CHAPTER 8

Selecting a Study Design

Differences between quantitative and qualitative study designs
Quantitative study design is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or
data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions,
behaviors, and other defined variables.
Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. The main focus in qualitative research is
to understand, explain, explore, discover and clarify situations, feelings, perceptions, attitudes,
values, beliefs and experiences of a group of people.
Most qualitative designs are not as structured and sequential as quantitative ones. On the other
hand, in quantitative research, the measurement and classification requirements of the
information that is gathered demand that study designs are more structured, rigid, fixed and
predetermined in their use to ensure accuracy in measurement and classification.
The power-gap between the researcher and the study population in qualitative research is far
smaller than in quantitative research because of the informality in structure and situation in
which data is collected.
Finding of quantitative can be replicated for verification and reassurance. In qualitative research
little attention is paid to study designs or the other structural aspects of a study, hence the
replication of the results becomes almost impossible.
Another difference in the designs in qualitative and quantitative studies is the possibility of
introducing researcher bias. Because of flexibility and lack of control it is more difficult to check
researcher bias in qualitative studies.
The sample size is typically small in qualitative research where as in quantitative research results
are generated from a larger sample size.
Study designs in each paradigm are appropriate for finding different things. Study designs in
qualitative research are more appropriate for exploring the variation and diversity in any aspect
of social life, whereas in quantitative research they are more suited to finding out the extent of
this variation and diversity. If your interest is in studying values, beliefs, understandings,
perceptions, meanings, etc., qualitative study designs are more appropriate as they provide
immense flexibility. On the other hand, if your focus is to measure the magnitude of that
variation, how many people have a particular value, belief, etc.?, the quantitative designs are
more appropriate.
Qualitative Quantitative
Text-based Number-based
Subjective Objective
More in-depth information on a few cases Less in-depth
Unstructured or semi-structured response options Fixed/structured response options
No statistical tests Statistical tests are used for analysis
More time consuming when analyzing the data less time is required for analysis
Few cases/ small sample large sample size
Less generalizable More generalizable
Difficult to replicate results results could be replicated and
verified
Study designs
Some of the commonly used designs in quantitative studies can be classified by examining them
fromthree different perspectives:
1. the number of contacts with the study population;
2. the reference period of the study;
3. the nature of the investigation.
Note that the designs within each category are mutually exclusive; that is, if a particular study is
cross-sectional in nature it cannot be at the same time a before-and-after or a longitudinal study,
but it can be a non-experimental or experimental study, as well as a retrospective study or a
prospective study




1. Study designs based on the number of contacts
Based on the number of contacts with the study population, designs can be classified into three
groups:
a) cross-sectional studies;
b) before-and-after studies;
c) longitudinal studies.
The cross-sectional study design
Cross-sectional studies, also known as one-shot or status studies, are the most commonly used
design in the social sciences. This design is best suited to studies aimed at finding out the
prevalence of a phenomenon, situation, problem, attitude or issue, by taking a cross-section of
the population. They are useful in obtaining an overall picture as it stands at the time of the
study. They are designed to study some phenomenon by taking a cross-section of it at one time.
Such studies are cross-sectional with regard to both the study population and the time of
investigation.
A cross-sectional study is extremely simple in design. You decide what you want to find out
about, identify the study population, select a sample (if you need to) and contact your
respondents to find out the required information. For example, a cross-sectional design would be
the most appropriate for a study of the following topics:
The socioeconomicdemographic characteristics of immigrants in Afghanistan .
The incidence of HIV-positive cases in India.
The reasons for homelessness among young people.
The quality assurance of a service provided by an organization.
The prevalence of street crime.
The relationship between the home environment and the academic performance of a child
at school.
The attitude of the community towards equity issues.
The extent of unemployment in a city.
Consumer satisfaction with a product.
The health needs of a community.
The attitudes of students towards the facilities available in their library.
As these studies involve only one contact with the study population, they are comparatively
cheap to undertake and easy to analyze. However, their biggest disadvantage is that they
cannot measure change.
The before-and-after study design
The main advantage of the before-and-after design (also known as the pre-test/post-test
design) is that it can measure change in a situation, phenomenon, issue, problem or attitude.
It is the most appropriate design for measuring the impact or effectiveness of a program. A
before-and-after design can be described as two sets of cross-sectional data collection points
on the same population to find out the change in the phenomenon or variable(s) between two
points in time. The change is measured by comparing the difference in the phenomenon or
variable(s) before and after the intervention.

A before-and-after study is carried out by adopting the same process as a cross-sectional
study except that it comprises two cross-sectional data sets, the second being undertaken after
a certain period. A before-and-after study may be either an experiment or anon-experiment.
The difference between the two sets of data collection points with respect to the dependent
variable is considered to be the impact of the program. The following are examples of topics
that can be studied using this design:
The impact of administrative restructuring on the quality of services provided by an
organization.
The effectiveness of a marriage counseling service.
The impact of training on aggressive behaviour among school children.
The effect of a drug awareness program on the knowledge about, and use of, drugs
among young people.
The impact of incentives on the productivity of employees in an organization.
The impact of increased funding on the quality of teaching in universities.
The impact of maternal and child health services on the infant mortality rate.
The effect of an advertisement on the sale of a product.
The main advantage of before-and-after design is its ability to measure change in a phenomenon
or to assess the impact of an intervention.
Disadvantages include the following:
As two sets of data must be collected, involving two contacts with the study population,
the study is more expensive and more difficult to implement. It also requires a longer
time to complete, particularly if you are using an experimental design, as you will need to
wait until your intervention is completed before you collect the second set of data.
In some cases the time lapse between the two contacts may result in attrition in the study
population. It is possible that some of those who participated in the pre-test may move
out of the area or withdraw from the experiment for other reasons.
One of the main limitations of this design, in its simplest form, is that as it measures total
change, you cannot ascertain whether independent or extraneous variables are responsible
for producing change in the dependent variable. Also, it is not possible to quantify the
contribution of independent and extraneous variables separately.
If the study population is very young and if there is a significant time lapse between the
before-and-after sets of data collection, changes in the study population may be because it
is maturing. This is particularly true when you are studying young children. The effect of
this maturation, if it is significantly correlated with the dependent variable, is reflected at
the after observation and is known as the maturation effect.
Sometimes the instrument itself educates the respondents. This is known as the reactive
effect of the instrument. For example, suppose you want to ascertain the impact of a
program designed to create awareness of drugs in a population. To do this, you design a
questionnaire listing various drugs and asking respondents to indicate whether they have
heard of them. At the pre-test stage a respondent, while answering questions that include
the names of the various drugs, is being made aware of them, and this will be reflected in
his/her responses at the post-test stage. Thus, the research instrument itself has educated
the study population and, hence, has affected the dependent variable. Most studies
designed to measure the impact of a program on participants awareness face the
difficulty that a change in the level of awareness, to some extent, may be because of this
reactive effect.
Another disadvantage that may occur when you use a research instrument twice to gauge
the attitude of a population towards an issue, there is a possibility in shift of attitude
between the two points of data collection. Sometimes people who place themselves at the
extreme positions of a measurement scale at the pre-test stage may, for a number of
reasons, shift towards the mean at the post-test stage. They might feel that they have been
too negative or too positive at the pre-test stage. Therefore, the mere expression of an
attitude in response to a questionnaire or interview has caused them to think about and
alter/change their attitude at the time of the post-test. This type of effect is known as the
regression effect.



The longitudinal study design
The before-and-after study design is appropriate for measuring the extent of change in a
phenomenon, situation, problem, attitude, and so on, but is less helpful for studying the pattern of
change. To determine the pattern of change in relation to time, a longitudinal design is used; for
example, when you wish to study the proportion of people adopting a program over a period.
Longitudinal studies are also useful when you need to collect factual information on a continuing
basis. You may want to ascertain the trends in the demand for labor, immigration, changes in the
incidence of a disease or in the mortality, and fertility patterns of a population.
In longitudinal studies the study population is visited a number of times at regular intervals,
usually over a long period, to collect the required information. These intervals are not fixed so
their length may vary from study to study. Intervals might be as short as a week or longer than a
year. Irrespective of the size of the interval, the type of information gathered each time is
identical. Although the data collected is from the same study population, it may or may not be
from the same respondents. A longitudinal study can be seen as a series of repetitive cross-
sectional studies.


Longitudinal studies have many of the same disadvantages as before-and-after studies, in some
instances to an even greater degree. In addition, longitudinal studies can suffer from the
Conditioning effect. This describes a situation where, if the same respondents are contacted
frequently, they begin to know what is expected of them and may respond to questions without
thought, or they may lose interest in the enquiry, with the same result.
The main advantage of a longitudinal study is that it allows the researcher to measure the pattern
of change and obtain factual information, requiring collection on a regular or continuing basis,
thus enhancing its accuracy.

2. Study designs based on the reference period
The reference period refers to the time-frame in which a study is exploring a phenomenon,
situation, event or problem. Studies are categorized from this perspective as:
retrospective;
prospective;
retrospectiveprospective.
The retrospective study design
Retrospective studies , also called a historic cohort study, generally means to take a look back at
events that already have taken place. It investigates a phenomenon, situation, problem or issue
that has happened in the past. They are usually conducted either on the basis of the data available
for that period or on the basis of respondents recall(memory) of the situation . For example,
studies conducted on the following topics are classified as retrospective studies:
The utilization of land before the Second World War in Western Australia
.A historical analysis of migratory movements in Eastern Europe between 1915 and 1945.
The relationship between levels of unemployment and street crime.
Medical history of a patient.

The prospective study design
Prospective studies refer to the likely prevalence of a phenomenon, situation, problem, attitude
or outcome in the future. Purpose of such studies is to attempt to establish the finding of the
research or what is likely to happen.
The following are classified as prospective studies:
To establish the effects of a counseling service on the extent of marital problems.
To find out the effect of parental involvement on the level of academic achievement of
their children.
To measure the effects of a change in migration policy on the extent of immigration in
Pakistan.
The retrospectiveprospective study design
Retrospectiveprospective studies focus on past trends in a phenomenon and study it into the
future. Part of the data is collected retrospectively from the existing records before the
intervention is introduced and the rest of the data is collected after looking at the impact of the
intervention on the study population.
Some examples of retrospectiveprospective studies are:
The impact of incentives on the productivity of the employees of an organization.
The impact of maternal and child health services on the infant mortality rate.
The effect of an advertisement on the sale of a product

3. Study designs based on the nature of the investigation
On the basis of the nature of the investigation, study designs can be classified as:
experimental;
non-experimental;
quasi- or semi-experimental.
To understand the differences, let us consider some examples. Suppose you want to test the
following:
the impact of a particular teaching method on the level of comprehension of students; or
the effectiveness of a health awareness program on the community or
Impact of advertisement on the sales of a particular product
In such situations there is assumed to be a cause-and-effect relationship between independent &
dependent variable.
There are two ways of studying this relationship. The first involves the researcher introducing
the intervention that is assumed to be thecause of change on the dependent variable.
The second consists of the researcher observing a phenomenon and attempting to establish an
explanation of a research question. In this instance the researcher starts from the effect(s) or
outcome(s) and attempts to determine what caused it.
If a relationship is studied in the first way, it is classified as an experimental study. Experimental
research is a systematic and scientific approach to research in which the researcher controls
and/or manipulates one or more variables, to measure its effects on dependent variable.
If the second path is followed that is, starting from the effects to trace the cause it is
classified as a non-experimental study. The researcher observes the phenomena as they occur
naturally & collects data without making changes or introducing variables.
A semi-experimental study or quasi-experimental study has the properties of both experimental
and non-experimental studies. In this study the researcher cannot introduce or manipulate the
independent or a researcher can't make cause and effect conclusions.
An example of a quasi-experimental design would be a study in which you examine the effects
of smoking on respiratory/breathing functioning. You might have to find people who smoke 1
pack a day and 2 packs a day for your study, rather than making people (non-smokers) smoke 1
pack or two to see its effect on their breathing function. You cant find true cause and effect
relationship but can ascertain if relationship exists between the variables or not.

Experimental study designs
There are many types of experimental design & this section, therefore, is confined to describing
those most commonly used in the social sciences, the humanities, public health, marketing,
education, epidemiology, social work, and so on. These designs have been categorised as:
the after-only experimental design;
the before-and-after experimental design;
the control group design;
the double-control design;
the comparative design;
the matched control experimental design;
the placebo design
The after-only experimental design
In an after-only design the population is being, or has been, exposed to an intervention and the
researcher wishes to study its impact on the population. In this design, information on baseline
(pre-test or before observation) is usually constructed on the basis of respondents recall of the
situation before the intervention, or from information available in existing records (secondary
sources). The change in the dependent variable is measured by the difference between the
before (baseline) and after data sets.
The before-and-after experimental design
In before-and-after design the researcher itself constructs the baseline (pretest data) before
implementing the intervention (independent variable) rather than relying on the memory of
respondents or existing records. When the intervention or treatment is implemented, the
researcher then determines the cause and effect relationship by comparing the pre-test and post
test data.
Example:
Measure height of the group of children Horlicks for 6 months again measure height
to determine the effect of Horlicks
The before-and-after design has only one but major disadvantage that is, the researcher is
unable to conclude that any change in the dependent variable is due to the program intervention
or treatment. To overcome this, acontrol group is used.
The control group design
In control group design the researcher selects two population groups instead of one:
A control group and an experimental group
These groups are expected to be comparable as far as possible in every respect except for the
intervention (that is assumed to be the cause responsible for bringing about the change). The
experimental group receives or is exposed to the intervention, whereas the control group is not.
Firstly, the before observations are made on both groups at the same time. The experimental
group is then exposed to the intervention. When it is assumed that the intervention has had an
impact, an after observation is made on both groups. Any difference in the before and after
observations between the groups regarding the dependent variable(s) is attributed to the
intervention.
Example : select two groups of children. Measure their height. 1 groups receives Horlicks
(experimental group) & the other does not (control group). After 6 months measure &
compare the height of both of the groups to determine the effect of horlicks on the height of
the children in experimental group.
The comparative design
Sometimes you want to compare the effectiveness of different treatment modalities and in such
situations a comparative design is appropriate.
In the comparative experimental design, the study population is divided into the same number of
groups as the number of treatments to be tested. For each group the baseline with respect to the
dependent variable is established. The different treatment models are then introduced to the
different groups. After a certain period, when it is assumed that the treatment models have had
their effect, the after observation is carried out to ascertain any change in the dependent
variable. The degree of change in the dependent variable in the different population groups is
then compared to establish the relative effectiveness of the various interventions.
The placebo design
A patients belief that s/he is receiving treatment can play an important role in his/her recovery
from an illness even if treatment is ineffective. This psychological effect is known as the placebo
effect. A placebo design attempts to determine the extent of this effect. A placebo study involves
two or three groups.
For example: the first group receives the treatment, the second receives the placebo treatment
and the third the control group receives nothing.
Case studies
The case study, though dominantly a qualitative study design, is also prevalent in quantitative
research. It is an approach of studying a social phenomenon through a thorough analysis of an
individual or at most very few cases. A case could be an individual, a group, a community, an
instance, an episode, an event, a subgroup of a population, a town or a city. All data relevant to
the case is gathered through different resources, & organized for analysis.