ABSTRACT
Quantitative research is a form of inquiry based upon the collection and analysis of numerical data. The quantitative method has two principal purposes: to describe the main features of a body of data (descriptive statistics) and to make conclusions that extend beyond the data being observed (inferential statistics). Both descriptive and inferential statistics have led to significant advances in our understanding of civil conflict. Descriptive analyses of conflict databases have provided insights into the characteristics of individual conflicts, and helped to reveal larger trends in the nature of contemporary violence. For instance, quantitative analysis has provided us with a greater appreciation of the frequency and deadliness of civil conflict, highlighted the geographic distribution of civil strife and illustrated the relatively consistent decline in all forms of violence over the past two millennia (e.g. Lacina and Gleditsch 2005; Pinker 2011; Themnér and Wallensteen 2012). Inferential statistics also play a central role in the civil war research programme. Scholars using econometric tools have uncovered much of what we now know about the onset, duration and outcome of civil war. For example, quantitative methods have been responsible for the widespread consensus that now exists on the conflict-inducing effects of factors such as inequality, low economic opportunity, natural resources, ethnic dominance and political instability (e.g. Cederman et al. 2011; Cederman et al. 2010; Collier and Hoeffler 2004; Fearon and Laitin 2003). Quantitative literature is also at the heart of the key controversies within civil war studies. For example, the “greed vs. grievance” debate is largely a contest between quantitative scholars attempting to highlight the greater significance of economic or socio-political drivers of civil wars.
