Research Design: An Overview

Classification of Designs
Degree of Research Question Crystallization:
1. Exploratory studies tend toward loose structures with
the objective of discovering future research tasks. The
immediate purpose of exploration is usually to develop
hypotheses or questions for further research
2. Formal study begins where the exploration leaves off,
it begins with a hypothesis or research question and
involves precise procedures and data source
specification.
Method of Data Collection
• Monitoring includes studies in which the researcher inspects
the activities of a subject or the nature of some material without
attempting to elicit responses from anyone. Traffic counts at an
intersection, license plates recorded in a restaurant parking lot,
a search of the library collection, an observation of the actions
of a group of decision makers all are examples of monitoring
• Communication study, the researcher questions the subjects
and collects their responses by personal or impersonal means.
The collected data may result from (1) interview or telephone
conversations, (2) self-administered or self-reported
instruments sent through the mail, (3) instruments presented
before and/or after a treatment or stimulus condition in an
experiment.
Researcher Control of Variables
• In an experiment, the researcher attempts to control
and/or manipulate the variables in the study. It is enough
that we can cause variables to be changed or held
constant in keeping with our research objectives.
Experimental design is appropriate when one wishes to
discover whether certain variables produce effects in
other variables.
• With an ex post facto design, investigators have no
control over the variables in the sense of being able to
manipulate them. It is important that the researchers
using this design not influence the variables; to do so
introduces bias.
The Purpose of the Study
• A reporting study provides a summation of data, often recasting data to
achieve a deeper understanding or to generate statistics for comparison.
In a study of crime, for example, a reporting study might tally the number
of employee thefts that take place in shopping malls versus free-standing
stores.
• If the research is concerned with finding out who, what, where, when, or
how much, then the study is descriptive research on employee theft
would measure the types of theft committed
• If a study is concerned with learning why—that is, how one variable
produces changes in another—it is causal-explanatory. In a causal-
explanatory study, we try to explain relationships among variables—for
instance, why the crime rate is higher in mall A than in mall B or why male
employees steal more than female employees.
• A causal-predictive study attempts to predict an effect on one variable
by manipulating another variable while holding all other variables
constant.
The Time Dimension
Cross-sectional studies are carried out once and
represent a snapshot of one point in time.

Longitudinal studies are repeated over an extended

period. The advantage of a longitudinal study is that it can
track changes over time.
The Topical Scope
• Statistical studies are designed for breadth rather than
depth. They attempt to capture a population’s
characteristics by making inferences from a sample’s
characteristics. Hypotheses are tested quantitatively.
Generalizations about findings are presented based on
the representativeness of the sample and the validity of
the design
• Case studies place more emphasis on a full contextual
analysis of fewer events or conditions and their
interrelations. Although hypotheses are often used, the
reliance on qualitative data makes support or rejection
more difficult.
The Research Environment
• Designs also differ as to whether they occur under actual
environmental conditions (field conditions) or under
staged or manipulated conditions (laboratory
conditions).
• Simulations are increasingly used in research, especially
in operations research. The major characteristics of
various conditions and relationships in actual situations
are often represented in mathematical models.
Participants’ Perceptual Awareness
• The usefulness of a design may be reduced due to a
participant’s perceptual awareness when people in a
disguised study perceive that research is being
conducted. When participants believe that something out
of the ordinary is happening, they may behave less
naturally.
Student’s Task_Milgram experiment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOUEC5YXV8U
Exploratory Studies
• Exploration is particularly useful when researchers lack a
clear idea of the problems they will meet during the study. The
objectives of exploration may be accomplished with different
techniques. Both qualitative and quantitative techniques are
applicable, although exploration relies more heavily on
qualitative techniques. several approaches are adaptable
for exploratory investigations. four exploratory techniques
emerge with wide applicability
• for the management researcher
• 1. Secondary data analysis.
• 2. Experience surveys.
• 3. Focus groups.
• 4. Two-stage designs.
Secondary Data Analysis
• The first step in an exploratory study is a search of the
secondary literature. Studies made by others for their own
purposes represent secondary data. It is inefficient to
discover anew through the collection of primary data or
original research what has already been done and
reported at a level sufficient for management to make a
decision. But what are the sources?
Experience Survey
• it is seldom that more than a fraction of the existing
knowledge in a field is put into writing. Thus, we will profit
by seeking information from persons experienced in the
area of study, tapping into their collective memories and
experiences.
Focus Groups
• A focus group is a group of people (typically 6 to 10
participants), led by a trained moderator, who meet for 90
minutes to 2 hours. The facilitator or moderator uses
group dynamics principles to focus or guide the group in
an exchange of ideas, feelings, and experiences on a
specific topic.
Two-Stage Design
• A useful way to design a research study is as a two-stage
design. With this approach, exploration becomes a
separate first stage with limited objectives: (1) clearly
defining the research question and (2) developing the
research design.
Descriptive Studies
Formal studies serve a variety of research objectives:
1. Descriptions of phenomena or characteristics
associated with a subject population (the who, what,
when, where, and how of a topic).
2. Estimates of the proportions of a population that have
these characteristics.
3. Discovery of associations among different variables.
Causal Studies
• The method of agreement, proposed by John Stuart Mill in
the 19th century, states, “When two or more cases of a
given phenomenon have one and only one condition in
common, then that condition may be regarded as the
cause (or effect) of the phenomenon.” Thus, if we can
find Z and only Z in every case where we find C , and no
others ( A , B , D , or E ) are found with Z , then we can
conclude that C and Z are causally related