RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER-4
THE ELEMENTS OF RESEARCH: RESEARCH DESIGN

Prepared by:
Dr. Ram Kaji Budhathoki
Assistant Professer
Nepal Engineering College
Particular research area has-->
been identified
Research Problem defined--->

the related literature in the

area have been reviewed

------->What
is Next????
Answer is: To construct the research design

 Choosing an appropriate research design is very important to the

success of the research project.
 It determines the quality of research results
 A faulty research design may result in misleading findings.
Research Design- Definition

Fred Kerlinger (1986)

Research Design is the plan, structure, strategy of investigation
conceived so as to obtain answers to research question. The plan is the
overall scheme or program of research. It includes an outline of what the
investigator will do from writing the hypothesis and their operational
implications to the final analysis of data.

J.W Creswell (2002) :

Research design is a plan for collecting and analyzing evidence that
will make it possible for the investigator to answer whatever questions he or
she has posed. The design of an investigator touches almost all aspects of
research from the minute details of data collection to the selection of the
techniques of data analysis.

William Zikmund (2009)

Research design is a master plan specifying the methods and
procedures for collecting and analyzing the needed information.
Essentials of a good research design

 A research design is an overall plan for the activities to be undertaken during

the course of a research study.
 The research design serves as a framework for the study, guiding the
collection and analysis of the data, the research instruments to be used and the
sampling plan to be followed.
 It is an organized and integrated system that guides the researcher in
formulating, implementing and controlling the study.
 The research design is a blueprint specifying the method to be adopted for
gathering and analyzing data.
 The research design is a strategy of obtaining information for the purpose of
conducting a study and making generalizations about the population.

In planning a research investigation, choices have to made:

 research strategy (experimental vs. Non experimental)

 research setting (Laboratory vs. Natural setting)
 Data Analysis strategies (Descriptive vs. Inferential statistics)
Elements of a Research Design

Basic Elements of Research Design are:

i) The problem
ii) Methodology
iii) Data gathering
iv) Data Analysis, and
v) Report writing
 The subject for
investigation

Report Writing Elements of a Methodology

Research Design

Data Analysis Data Gathering

Fig: Elements of research Design.

A good research design considers all the elements as shown in the figure
above.

 The first element of a research design is to answer the research question

or test research hypothesis.
 Every research work usually requires an explanation of the methodology
and the sample description what methods were used to choose the sample?
Why these methods are chosen and how they are applied?
What were the variables in the hypothesis and how they were measured?
 Details of data collection must be explained and a discussion on the
reliability and validity of the measurements included.
 It is necessary to explain how the data were analyzed?
Types of Research Design

Research designs are classified into five categories.

1) Exploratory research design
2) Descriptive research design
• Historical research design
• Descriptive research design
• Developmental research design
• Survey research design
• Case study research design
3) Comparative research design
• Co relational research
• Causal-comparative research
4) Experimental research design
• Lab-based experimental research
• Field-based
5) Qualitative research design

These research studies have special purposes and features. Research

designs become more and more complex as you move on from simple
exploration to descriptive and further on to explanation and
experimentation.
1). Exploratory Research Design

Vague Problem

Exploratory Research

Hypothesis

Conclusive Research New Ideas

Practice/ Decision
Making
Fig. Types of Research Activities in a sequence.
When searching for hypothesis, exploratory designs are appropriate.

When hypothesis have been established and are to be tested, conclusive

research designs are needed (Boyd Westfall & Stasch 2002). Fig. highlights the
sequence of research activities, from vague problem to new idea generation.
 An exploratory research is defined as “a study under taken in areas where
very little prior knowledge or information is available on the subject under
investigation.”
 It is thus the initial research conducted to study and define the nature of the
problem.
 It is undertaken when we do not know much about the situation at hand.
 In such cases, extensive preliminary work needs to be done to gain familiarity

with the phenomenon in the situation.

Three purposes of exploratory research:

o Diagnosing a situation
o Screening alternatives
o Discovering new ideas

First stage of any research project, which is new and unexplored. When
knowledge is scant and a deeper understanding is needed, the study becomes
2) Descriptive Research Designs

Descriptive research describes phenomena as they exist.

Such studies involve the systematic collection and presentation of data to give
a clear picture of a particular situation.
These studies attempt to obtain a complete and accurate description of a
situation. These studies can be classified in the following five categories.
 Five types of descriptive research designs are not mutually exclusive. A
combination of all these could be used in some research projects.

a) Historical Research
•concerned with past phenomena
•it can be defined as “ the systematic and objective location, evaluation, and
synthesis of evidence in order to establish facts and draw conclusions about
past events.
•Thus a process of collecting, evaluating, verifying and synthesizing past
evidence systematically and objectively to reach a conclusion.
• Accuracy of gathered information determines its success.
• Its uniqueness is that source of data being studied are usually not available
for your direct scrutiny.
• The data used are seldom based on direct observation or experimentation.
b) Descriptive Research

 It is a fact finding operation searching for adequate information.

 It is a type of study which is generally conducted to assess the opinions,
behaviors or characteristics of a given population and to describe the situation
and events occurring at present.
 It is a process of accumulating facts.
 It does not necessarily seek to explain relationships, test hypotheses, make
prediction or get at meanings and implications of a study.
 Hence, it is an extensive form of an exploratory research
 It can include multiple variables for analysis or it might simply report the
percentage summary on a single variable.
c) Developmental Research

 It is conducted for the purpose of predicting future trends.

 It concentrates on the study of variables, their rates of change, directions,
sequences and other inter-related factors over a period of time.
Forms of Developmental Research

•Panel Study
Longitudinal Study •Trend Study
•Cohort Study

Developmental
Studies
Cross Sectional Study Sample Survey
Longitudinal Study

It is a research where phenomena are studied over time either continuously

or repeatedly.

It measures the nature and rate of change in a sample at different stages of

development because data are gathered at two different points in time it is a
study carried longitudinally across a period of time.

This occurs when the data are collected at two different points of time.
i) Trend Study

 It is probably the most common longitudinal study among others.

 When data are collected at intervals spread over a period of time, it is called
trend study.
 It samples different groups of people at different points in time from the same
population.
 It is designed to establish patterns of change in the past in order to predict
future patterns or conditions.
Cohort Study:

A cohort is a group of people who share a common characteristic or

experience within a defined period. Thus cohort study is a study of a specific group
such as those born on a day or in the particular period, let in the year 2000.

Panel Study:

A Panel is a group of individuals who have agreed to provide information to a

researcher over a period time. In Panel study, we take the same people and study
their attitudes towards a particular phenomenon over time.
- are most useful when studying change.
Cross-sectional study
 also known as cross-sectional analysis.
 It involves observation of some items of the population all at the same time.
 It basically measures the rate of change by drawing samples from cross-
section of society.
 It focuses on comparing and describing groups.
 such studies are also known as one shot-studies.
 often employ survey strategy.
 A cross-sectional study takes place at a single point of time.
Case study Research

It is an important approach to study the topics is social science and

management.

Case studies are written summaries or synthesis of real life cases based upon
data and research.

It is thus defined as “a strategy for doing research which involves an empirical

investigation of a particular contemporary phenomenon within a real-life context
using multiple sources of evidence.

Case study methods involve in-depth longitudinal examination of a single

instance or event (case).

This study phenomenon could be a person, a family, a social group, an

institution, a community or even an entire culture.

Case studies need to be both comprehensive and systematic. i.e. as much

data as possible need to be collected in way that ensures as little as possible is
missed.
Limitations of case study

1) expensive as exploratory in nature

2) a generalizations drawn from a single case cannot be applied to all cases
in a given population.
3) There is some element of subjectivity.
3. Comparative Research Designs

 A comparative study attempts to establish causes for certain problem. This

is done by comparing two or more groups of situations or variables.
 Comparative research methods (causal-comparative, experimental and
quasi-experimental) are frequently studied together because they all try to
show cause and effect relationships among two or more variables.
 To conduct cause and effect research, one variable is considered the cause
(independent variable) and the other is considered the effect (dependent
variable).
i) Correlational Research

It is used to obtain descriptions of phenomena, this technique is used to

ascertain the extent to which two variables are related.
In it, changes in one variable accompany changes in another but the proper
tests have not been conducted to show that either variable actually influences
the other. Thus, all that is known is that a relationship between them exists.
When changes in one variable tend to be accompanied by specific changes
in another, two variables are said to covary.
In Correlational Research, the researcher’s main interest is to determine
whether two or more variables covary, and if so, to establish the direction,
magnitude and form of the observed relationships.
For example,
Cigarette Smoking and Lung diseases were found to co-vary together from
early research.
Types of correlations

a) Positive correlation
It exists when an increase in one variable is accompanied by an increase in
another e.g. increase in benefits to employees increases productivity.

b) Negative correlation
It exists when two variables are inversely related. An increase in one variable
would result in a decrease in another. For example:
Increase in absence rate of employees could result in decrease in another.
e.g, in absence rate of employees could result in decrease in production.

c) No correlation
It exists when no discriminable correspondence prevails between high and
low ranks.

The correlation technique is thus a valuable research tool. This indicates how
strongly pairs of variables are related.
ii) Causal-Comparative Research
 Studies that establish causal relationship between variables may be termed
explanatory studies. This research investigates the possible causes affecting a
particular situation by observing existing consequences and searching for the
possible factors leading to these results.
 This research is also known as “ex post facto” (latin for “after the fact”) research.
 Kerlinger (1986) defined ex post facto research as, Ex post facto research is
that research in which the independent variable or variables have already
occurred and in which the researcher starts with the observation of a dependent
variable or variables.
S/he then studies the independent variables in retrospect for their possible
relations to effect on dependent variable(s) effect on reasons, causes of existing
conditions.
 It involves typically two groups and one independent variable. The researcher
selects two groups referred to as comparison groups. The purpose is to determine
the cause or reason for existing differences in the status of study groups. 3
important causal-comparative research:
O There is a control or comparison group
O There is an intact group
O The treatment is not manipulated it has already occurred.
4) Experimental Research

It is defined as a situation in which researcher objectively observes

phenomenon which is made to occur in a strictly controlled situation where
one or more variables are valid and others are kept constant.

Hence, an experiment is a test of a causal proposition.

Do the changes in variable A cause systematic changes in variable B? How a
change in the value of one variable-called the independent variable affects
one another variable-called dependent variable?

Laboratory Experiment

Experiment

Field Experiment
Experiment
Scientific investigation in which an investigator manipulates and controls
one or more independent and observes the dependent variables for
variation concomitant to the manipulation of the independent variable.

Laboratory Experiment
Research investigation in which investigator created a situation with exact
conditions so as to control some and manipulate other variables.

Field Experiment
Research study in a realistic situation in which one or more independent
variables are manipulated by the experimenter under as carefully controlled
conditions as the situation will permit.
Characteristics of true experiment study design

1) Experimental or treatment group: group that receives the experimental

treatment, manipulation or is different from the control on the variable under
study.
2) Manipulation: The researcher does something to one group of subjects
in the study.
3) Control Group: This group is to produce comparison. The researcher
introduces one or more control group(s) to compare with the experimental
group.
4) Randomization: The researcher takes care to randomly assign subjects
to the control and experimental groups.
5) Double blind : Neither the subject nor the experimenter knows the
subject is in the treatment or the control condition.
 Study Population
(Sampling)

Sample Population
(Randomization)

Study group Control

(Experimental) (Comparison Group)

First Data Collection First Data Collection

(before intervention) (Same time as in study
group)
Intervention/ Manipulation No Manipulation/
(before intervention) (interventional)

Last Data Collection Last Data Collection

(after intervention) (same time as in study group)

Compare

Fig. Diagram of Experimental Study

5) Qualitative Research Design

J.W. Creswell (2002)

“Qualitative research is an inquiry process of understanding based on distinct
methodological traditions of inquiry that explore a social or human problem.”
J.A. Maxwell (2005)
“It is a multi-method in focus involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach
to its subject matter.”
G. Gibbs (2007)
It is an investigation in which the researcher attempts to understand some larger
reality by isolating and measuring components of that reality within their contextual
setting.”
 It is thus an approach to gathering and analyzing information using informal and
formal techniques of data collection and analysis.
 It involves the exploration and interpretations of the perceptions, opinions,
aspirations, behaviors, concerns, motivation, culture or life styles of small samples of
individuals.
 It is highly focused, exploring in depth, the attitudes of people.
 Hence, it is all about exploring issues, understanding phenomenon and answering
questions.
 It is thus valuable in providing rich descriptions of complex phenomena; tracking
unique or unexpected events.
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