RESEARCH DESIGN

By
OKITE MOSES
Session Objective

• The concept of research design.

• Types of research design
• Quantitative research design (different types)
• Qualitative research design (different types)
Introduction.
• Research design refers to the overall strategy
that you choose to integrate the different
components of the study in a coherent and
logical way, thereby ensuring you will
effectively address the research problem. It
constitutes the blue print for the collection,
measurement and analysis of data.
• A research design provides the glue that
holds the research project together. Its used
to structure the research, to show how all
major parts of the research project work
together to try to address the central
research question.
Introduction. Cont’d
• Research design defines the various ways by which
information is gathered for evaluation or assessment.
• Research studies are designed in a particular way so as
to increase the chances of collecting the right
information needed to answer a particular research
question. Irrelevant information will not address the
research problem adequately and conclusion drown
from this research study will run the risk of being
weak and unconvincing.
• The function of a research design is to ensure that the
evidence obtained/collected enables you to effectively
address the research problem logically and as
unambiguously as possible.
Introduction. Cont’d
• The type of research design that you choose
will be determined by your research
problem.
• A good research should mention the design
used and it is also important to briefly point
out why the chosen design is appropriate for
the proposed study.
• The design decision revolves around a
number of questions, which includes the
following.
Introduction. Cont’d
• What is the study about
• Why is the study being made
• Where will the study be carried out
• What type of data is required.
• Where can the required data be found.
• What period of time will the study include.
• What will be the sample design
• What techniques of data collection will be use.
• How will data be analyzed.
• In what style will the report be prepared.
Introduction Cont’d
• A well developed research design should achieve the following.
1. Identify the research problem and clearly justify the
selection in relation to any alternative design that could
have been used.
2. Review and analyze previously published literature
associated with the research problem.
3. Clearly specify the hypothesis central to the problem
4. Effectively describe the data which will be necessary for an
adequate testing of the hypotheses and explain how such
data will be obtained
5. Describe the methods of analysis to be applied to the data
in determining whether or not the hypotheses are true or
not.
 TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS
• There are two main approaches to a research problem i.e.
Quantitative and Qualitative methods.
• Quantitative methods are used to examine the relationships
between variables with the primary goal being to analyze and
represent that relationship mathematically through statistical
analysis.
• Qualitative methods are chosen when the goal of the research
problem is to examine, understand and describe a phenomenon.
• Once the main approach to the research problem has been
determined, there are several designs for each type of approach
that may be considered.
• Below are the most common research designs that are used.
However it should be noted that different research books use
different terms for similar types of research designs.
• Please note that the research designs given in this document are
fairly common in terms of their use and terminology.
TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS
• Qualitative and quantitative research though
different has similarities, the two approaches
are similar in sequence and method. This is
because in either type of research the
researcher.
1. States a problem.
2. Formulates evaluation or research question.
3. Defines the population and sample
4. Collect and analyses data
5. Presents the results and conclusions
TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS

• The basis of differentiating the two

approaches has been mainly on the basis of
sampling procedures.
1. Techniques of data collection
2. Type of data collected
3. Data analysis procedures
4. Presentation of findings/results methods.
Quantitative research designs

• There are basically two types of quantitative

research design, which are further broken into
other smaller designs. Details as below.
1. Non- Experimental
Ex post facto
Descriptive.
2. Experimental
True experimental design
Quasi design
Non Experimental Design
Ex post Facto research design
• This research design attempts to explore the cause
and affect relationship where causes already exist
and cannot be manipulated. it uses what already
exists to look backward to explain why.
• It is conducted after an event has occurred i.e. “
From after the fact”.
• The research is usually done after variations have
already occurred on the independent variable.
• There is no direct control over the independent
variable either because they are inherently not
manipulatble or they have already occurred.
Explanatory research/Ex post facto research
design
• Answering the why question involves developing
causal explanations. Casual explanation argue that
phenomenon Y (E.g employee satisfaction) is
affected by factor X ( Leadership style)

Exploratory design/Ex post facto research design,

• An exploratory design is conducted about a research
problem when there are few or no earlier studies to
refer to. The focus is on gaining insight and
familiarity for later investigation or undertaken
when problems are in a preliminary stage of
investigation.
 Descriptive research design
• Descriptive research is a quantitative research design that
describes phenomena as they exist.
• In descriptive research design the information/evidence is
collected without changing the environment (i.e. nothing is
manipulated).
• descriptive research design help provide answers to the questions
of who, what, when, where and how associated with a particular
research problem.
• It is always used as a pre-cursor to more quantitative research
designs with a general overview giving some valuable pointers as
to what variables are worth testing quantitatively.
• Good description provokes the ‘why’ question of explanatory
research.
• By demonstrating the existence of social problems, competent
description can challenge accepted assumption about the way
things are and can provoke action.
Types of descriptive research designs.

• Surveys
• Longitudinal studies
• Correlation studies
• Causal comparative
• Cross sectional studies
Steps in carrying out descriptive research.

• Statement of the problem.

• Identification of information necessary/needed to
solve the problem
• Selection or development of instruments for
gathering information.
• Identification of target population.
• Design of procedure for information collection.
• Collection of information
• Generalization and or predictions.
 Survey research
• Survey research is also called Status or Normative studies
• Survey research involves interviewing or administering
questionnaires or written surveys to a large numbers of
people. The investigator analyzes the data obtained from
surveys to learn about similarities, differences and trends.
He or she makes predictions about the population being
studied.
• Its aimed at discovering incidences, distribution and
relationship among sociological and educational variables
• Information/data collected in a survey are usually
responses to pre-determined questions that are asked of
a sample of respondents.
Characteristics of surveys

• Purpose is to explore and describe

• Researcher gathers data from a fairly large
group of persons often by mail or personal
interview.
• It is done within a specified “ slice of time “
within the study.
• Does not generalize relationship in terms of
cause and effect.
Longitudinal research design
• A longitudinal study follows the same sample over time and
makes repeated observations.
• With longitudinal surveys, the same group of people is
interviewed at regular intervals, enabling researchers to
track changes over time and to relate them to variables that
might explain why the changes occur.
• Longitudinal research enables a researcher to get close to
the kind casual explanation usually attained only by
experiments.
• The design also facilitate the prediction of future out comes
based upon earlier factors.
• Maintaining integrity of the original sample can be difficult
over an extended period of time.
• There is need to have a large sample size and accurate
sampling to reach representativeness.
Types of Longitudinal studies

• Trend survey: select a new sample each year.

• Cohort survey: select a representative group
from which to select a sample each year.
• Panel survey: select a sample and follow this
sample over time
Correlation Research Design
• Correlation research design explores the relationship
between two or more variables (factors that change)
through correlation analysis.
• These factors can be characteristics, attitudes, behaviors or
events.
• Correlation research attempts to determine if and to what
degree that variables are related. (it does not what imply
causes the other)
• It compares two or more characteristics from the same
group of people.
• Shows how two characteristics vary together (explain) and
how well one can be predicted (predict) from knowledge of
the other.
Purposes of correlation studies

• Describe relationships that exist among

variables.
• Use the know correlation to predict from one
variable to another.
• Discover relationship between variables
through the use of correlation statistics
Causal comparative research design.
• This research design is used to study two groups
with the intent of understanding the reasons or
causes for the two groups being different.
• Example; a primary two teacher, has noticed that
one reading group in her class has made
considerable gains in comparison to the other
reading groups in the class. So the teacher is
wandering weather this is due to the new
reading strategy that she has implemented. (she
will us casual comparative to carry out her research)
Cross Sectional Design
• A cross sectional survey collects data to make inferences
about a population of interest (universe) at one point in
time.
• Cross-sectional surveys have been described as
snapshots of the populations about which they gather
data.
• Cross sectional surveys may be repeated periodically
unlike with longitudinal surveys, in a repeated cross-
sectional survey, respondents to the survey at one point
in time are not intentionally sampled again, although a
respondent to one administration of the survey could be
randomly selected for a subsequent one.
Experimental Research
• Experimental research attempts to determine how and why
some thing happens.
• Experimental research test the way in which an independent
variable (the factor that the researcher manipulates) affects
a dependent variable (the factor that the researcher
observes)
• An experimental research is considered the most accurate
method of research.
• Usually applied to the physical sciences and it attempts to
prove or disprove a hypothesis numerically using statistical
analysis
• Experimental research designs seeks to determine how
changes in one independent variable (x) affect another
variable (Y). Experimental studies are used to determine the
correlation between variables.
Experimental design. Cont’d

• A blue print of the procedure that enables the researcher to

maintain control over all factors that may affect the result of
an experiment. In doing this, the researcher attempts to
determine or predict what may occur.
• The classic experimental design specifies an experimental
group and control group.
• The independent variable is administered to the
experimental group and not to the control group and both
groups are measured on the same dependent variables.
Subsequent experimental designs have used more groups
and more measurements over longer periods.
• This design is appropriate in a controlled settings such as
laboratories.
• The design assumes random assignment of subject and
groups.
Experimental design. Cont’d

• It attempts to explore cause and affect relationships where

causes can be manipulated to produce different kinds of
effects.
Types of experimental research.
1. True experimental designs
2. Quasi-experimental designs
3. Pre-experimental designs
True experimental design

• Random selection of subjects

• Use of control groups
• Random assignment to control and experimental
groups.
• Random assignment of groups to control and
experimental conditions.
Quasi experimental research design.
• This research design approximates the experimental
design but does not have the key ingredient random
assignment.
• There is more error possible in the result
Qualitative research designs.

• Qualitative research design include.

1. Case study
2. Narrative design
3. Phenomenology
4. Ethnography
5. Grounded theory
6. Historical design.
Case study
• A case study is an in depth study/investigation of a particular
research problem rather than a sweeping statistical survey
or comprehensive inquiry.
• Its often used to narrow down a very broad field of research
into one or easily researchable examples.
• It’s a useful design when not much is known about an issue
or phenomenon.
• The approach excels at bringing us to an understanding of a
complex issue through detailed contextual analysis of a
limited number of events or conditions and their
relationship.
• A researcher using a case study design can apply a variety of
methodologies and relay on a variety of sources to
investigate a research problem.
• Case studies include data from field notes, interview and
archival information.
Case study. Cont’d
• Contrasted to surveys, case studies have a smaller “n”
with more depth; whereas surveys typically have
more breadth with larger “n” but less depth into the
phenomena.
• Often involve direct observation or interviews.
• Case studies are clinical in scope. The investigator
(often a clinical sociologist) some times uses self
report measures to acquire quantifiable data on the
subject.
• Case studies collects a variety of material in a specific
and bounded time period.
• Examples include simple subject research or small
single social units such as family, a club, a school etc
Narrative design.

• this is a term that subsumes a group of

approaches that in turn rely on the written or
spoken words or visual representation of
individuals. These approaches typically focus
on the lives of individuals as told through
their own stories.
• it describes the lives of individual(s) to get
meaning from them.
Phenomenology
• The aim of a phenomenological approach to qualitative
research is to describe accurately the lived experience of
people.
• It studies human experience at experiential level such as
understanding what it means for a woman to lose a child. It
about understanding the essence or meaning of experience.
• The aim of this design is not to generate theories or models
of the phenomenon being studied.
• The approach is mostly often used by psychologist, who seek
to explain the “structure and essence of the experiences” of
a group of people.
• A phenomenologist is concerned with understanding certain
group behaviors from that groups point of view.
Ethnography
• The goal is to learn about a culture from the people
who actually live in that culture
• A culture is an ethnic population, society, a
community, an organization or a social world.
• Ethnography has its roots in cultural anthropology
which aims to describe the values and practices of
cultural groups.
• The process of ethnography is characterized by
intensive, ongoing, face to face involvement with
participants of the culture being studied and by
participating in their settings and social worlds
during the period of field work.
Grounded theory

• This is a systematic methodology in the social sciences

involving the construction of theory through the analysis of
data.
• It is a research methodology which operates almost in a
reverse fashion from social science research in the positivist
tradition
• Here the focus is to develop an understanding of a
phenomenon or situation in order to be able develop a
theory/model.
• It is described as a research method in which theory is
developed from the data, rather than the other way round.
• This is an inductive approach, meaning it moves from
specific to the more general.
• Grounded theory attempts to “reach a theory or conceptual
understanding through step wise inductive process.
Historical research
• This is the study of a problem that requires
collecting information from the past.
• The study involves studying, understanding
and experiencing past events.
• Historical researchers seek data that already
exists.
• The researcher determines if the data
adequately explores the events in which
he/she is interested.
Mixed research designs
• Mixed research design involves having both
quantitative and qualitative design.
• Mixed design studies take significantly more
time, more resources and requires the
researcher to develop expertise in qualitative
and quantitative analysis techniques.
• Qualitative studies can use numbers, counts
and even descriptive statistics, using numbers
does not mean the study has to be
quantitative or mixed method.
 END

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