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Methods and Designs

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19 views23 pages

Methods and Designs

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Joshua Empleo
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UNDERSTANDING RESEARCH

METHODS AND DESIGNS


KEY CONCEPTS
RESEARCH METHOD =philosophical, theoretical, conceptual, and analytic
perspective of research. It can be quantitative, qualitative or mixed method.

APPROACH = first step in creating structure to the design and it details a


conceptual model or framework of how the research will proceed,
considering the objectives and variables of the study.

DESIGN = plan, structure and strategy of investigation so conceived as to


obtain answer to research questions or problems. It is the complete scheme
or program of the 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.
RESEARCH
DESIGN
Plan, structure and strategy of
investigation
After research topic has been finalized,
researcher has to plan detains of what
design to use, what type of data will
provide answers to the problems of the
study, and how the data will be gathered,
presented, analyzed and interpreted.
Research design guides the researcher in planning the following aspects or
procedures of research:

1. Identifying the population of the study.

2. Decision on whether to take the whole population or just select a sample

3. How the sample of the study will be selected.

4. Ethics in the selection of samples and data gathering

5. Choice of method in data collection.

6. Considerations in the use of questionnaires

7. How interviews will be conducted.


RESEARCH DESIGN IN
QUANTITATIVE METHOD

In quantitative research, some of the commonly used designs are


classified by examining them from 3 perspectives:

1. Number of contacts with the study population

2. Reference period of the study

3. Nature of the investigation


Designs Based on Number of contacts
CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDIES - used in
social sciences.

These studies aim to find out the


prevalence of a phenomenon, situation,
problem, attitude or issue by taking a
cross-section of the population.

The researcher decides what he wants to


find out, identify the study population,
select a sample if needed, and contact
the respondents to find out the required
information.
The Before and After Design
(Pre-test/post test design)
Measure change in a situation ,
phenomenon, issue, problem or attitude.

Two sets of cross-sectional data


collection points on the same population
to find out the change in the
phenomenon or variable between two
points in time.

Change is measured by comparing the


difference in the phenomenon or
variable before and after the
intervention.

Commonly used in evaluation studies.


Longitudinal Study Design

Useful to determine the pattern of extent of change in


a phenomenon, situation, problem or attitude in
relation to time.

Study population is visited a number of times at


regular intervals, usually over a longer period.

Intervals may be short as a week or longer than a year.

Type of information gathered each time is identical.

Data collected may come from the same study


population but it may or may not be from the same
respondents.

A longitudinal study can be characterized as a series


of repetitive cross-sectional studies.
Designs based on the Reference Period
Retrospective Study Design

Used to investigate a phenomenon,


situation, problem or issue that has
happened in the past. The study may be
conducted either on the basis of the data
available for that period or on the basis
of respondents’ recall of the situation.
Prospective Study Design

Attempts to establish the outcome of an


event or what is likely to happen, such as
the likely prevalence of a phenomenon,
situation, problem, attitude or outcome
in the future.

Experiments are usually classified as


prospective studies since the researcher
must wait for an intervention to register
its effect on the study population .
Retrospective-Prospective Study Design

This applies to a study wherein available


data are analyzed and used as bases of
future projections. It does not involve a
control group.

Trend studies fall under this category.


Designs Based on the
Nature of the Investigation
Experimental Design

It has an assumption of a cause-and-


effect relationship.

Researcher introduces the intervention


that is assumed to be the cause of
change and waits until it has produced
the change.
Non-experimental Design

The researcher observes a phenomenon


and attempts to establish what caused it.

In this instance, the research starts from


the effect or outcome and attempts to
determine causation.
Semi-experimental or
Quasi-experimental Study

It has the properties of experimental and


non-experimental studies; part of the
study may be experimental and the
other part non-experimental.
Research Designs in Qualitative Method

Case study

Grounded Theory

Phenomenology

Ethnography

Mixed Methods
Case Study
Dominant qualitative study design but also
prevalent in quantitative research.

A case could be individual , a group, a


community, an instance, an episode, an event,
a subgroup of the population, a town, or a city.

It is a very useful design when exploring an


area where little is known or where you want
to have a holistic understanding of the
situation, phenomenon, episode, site, group or
community.

Relevant when the focus of the study is on


extensively exploring and understanding
rather than confirming and quantifying.
Grounded Theory

This is an approach to qualitative


research data collection and analysis in
the social sciences.

It is not a theory itself; but a process for


developing empirical theory from
qualitative research that consists of a set
of tasks and underlying principle
through which theory can be built up
through careful observation of the social
world .
Phenomenology

Studies all possible appearances in


human experience using empirical
methods (i.e. asking, observing,
analyzing data) to make empirically
grounded statements that can be
generalized.

Various aims can be pursued such as


describing a phenomenon, or to evaluate
an intervention or institution in the
interest of knowledge production.
Ethnography

This is a research process which deals


with the scientific description of
individual cultures involving the origins,
development and characteristics of
humankind, including social customs,
beliefs and cultural development.
Mixed Methods

Uses both quantitative and qualitative


data to answer a particular question or
sets of questions.

“Words, pictures and narratives can be


used to add meaning to numbers”

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