CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH DESIGN

Meaning of Research Design

 Once the research problem is formulated and objective is
developed, the researcher will be required to prepare a research
design

 Research design refers to the arrangement of the condition for

collection and analysis of data in a manner that will satisfy or
achieve the objectives of the undertaking research.

 The function of research design is to provide for the collection of

relevant information with minimal expenditure of effort, time and
money.
1
Cont…
 Research design is a mapping strategy.

It is essentially a statement of the object of the inquiry (review) and

the strategies for collecting the evidences, analyzing the evidences
and reporting the findings.

Research design has two basic purposes:

(1) to provide answers to research questions, and

(2) to control the variance (adjustment, change).

2
Research Design

The research design will be in respect of

What is the study about? (Problem definition)

Why is the study being made? (Justification)

Where will the study be carried out? (Location)

What type of data is required? (Quant, Qual)

Where can the required data be found (target population)

What will be the sample design (technique chosen)

3
Research Design
We may split the overall research design into three

 The sampling design - which deals with the method of selecting items to be observed for the
given study.

 Figure: Sampling Design Process

 The statistical design - which concerns with the question of how many items are to be observed
and how the information and data gathered are to be analyzed;

 The operational design - which deals with the techniques by which the procedures specified in
the sampling, Statistical and observational designs can be carried out.
4
In brief, research design must, at least, contain:

a clear statement of the research problem;

procedures and techniques to be used for
gathering information;
the population to be studied; and
methods to be used in processing and analyzing
data.

5
NEED FOR RESEARCH DESIGN
Research design is needed, because:
 Making research as efficient as possible yielding
maximal information with minimal expenditure
of effort, time and money.
Stands for advance planning of the methods to
be adopted for collecting the relevant data and the
techniques to be used in their analysis.
Preparation of the research design should be done
with great care as any error in it may dissatisfied
the entire project.

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Features of a Good Design
A good design is often characterized by adjectives like flexible,
appropriate, efficient, economical and so on

The design which minimizes bias(unfairness) and maximizes the

reliability of the data collected and analyzed is considered a good design

 The design which gives the smallest experimental error is supposed to

be the best design in many investigations

Similarly, a design which yields maximal information and provides an

opportunity for considering many different aspects of a problem is
considered most appropriate and efficient design in respect of many
research problems
7
Cont …
A research design appropriate for a particular research problem,
usually involves the consideration of the following factors:

the means of obtaining information;

the availability and skills of the researcher and his staff, if any;

the objective of the problem to be studied;

the nature of the problem to be studied; and

the availability of time and money for the research work.

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 Different Research Designs

• Different research designs can be conveniently described if we

categorize them as:

(1) research design in case of exploratory research studies;

(2) research design in case of descriptive and diagnostic research

studies, and

(3) research design in case of hypothesis-testing research studies.

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(1) research design in case of exploratory research
studies
conducted for a problem that has not been studied more clearly,
intended to establish priorities, develop operational definitions and
improve the final research design

also termed as formulative research studies

The main purpose of such studies is that of

-formulating a problem for more precise (exact), investigation or

- developing the working hypotheses from an operational point of view

- The major emphasis in such studies is on the discovery of ideas and

insights (understanding) 10
cont …
Generally, the following three methods in the context of research
design for such studies are talked about:

(a) The survey of concerning literature;

(b) The experience survey and

(c) The analysis of ‘insight-stimulating’ examples.

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(a) The survey of concerning literature

Happens to be the most simple and fruitful method of

formulating precisely the research problem or
developing hypothesis.

Hypotheses stated by earlier workers may be reviewed

and their usefulness be evaluated as a basis for further
research.

In this way the researcher should review and build upon
the work already done by others.
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(b) The experience survey
Experience survey means the survey of people who have had
practical experience with the problem to be studied.

The objective of such a survey is to obtain insight into the

relationships between variables and new ideas relating to the research
problem.

For such a survey people who are competent and can contribute new
ideas may be carefully selected as respondents to ensure a
representation of different types of experience.

13
Cont…
The researcher must prepare an interview schedule for the
systematic questioning of informants.

But the interview must ensure flexibility in the sense that the
respondents should be allowed to raise issues and questions which
the investigator has not previously considered.

Generally, the experience collecting interview is likely to be long

and may last for few hours.

Hence, it is often considered desirable to send a copy of the

questions to be discussed to the respondents well in advance.

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(c) The analysis of ‘insight-stimulating’ examples.
Analysis of ‘insight-stimulating’:

It is particularly suitable in areas where there is little experience to

serve as a guide.

This method consists of the intensive study of selected instances of

the phenomenon in which one interested.

For this purpose, the existing records, if any, may be examined, the
unstructured interviewing may take place, or some other
approach may be adopted.

15
Cont …
the main features which make this method an appropriate
procedure for suggesting insights are:
Attitude of the investigator,

the strength of the study and

the ability of the researcher to draw together diverse information into a

unified interpretation.

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2. Research design in case of descriptive and
diagnostic research studies:

Descriptive research studies are those studies which are concerned

with describing the characteristics of a particular individual, or of a
group.

Diagnostic research studies determine the frequency with which

something occurs or its association with something else.

Most of the social research comes under this category.

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3. Research design in case of hypothesis-testing research
studies
Generally Known as Experimental Studies

 are those where the researcher tests the hypotheses of causal

relationships between variables (cause and effect)

Such studies require procedures that will not only reduce bias and
increase reliability, but will permit drawing inferences(conclusion)
about causality.

when we talk of research design in such studies, we often mean the

design of experiments.

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 Sampling Methods

What is Sampling?
• The act, process, or technique of selecting a suitable sample, or a
representative part of a population for the purpose of determining
parameters or characteristics of the whole population.

• There would be no need for statistical theory if a census rather than a

sample was always used to obtain information about populations.

• A census may not be practical and is almost never economical (do not
save economic).
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Questions to be asked
• When you want to draw a sample you must consider the
following questions:
What is the study population you are interested in from which you want
to draw a sample?

How many subjects do you need in your sample?

How will these subjects be selected?

The study population has to be clearly defined. Otherwise you cannot

do the sampling.

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Cont….
Apart from persons, a study population may consist of:

villages, institutions, plants, animals, records, etc.

Each study population consists of study units.

The way you define your study population and your study unit
depends on: the problem you want to investigate and on the
objectives of the study

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 Sampling

• Six main reasons for sampling instead of doing a census.

• Economy

• Timeliness

• The large size of many populations

• Inaccessibility (unreachability) of some of the population

• Destructiveness (harmfulness) of the observation

• Accuracy

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Sampling

23
Sampling Techniques
• Probability sampling

• Each unit of the population will be represented in the sample.

• Each member of the population has a chance (equal in the case

of random selection) of being selected.

• Non-probability sampling

• The researcher has no way of forecasting that each member of

the population will be represented in the sample.

• Some members of the population have little or no chance of

being selected.
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 Sampling Techniques

Probability Sampling includes:

Simple random sampling

Systematic random sampling

Stratified random sampling

Proportional stratified sampling

Cluster sampling

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 Probability Sampling Techniques

Simple random sampling

• The least sophisticated of all sampling designs

• Simple random selection where every member of the

population is given an equal chance of being selected;

• Good for homogeneous population;

• Easy when the population is small and elements are

known;

• Impractical for very large populations 26

Example 2
The owner of Company XYZ wants to know if his employs are
satisfied with the quality of food provided in the company.

In this case, the target population is every person who works at
the company.

Thus, population is precisely defined, is specific and elements

are finite in number

The population is homogenous because people belonging to

different groups (age, gender) are not very much likely to be
different over the issue.

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Cont..
There are 1000 employs in the company.

To draw a sample of 100 participants, the researcher uses an

exhaustive (complete) list of the employees (it means the list
contains the names of all the 1000 employs)

He now follows a computer-generated table containing 100

numbers in between 1 to 1000.

The participants whose names are corresponding to the selected

numbers are approached and investigated.

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Example

29
Probability Sampling Techniques cont…

• Systematic random sampling

• Selecting elements of the population in predetermined
sequence;

• Select every kth item on a list

• This type of sampling is also used for homogenous

population.

30
Cont..
Unlike simple random sampling, there is not an equal probability
of every element been included

In this type of sampling the elements are selected at a regular

interval.

The interval may be in terms of time, space or order

For example, element appearing after every 30 minutes, or present

at a distance of two meters, or every 5th element present on a list.

Thus, this regularity and uniformity in selection makes the

sampling systematic.
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Example 2 (when lists are available)
The owner of Company XYZ wants to know if his employees are
satisfied with the quality of food provided in the company.

 In this case, the target population is every person who works at the
company

 There are 1000 (N) employs in the company working in 4 different

departments A, B, C, D

 The population is homogenous because people belonging to different

groups are not very much likely to be different over the issue.

32
 Cont..
However, the elements are already grouped.

So, in order to ensure the extension of sample to the whole population

systematic sampling is used.

To draw a sample of 100 (n) participants, the researcher uses an

exhaustive(complete) list of the employees from all the four departments.

He arranges the lists in order and compiles them to one.

There are 234 employs in A, 345 in B, 156 in C, 265 in D

He allots a number to each name.

In this way the name that was first on the individual list B is now 235th on the
compiled list.
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Cont..
Dividing N by n, researcher gets a number for the interval to be
used i.e. 10.

Looking into the list, he selects 7th employ at random.

Then every 10th from the 7th is included.

In this way the sample is composed of employs whose names are
corresponding to number 7, 17, 27, 37.... .997

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 Probability Sampling Techniques cont…
• Stratified random sampling
• Applied when the population has different layers (strata)

• The researcher samples from each one of the layers (stratum)

equally

• Examples
• Sampling of school children from grades 4, 5 and 6

• Sampling of customers from

• Corporate customers

• Residential customers

35
 Probability Sampling Techniques
• Proportional stratified sampling
• When number of the elements of the strata are
different
• 2,000 corporate customers
• 40,000 residential customers
Suppose number of sample needed is 210
customers. Find size of sample of each stratum by
using proportional allocation.
36
 Cluster Sampling
The group of elements residing in one geographical region is called
as cluster.

And sampling of clusters is called as cluster sampling.

This sampling technique is used when the elements of population are

spread over a wide geographical area.

The population is divided into sub-groups called as clusters on the

basis of their geographical allocation.

37
 Cont…
Steps

Step 1. First you define the clusters

Step 2. Then you group the clusters into strata of clusters, putting

similar clusters together in a stratum

Step 3. Then you randomly pick one (or more) cluster from each

of the strata of clusters

Step 4. Then you sample the subjects within the sampled clusters

(either all the subjects, or a simple random sample of them)

1/28/2021
Example
1. Education department wants to inspect quality of education in
schools of ABC City.

2. There are twenty-five thousand schools in the city; the researcher

wants to take a sample of 1000 schools.

• In this case if simple random or systematic random sampling is used

it will demand to move around the whole city locating the selected
schools that are dispersed which would consume more time, efforts
and money.

39
Cont..
So, instead the researcher chooses cluster sampling for
his/her research.

He/she divides the city’s population into 21 towns; thus

into 21 clusters.

A number is allotted to each cluster.

Then 7 clusters are selected using simple random

sampling.

40
Cont…
• Cluster sampling
• Grouping the population into clusters and then select
members of clusters
Random selection
Population of clusters
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5

C5 C6 C7 C8 C8

C9 C10 C11 C12 C11

41
Probability Sampling Techniques
Population characteristics
Homogeneous members
Stratified population with
approximately equal in size
Stratified population, strata
different in size
Population with discrete
clusters with similar
characteristics
Appropriate sampling
technique
•Simple random sampling
•Systematic random
sampling
Stratified random
sampling
Proportional stratified
sampling
Cluster sampling
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2. Non-Probability Sampling
Techniques
• Non-probability sampling includes:
• Convenience sampling
• Quota sampling
• Purposive sampling

43
Non-Probability Sampling Techniques
• Convenience sampling
• Taking of samples that are readily available

Ex: those that arrive on a scene (part) by coincidence (chance)

• May be appropriate for some less demanding research

• Purposive sampling
• Units of the sample are chosen purposively.

• Choosing people who we have decided are “typical” of a group;

44
Non-Probability Sampling Techniques
• Quota sampling
• A variation of convenience sampling

• Elements are selected in the same proportion as in the

population but not in a random fashion
• Ex: there are equal number of Information System(IS) and Computer
Science (CS) students

• Quota sampling would choose 20 IS and 20 CS

students without any attempt to random selection

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Sampling Process
• Steps in the sampling process (Shajahan, 2004)
• Defining the population
• Specifying the sampling unit
• Specifying the sampling frame
• (the means of representing the elements of the population. Eg. Tele.
Book, map, city directory, …)

• Specifying the sampling method

• Determining the sampling size
• Specifying the sampling plan
• Selecting the sample
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 Data Collection
is a term used to describe a process of preparing and
collecting research data

It is important to choose the right data collection

method(s) as this will allow data to be collected that will
meet the objectives of the research;

47
 Nature of Data
The data can be classified into two broad categories:

Qualitative data.

Quantitative data.

1. Qualitative Data or Attributes: The characteristics or traits for

which numerical value cannot be assigned, e.g. motivation,
confidence, honesty integrity etc.

2. Quantitative Data or Variables: The characteristics or traits for

which numerical value can be assigned, e.g. Achievement Intelligent,
Aptitude Height, Weight etc.
48
 Types of Data
• Primary Data:
• Are those which are collected afresh (anew) and for the first time
and thus happen to be original in character

• Secondary data:
• Are those which have been collected by someone else and which
have already been passed through the statistical process

49
Cont…
Methods of Data Collection
The task of data collection begins after a research problem has
been defined and research design plan chalked out

While deciding about the method of data collection to be used for

the study, the researcher should keep in mind two types of data viz.,
primary and secondary

The methods of collecting primary and secondary data differ since

primary data are to be originally collected,while in case of
secondary data the nature of data collection work is merely that of
compilation

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Methods of Primary data collection
Observation (Systematic viewing)

Personal Interviews (structured or unstructured

Telephone Interviews

Questionnaire (self administered)

Popular in case of big inquiries

52
• Choice of data collection largely depends upon:
The objective of research

Minimization of Bias

Reduction of non-response

Reduction of data error

Minimization of expenses

53
 Development of Questionnaire
Open ended question

-Open-ended questions allow respondents to answer in their own

words

Multiple choice

Yes / No

Likert scale (Rating scale)

5 4 3 2 1 or -2 -1 0 1 2
Strongly agree, agree, strongly disagree

Rankings
54
 Questionnaire design
• Pay attention to Pattern (arrangement) of questions

• Pay attention to the number of questions

• Avoid Difficult questions

• Avoid Leading questions

• Avoid Ambiguous questions

• Pilot testing is very important

• Helps to validate your questionnaire

55
 When to use different types of questions

• Open questions should be used when rich qualitative data

is needed that describes the respondent´s perception of their
own experience.

• Multiple choice questions are useful when there is more

complexity in the range of possible responses in discrete
categories, but the range of expected responses is still fairly
limited.

56
 Cont…
• Dichotomous questions are useful in situations where you want to
force respondents to express a clear opinion or as a filter for
determining which subsequent questions are appropriate.

• Rating scales are useful for seeking a measure of perceptions and

attitudes (approaches)of respondents.

• Rank ordering can be useful when the relative preference of

respondents is sought (required) from a relatively limited range of
options.

57
Collection of secondary data
Secondary data might be either published or unpublished.
One should however be careful in using secondary data
since the data available may be misleading.
One has to check for
Suitability
 (Is it relevant for your research problem)
Adequacy
 (will you be able to answer your questions adequately)
Reliability
 (when was the data collected, who collected data, how was the data
collected?)

58
Questions for Assignment(10 %)
Discuss the following Issues of these considered in conducting
research
• Background History of Researches of computing up to now.
• Framework for statistical and operational design
• Hypothesis testing
• Measures of association
• Exploring, displaying , and examining data
 Proposal Title Areas
Current Research Topics in Information Systems
Database and Data Mining
Database management system
Digital Library Technologies
Visualizing Large VLSI Datasets
Web mining
Big data
Applications of Data warehousing and data mining
Networking
SDN
Cloud Computing
MANET
Network intrusion and detection
TCP Switching
1/28/2021
High Performance Switching
 Cont…
Link Adaptation in Wireless Local Area Networks
Mobility in Cellular and Wireless Local Area Networks
Performance Assessment and Traffic Differentiation in
Wireless Local Area Networks
Remote Exploration and Experimentation
Information security
Identity Based Encryption
Security and Cryptography on WWW
Authenticating Streamed Data
Identity Based Encryption Email system
Intrusion tolerance via threshold cryptography
1/28/2021 Security of cryptographic primitives and protocols
 Cont…
Health Informatics
Human-Centered Computing
Software Engineering
Software Development Methodologies
 Systems Design and Implementation
Natural Language & Speech
Artificial Intelligence
 Distributed Systems Computing
Cloud computing
Human Computer Interaction
• Knowledge Representation & Reasoning
• Machine Learning
1/28/2021
 Cont…
Agile Engineering Methods for Distributed Dependable
Systems
Modeling Complex Systems
Design Patterns for Distributed Dependable Control
Systems
Agent Oriented Software Engineering
Design and Analysis Methods for Multi-Agent Systems
Software Engineering Methods and Tools for Soft
Computing
Software Quality and Infrastructure Protection for Diffuse
Computing
E-commerce challenges and solutions
Automated E-commerce negotiation agents
1/28/2021