Fundamentals of Research

Competing

Orientations
in Research
 Philosophical Designs
Worldview
Quantitative
Postpositivist (Experimental, Non-
Constructivist Research Experimental: Correlation,
Transformative Approaches Comparative)
Pragmatic
Qualitative Qualitative
Quantitative (Narrative,
Mixed Methods Phenomenology,
Grounded Theory,
Ethnographies, Case
Study)
Research Methods Mixed Methods
(Convergent, Explanatory
Questions Sequential, Exploratory
Data Collection Sequential,
Interpretation Transformative:
Validation embedded or multiphase)
Ethical Consideration

Creswell, John (2014) Research Design 4th Edition

 Postpositivist Constructivism
• Causes probably • That individuals seek
determines outcome understanding of the world.
• Reduce the ideas in a • Rely on participant views
small set to test • Questions are broad and
• Observation and general so that participant
measurement can construct meaning.
• Theory verification • Inquirers generate theory or
pattern of meaning
Quantitative Approach Qualitative Approach
Multiple Participant Meaning
 Transformative Pragmatism
• Political and social • Concerns with the applications and
agenda solutions to the problems that
• Focus study on the works.
marginalized or • Use all approaches available to
disenfranchised group of understand the problem.
the society. • Purpose and rationale for mixing
• Aims to reform the lives approaches should be established.
of participants
• Collaborate with the
participants from
designing questions,
collecting data, analyzing
information etc.
Qualitative Approach Mixed Method
Research Design
 Quantitative Designs

• True experiments (random assignment of subjects to treatment

conditions) quasi-experiments (nonrandomized assignments)
(Keppel, 1991)

Quasi- Experimental design: applied behavioral analysis or

single-subject experiments in which an experimental treatment is
administered over time to a single individual or a small number of
individuals (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2007; Neuman & McCormick,
1995).
 Quantitative Designs

Survey Research: provides a quantitative or numeric

description of trends, attitudes, or opinions of a population by
studying a sample of that population.

• It includes cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using

questionnaires or structured interviews for data
collection—with the intent of generalizing from a sample
to a population (Fowler, 2008).
 Quantitative Designs

• Causal-comparative research in which the investigator

compares two or more groups in terms of a cause (or
independent variable) that has already happened.

• Correlational design in which investigators use the

correlational statistic to describe and measure the degree or
association (or relationship) between two or more variables
or sets of scores (Creswell, 2012).
 Quantitative Designs

• Quantitative strategies have involved complex experiments

with many variables and treatments (e.g., factorial
designs and repeated measure designs).

• Elaborate structural equation models that incorporate

causal paths and the identification of the collective strength
of multiple variables.
 Qualitative Designs

Narrative Research

• studies the lives of individuals and asks one or

more individuals to provide stories about their lives
(Riessman, 2008).

• This information is then often retold or re-storied by

the researcher into a narrative chronology.
 Qualitative Designs

Phenomenological Research
• The researcher describes the lived experiences of
individuals about a phenomenon as described by
participants.
• This description culminates in the essence of the
experiences for several individuals who have all
experienced the phenomenon.
• This design has strong philosophical underpinnings
and typically involves conducting interviews (Giorgi,
2009; Moustakas, 1994).
 Qualitative Designs
Grounded Theory

• A design of inquiry from sociology in which the

researcher derives a general, abstract theory of a
process, action, or interaction grounded in the views
of participants.
• This process involves using multiple stages of data
collection and the refinement and interrelationship of
categories of information (Charmaz, 2006; Corbin &
Strauss, 2007).
 Qualitative Designs
Ethnography

• is a design of inquiry coming from anthropology and

sociology in which the researcher studies the shared
patterns of behaviors, language, and actions of an
intact cultural group in a natural setting over a
prolonged period of time.

• Data collection often involves observations and

interviews.
 Qualitative Designs
Case studies

• A design of inquiry found in many fields, especially

evaluation, in which the researcher develops an in-
depth analysis of a case, often a program, event,
activity, process, or one or more individuals.

• Cases are bounded by time and activity, and

researchers collect detailed information using a variety
of data collection procedures over a sustained period of
time (Stake, 1995; Yin, 2009, 2012).
 Mixed Method Designs
Convergent parallel mixed methods

• The researcher converges or merges quantitative and

qualitative data in order to provide a comprehensive
analysis of the research problem.

• In this design, the investigator typically collects both

forms of data at roughly the same time and then
integrates the information in the interpretation of the
overall results.

• Contradictions or incongruent findings are explained or

further probed in this design.
 Mixed Method Designs
Explanatory sequential mixed methods

• The researcher first conducts quantitative research,

analyzes the results and then builds on the results to
explain them in more detail with qualitative research.
• It is considered explanatory because the initial
quantitative data results are explained further with the
qualitative data.
• It is considered sequential because the initial
quantitative phase is followed by the qualitative
phase.
 Mixed Method Designs
Exploratory sequential mixed methods

• The reverse sequence from the explanatory sequential design.

• In the exploratory sequential approach the researcher first begins

with a qualitative research phase and explores the views of
participants.
• The data are then analyzed, and the information used to build into
a second, quantitative phase.

• The qualitative phase may be used to build an instrument that best

fits the sample under study, to identify appropriate instruments to
use in the follow-up quantitative phase, or to specify variables that
need to go into a follow-up quantitative study.
Tend to or Qualitative Quantitative Mixed
Typically… Approach Approach Methods
Approach
• Use these • Constructivist/ • Postpositivist • Pragmatic
philosophical Transformative
assumptions
• Employ these • Phenomenolog • Survey and • Sequential,
strategies of y, grounded experiments concurrent,
inquiry theory, and
ethnography, transformat
case study and ive
narrative
Tend to or Qualitative Quantitative Mixed
Typically… Approach Approach Methods
Approach
• Employ these • Open-ended • Closed-ended • Both open
methods questions, questions, and closed
emerging predetermined ended
approaches, approaches, questions,
text or image numeric data both emerging
data and
predetermined
approaches,
and both
quantitative
and qualitative
data analysis
Tend to or Qualitative Quantitative Mixed Methods
Typically… Approach Approach Approach
• Use these • Positions him or • Tests or verifies • Collects both
practices of herself theories or quantitative
research as the • Collects participant explanations and qualitative
researcher meanings • Identifies data
• Focuses on a single variables to study • Develops a
concept or • Relates variables rationale for
phenomenon in questions or mixing
• Brings personal hypotheses • Integrates the
values into the • Uses standards of data at
study validity and different stages
• Studies the context reliability of inquiry
or setting of • Observes and • Present visual
participants measures pictures of the
• Validates the information procedures in
accuracy of numerically the study.
findings • Uses unbiased • Employs the
• Makes approaches practices of
interpretation of • Employs both quali and
data statistical quanti
procedures research.