määrällisen

Määrällisen is Finnish adjective meaning quantitative or numerical, used to describe data, methods, or results that are expressed or analyzed in numbers rather than descriptive categories. The form is derived from määrä, meaning amount or quantity, with the suffix -llinen that creates adjectives meaning “characterized by.” The genitive singular form is määrällisen, which appears when the adjective modifies a noun in genitive, for example määrällisen datan analyysi, “the analysis of the quantitative data.”

In Finnish usage, määrällinen is closely aligned with the English term quantitative and is commonly contrasted with laadullinen, meaning qualitative. It appears in phrases referring to data types (määrällinen data), research designs (määrällinen tutkimus), and analyses (määrällisen datan analyysi; määrällisten tulosten raportointi). The term is standard in statistics, economics, social sciences, health sciences, and other fields that distinguish numerical measurements from descriptive or interpretive data.

Etymology notes: the word is built from määrä, signifying quantity, and the adjective-forming suffix -llinen, a common way to create descriptors of characteristics. The form määrällisen governs agreement with the noun it modifies and follows typical Finnish declension patterns for adjectives.

See also: laadullinen, kvantitatiivinen (synonymous or closely related term in some contexts), tilastotiede, muuttujat.