Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Qualitative Research
Designs
E. HAIPINGE
07 APRIL 2015
INTRODUCTION
By the end of the lecture, students should be able to:
Define research design
Identify quantitative research designs
Identify qualitative research designs
Define each research design
Understand the appropriate use of each research design
RESEARCH DESIGN
A detailed outline of how a research investigation will take place
It includes:
how data is to be collected,
what instruments will be employed,
how the instruments will be used and
the intended means for analyzing data collected.
DESIGN vs METHOD
Research design
Research method
Experimental Design
Research in which the investigator manipulates one or more independent
variables (the treatment) and observes the effect on one or more dependent
variables
It involves an experiment: An experiment is an orderly procedure carried
out with the goal of verifying, refuting, or establishing the validity of a
hypothesis.
Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what
outcome occurs when a particular factor is manipulated.
Data collection methods: standardized tests, measuring tests, questionnaires,
Characteristics of Experimental
Design
Random assignment: randomly assigning individuals to experimental or control
groups
Control over extraneous variables: factors other than independent variable
that may influence the outcome of the experiment
Manipulation of the treatment conditions: interventions made by researcher to
change conditions of experimental group
Outcome measures: assessing whether treatment conditions influence outcome
(dependent variable)
Group comparison: comparing the test scores and variation between
experimental and control group
Correlational Design
Research that attempts to determine the extent and the direction
of the relationship between two or more variables.
Unlike experimental and ex posto facto designs that compares
variables between groups, correlational research assesses the
relationships among two or more variables in a single group.
Correlation indicates whether the relationship between variables
is positive or negative and the strength of this relationship.
Data collection methods: measuring tests, questionnaires, existing data
Value of houses
Value of vehicles
Survey Design
Survey research, describes the distributions of variables in a specified group
In survey research, investigators ask questions about peoples beliefs, opinions,
characteristics, and behavior
Types of surveys:
Census (the whole population is surveyed)
Census of tangibles (desks in school); census of intangibles (ICT literacy level)
Sample survey (a representative small group is selected from the total population)
Longitudinal surveys (panel studies, trend studies, and cohort research)
Cross-sectional surveys (study a cross section [sample] of a population at a single point
in time)
Data collection methods: questionnaires, checklists, observation
Trend studies
Here, different individuals randomly drawn from the same general population to be surveyed at intervals over a period
of time. This general population changes in membership over time.
Example: each year, a sample is randomly drawn from general population of learners in each grade to study the
development of their vocabulary (e.g. a random sample of 30 learners each year from grades 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A)
Cohort studies
A specific population is followed over a length of time with different random samples studied at various points
A cohort study samples a specific population whose members do not change over the duration of the survey
Example: random sample selected from grade 1A class of 2015 at various points in time (e.g. 2A in 2016; 3A in 2017)
Phenomenographical research
Case Studies
Case study focuses on a single unit to produce an in-depth description
that is rich and holistic
unit can be an individual, a group, a site, a class, a policy, a program, a
process, an institution, or a community
Theyre particularistic, descriptive and heuristic
Asks: What are the characteristics of this particular entity, phenomenon,
person, or setting?
Seeks to understand the whole case in the totality of the environment
Data collection methods: Interviews, observations, focus groups, document review
Content/document Analysis
A research method applied to written or visual materials for the purpose of identifying
specified characteristics of the material
Examples: textbooks, newspapers, web pages, speeches, television programs,
advertisements, musical compositions
Purpose is to:
Identify bias, prejudice, or propaganda in textbooks
Analyze types of errors in students writings
Describe prevailing practices
Discover the level of difficulty of material in textbooks or other publications
Discover the relative importance of, or interest in, certain topics
Data collection methods: document, audio-visual review
Ethnography
Ethnography is the in-depth study of naturally occurring
behavior within a culture or entire social group
Seeks to understand the relationship between culture (shared beliefs,
values, concepts, practices, and attitudes) and behavior of a specific
group of people
Grounded Theory
It seeks to inductively build a theory about a practice or phenomenon
using interviews and observation as the primary data collection tools
It focuses on gathering data about peoples experiences in a particular
context and then inductively building a theory from the bottom up.
The theory is grounded in the data to a particular context, situation, or
experience.
It moves beyond description to generate or discover a theory that emerges
from the data and that provides an explanation of a process, action, or
interaction.
Data collection methods: Interviews, observations, focus groups
Review
literature;
report
findings
Identify
participants
Purposive
sampling
Grounded
Theory Research
Process
Formulate
substantive
theory/
hypothesis
Saturated
data:
categories,
themes
Theoretical
sampling/
modify
questions
Collect data
(interview/
observation)
Analyse data
& develop
codes
Historical Studies
Historical studies seek to establish facts and arrive at conclusions concerning the
past
The historian systematically locates, evaluates, and interprets evidence from which
people can learn about the past
It systematically locates, evaluates, and interprets evidence from which people can
learn about the past
Conclusions drawn increase knowledge of how and why past events occurred and the
process by which the past became the present
Goal is increased understanding of the present and a more rational basis for making
choices
Data collection methods: Interviews, document review
History books
Articles in encyclopedias, and
Reviews of research
Reports from primary sources
Narrative Research
Narrative research focuses on stories (spoken or written) told by individuals about
their lives.
The researcher seeks to understand the lived experience of an individual or small
group
The researcher emphasizes sequence and chronology and a collaborative re-storying
process
Primary sources of data: direct participant recollection through interviews
Secondary sources of data: documents produced by the participant diaries, journals,
letters, blogs, created artifacts, e-mail exchanges, memos, photographs, memory boxes,
audio recordings
Data collection methods: Interviews, written accounts, existing recordings, publications
Phenomenological Research
Designed to describe and interpret an experience by determining the meaning of the
experience as perceived by the people who have participated in it
Asks: What is the experience of an activity or concept from the perspective of particular
participants?
Reference
Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C., Razavieh, A., & Sorensen, C. (2010). Introduction to
research in education (8th ed.). Canada: Cengage Learning.
Businessdictionary.com. (2015). Research design. Retrieved from:
http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/researchdesign.html#ixzz3Wbh6JwOG