quantitativistn.adj.
/ˈkwɒntᵻtətᵻvɪst/, /ˈkwɒntᵻteɪtᵻvɪst/, U.S. /ˈkwɑn(t)əˌteɪdəvəst/ A. n.
A person who adopts or favours a quantitative approach.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > evaluation, estimation, appraisal > [noun] > one who appraises > using quantity as criterion
quantitativist1928
1928 R. L. Finney Sociol. Philos. Educ. i. 18 It can be nothing else, therefore, than that very ‘arm-chair philosophy’ which the quantitativist so piously despises.
1957 R. K. Merton Social Theory (rev. ed.) ii.x. 396 The local influential is typically concerned with knowing as many people as possible. He is a quantitativist in the sphere of social contacts.
2002 Contemp. Sociol. 31 294/1 The hard-core quantitativist would likely be equally uncomfortable with the evidentiary underpinnings of an argument advanced with such language as ‘perhaps’ and ‘possibly’.
B. adj. (chiefly attributive).
Designating or characteristic of a quantitativist; favouring a quantitative approach.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > measurement > [adjective] > measured > resulting from an evaluation of quantity
quantitativist1972
1972 Human World Feb. 21 The..quantitativist illusion that the level of enlightenment must correspond to the amount of time spent between the school walls.
1974 B. Pearce tr. S. Amin Accumulation on World Scale II. iii. 452 It is by means of concrete historical explanation that we must account for each period of price increase in the nineteenth century, and not by means of a general quantitativist explanation.
1982 Eng. World-wide 3 i. 109 A Labovian quantitativist variable rule model can best cope with the data at hand.
2002 F. Lebaron in E. Fullbrook Intersubjectivity in Econ. ii. xiv. 231 The success, among the ‘quantitativist’ sociologists,..of the methods of network analysis.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2007; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1928