QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN PEACE RESEARCH

Quantitative methods are an important component of peace research, sin ce many of the issues addressed are inherently quantitative - the freq uency and intensity of conflict, or the determination of military expe nditures, for instance. This article argues that quantitative peace re search could be improved if authors put more emphasis on the substanti ve issues and less on the mechanical application of rule-based, statis tical techniques. After some methodological discussion, seven question s are posed that quantitative researchers might ask themselves; an att empt is made to show why these questions are important. If quantitativ e peace researchers asked themselves these questions more often, the s ubstantive contribution of quantitative peace research could be increa sed.