The philosophy of quantitative methods Introduction The philosophy of quantitative methods scientific realism and its methodology theories of scientific method Book overview and chapter summary a note for the reader References Exploratory data analysis Introduction What is exploratory data analysis Exploratory data analysis and scientific method exploratory data analysis after tukey resampling methods A philosophy for teaching data analysis conclusion Further reading references Tests of statistical significance Introduction Null hypothesis significance testing: psychologys textbook hybrid The neo Fisherian perspective the error statistical perspective What should we think about tests of statistical significance Conclusion Further reading references Bayesianism Introduction Bayesianism in psychology bayesian confirmation theory Bayesianism and the hypothetico deductive method bayesanism and inference to the best explanation two common criticisms of bayesianism What should we think about bayesian confirmation theory a neo Popperian philosophy of Bayesian statistics conclusion Further reading references Meta analysis Introduction Glasss rationale for meta analysis meta analysis and scientific discovery meta analysis and phenomena detection Meta analysis and scientific explanation conclusion Further reading references Exploratory factor analysis Introduction Exploratory factor analysis and scientific inference the principle of the common cause Methodological challenges to exploratory factor analysis exploratory factor analysis and other factor analytic methods conclusion Further reading references Conclusions Chief lessons learned a final word This book undertakes a philosophical examination of a number of important quantitative research methods in the behavioral sciences in order to overcome the shallow and uncritical understanding that is typically provided by textbooks. The methods are: exploratory data analysis statistical significance testing Bayesian confirmation theory and statistics meta analysis and exploratory factor analysis. Further readings are provided to extend the readers understanding.