eliminated, this is done by researchers keeping using subjects unknown to them as well as keeping a distance from participating subjects.

Drawbacks of quantitative research method:
Despite all these positivities, the following points make quantitative method of research an incompetent research method.

Quantitative method of research collects a narrow and in some instances a superficial dataset
The final results of this research method are limited. This is primarily because they only provide numerical descriptions as opposed to a detailed narrative description. As a result, quantitative research method offers a less elaborate account of human perception of the variables being studied.

Thirdly, quantitative research method is often done in an artificial environment so as to control the variables involved. As a result, the imposed level of control and interference may not give similar results as those investigated in their natural environment (Creswell, 2015). Simply put, quantitative research often yields lab results instead of the real world results.
Quantitative research further gives a close match of what people feel instead of the actual reflection. This is simply because the standard questions asked result to structural biasness and as a result false representation of the researched subject. This simply implies that the research is done biased on the specific aspects the researchers want to investigate or are interested in.
To make overcome the drawbacks of the quantitative method of research thus making it a more competent tool of conductive research, both the quantitative and qualitative methods should be incorporated in a study (Mertens, 2014). A qualitative method of research is at an individual level, this method's findings is not arrived at using the different statistical method as the case is for the quantitative method. Thus qualitative research method is said to be naturalistic whose goal is to understand the behavior of certain variables in their natural environment or setting.
Reference
Timothy A.; Bono, E.; Ilies, R; and Megan, W. (2012) Personality and leadership: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol 87(4), 765-780.
Creswell, J. (2015). “Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches.” SAGE Publications, Inc. p. 12.
Mertens, D. (2014). “Research and evaluation in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. SAGE publications.
Smith, J. (2015). Quantitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. SAGE publications.