Means the application of statistical and mathematical methods to the study of psychology. This area of study is loosely divided into the subfields of psychometrics and mathematical psychology. Psychometrics may be characterized as the application of statistical models to problems such as psychological scaling and test development, while mathematical psychology may be characterized as the development and testing of novel mathematical models that describe psychological processes.
Quantitative psychology is served by several scientific organizations. These include the Psychometric Society, Division 5 of the American Psychological Association (Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics), the Society for Multivariate Behavioral Research, and the European Society for Methodology. In addition, several affiliated disciplines such as statistics, educational measurement and statistics, sociological methodology and political methodology embrace scholarship that is developed or utilized in quantitative psychology. Several scholarly journals reflect the efforts of scientists in these areas, notably Psychometrika and Psychological Methods.
Currently, over two dozen American universities offer Ph.D. programs in quantitative psychology within the psychology departments (additional universities offer similar programs through their education departments).