Chapter 8 (Understanding Research Methods and Designs)

• Research Method - This refers to the philosophical, theoretical, conceptual, and analytic perspective research. It can be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed method.
• Approach - Refers to the first step in creating structure to the design and it details a conceptu model or framework of how the research will proceed, considering the objectives ant variables of the study. 
• Design - This refers to the 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.
• According to Kerlinger (cited in Kumar, 2011),

   A Research esign - is a plan, structure and strategy of investigation so conceived as to obtain answers to research questions problems.
• Research Designs Based on the Number of Contacts

  • Cross - sectional studies
  • The before and after design (also known as pre-test and post test design)
  • The Longitudinal Study Design
• Research Designs Based on the Reference Period

  • The retrospective study design
  • The prospective study design the retrospective-prospective study design
• Research Designs Based on the Nature of the Investigation

  • The experimental design
  • Non - experimental design
  • Semi-experimental or quasi-experimental study
• Research Designs in Qualitative Method

  • Case Study
  • Grounded Theory
  • Phenomenology
  • Ethnography
  • Mixed Methods
• Cross-sectional studies - are commonly used in the 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 cross-sectional study is simple in design. 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 - (also known as the pre-test/post-test design). This design can measure change in a situation, phenomenon, issue, problem or attitude. 
• The longitudinal study design -This is useful to determine the pattern of extent of change in a phenomenon, situation, problem or attitude in relation to time; over a longer period.
• The retrospective study design - is 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 or respondents' recall of the situation. 
• The 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. 
• The 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. 
• Experimental design - has an assumption of a cause-and-effect relationship. In this design, the 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 - has the properties of both experimental and non-experimental studies; part of the study may be experimental and the other part non-experimental.
• Case Study - This is a dominant qualitative study design but also prevalent in quantitative research. 

  • This design is relevant when the focus of the study is on extensively exploring and understanding rather than confirming and quantifying, (Kumar, 2011). 
• Grounded Theory - this is an approach to qualitative research data collection and analysis in the social sciences. 

  • As cited by Hennink, Hutter and Bailey (2011), grounded theory is not a theory itself;
• Phenomenology - This is a qualitative research design which studies all possible appearances in human experience using empirical methods (i.e, asking, observing, analyzing data, etc.) 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 (Flick, 2011). 
• Ethnography - This is a research process which deals with the scientific description of individual cultures involving the origins, development and characteristics of human kind, including social customs, beliefs and cultural development
• Mixed Methods - Refers to the research design that uses both quantitative and qualitative data to answer a particular question or sets of questions. In the mixed methods design "words, pictures and narratives can be used to add meaning to numbers" (in Biber, 2010). 
• Design - This refers to the 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.