FIVE BASIC TYPES OF RESEARCH STUDIES

March 09, 2020

By: Organization for Autism Research
Categories: Blog, Featured Blog

https://researchautism.org/five-basic-types-of-research-studies/ 16/2/22

There are five basic types of research studies, each designed to answer different kinds
of questions. The five types of studies are discussed below. 

1. CASE STUDIES

Case studies look at a single subject (e.g., a child with autism) or a single case (e.g., a
classroom for children with autism). Case studies are typically used in research that
describes the development of an individual, group, or situation over a period of time in
order to provide a detailed account of what is occurring within its real-life context.

 The advantage of a case study is that it allows the researcher to gather a lot of

information about one person or one case.
 The disadvantage of a case study is that the information gathered about one
person or a small group of people cannot readily be applied or generalized to
other people or other cases in other situations or other settings and, therefore,
may be of limited use.

Click here to check out a sample case study. 

2. CORRELATIONAL STUDIES

Correlational studies look for a relationship between two or more variables, or things,
that naturally occur in the same environment. Correlational studies cannot tell us
anything about cause and effect, only that there is a relationship between two or more
things. For example, a study might be designed to determine if there is a relationship
between the number of children with autism in a particular community and the month
of their birth.
 Figure 1 presents a bar graph of a study of
number of children with autism and month of birth. The graph illustrates that more
children with autism were born in the winter months (November, December, and
January) than in the summer, spring, or fall.

Although this graph shows a relationship between cases of autism in one community
and month of birth, we cannot make the assumption that a winter birthday causes
autism. Perhaps some other variable that we have not considered (such as an illness) is
having an effect on the two variables under study.

 The advantage of correlational studies is that a lot of information about a large

number of people can be gathered at one point in time.
 The disadvantage of correlational studies is that it is not possible to control
other factors outside of the study that might influence the research.

Click here to check out a sample correlational study.

3. LONGITUDINAL STUDIES

Longitudinal studies can give us information about how people develop over time.
These types of studies follow one group of people (referred to as a cohort) across time,
measuring the same behavior multiple times. For example, we may want to determine
if children with autism do better on performance tests in self-contained than in
inclusive classrooms. The best research design for answering this question would be to
follow one cohort of children with autism that spent time in both environments.

In Figure 2, this design is presented with a line graph.

As illustrated in the graph, children in this cohort performed better in grades 1 and 4
when they were in inclusive classrooms than in grades 2 and 3 when they were in self-
contained environments.

 The advantage of longitudinal studies is that they allow researchers to pinpoint

times during development when changes occur.
 The disadvantage of longitudinal studies is that it takes a long time to complete
them. (Note that in the example in Figure 2, the study took four years to
complete.)

Click here to check out a sample longitudinal study.

4. EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

Experimental studies are controlled so that the researcher manipulates one variable to
determine its effect on other variables. Two primary types of experimental studies are
used in intervention development and testing: randomized group design and single-
case design.

The first type includes experimental group designs in which participants are randomly
assigned either to receive the intervention (the experimental group) or to a control
group. The control group completes all the same steps as the experimental group,
except they do not receive the intervention that is under investigation. Therefore, if the
study is well controlled, it can be concluded that the differences between the
experimental and control groups at the end of the study are due to the intervention.

A second type of experimental study frequently used in intervention research is single-

case design (SCD). Many studies involving children with autism, particularly those
examining behavioral and educational treatments, use single-case designs. Rather than
examining differences across participant groups that do and do not receive an
intervention, single-case designs involve individual participants or a small cluster of
participants who provide their own control for comparison. For example, a researcher
may be interested in determining whether a new communication intervention tool on
tablet devices improves communication skills.

 The advantage of randomized experimental studies is that the research design

allows researchers to examine cause-and-effect relationships.
 The disadvantage of a randomized experimental study is that the results
cannot always be generalized to the real world. This is because this kind of study
lacks “real-world” authenticity; that is, what occurs in a controlled environment
of a study may be very different from what might occur in a real-life setting, such
as a typical classroom.
Click here to check out a sample experimental study. 

5. CLINICAL TRIAL STUDIES

Clinical trial studies are one specific type of randomized group experimental study.
Clinical trial studies are most likely to be conducted in medical or other clinical settings.
Similar to experimental group design studies, clinical trial studies employ an
experimental/control group, in which participants are randomly assigned to receive the
experimental treatment (e.g., a medication to treat autism symptoms) or a placebo (a
sugar pill).

In both randomized experimental group and

clinical trial studies, participants are not informed about their group assignment to
guard against participant expectations about intervention or treatment. In addition, in
well-designed studies, experimenters are not informed about group assignment either
to guard against researcher expectations about intervention or treatment. That is, if
participants expect to get better because they know they are receiving treatment, they
may actually get better; similarly, if researchers expect an intervention to be successful,
they may perceive it as so, regardless of whether or not the treatment is actually
effective! This uninformed state is what researchers refer to as being blind to the
conditions of the experiment. When both participants and experimenters are
uninformed, it is referred to as a double-blind study, and is a means of ensuring
objective results.

 The advantage of clinical trial studies is that they can determine the

effectiveness of an intervention. This is because the intervention is compared
with a placebo or control condition.
 The disadvantage of clinical trial studies is the same as for randomized
experimental studies; that is, the results of the study cannot always be
generalized to a real-life setting.

Click here to check out a sample clinical trials study.

Reading and interpreting research can be a difficult task. However, with perseverance
and practice, you can learn to comfortably navigate scientific writing for the purposes
of making informed treatment decisions for your child. This section is written to give
you a basic understanding of the scientific model underlying research studies. Check
out OAR’s A Parent’s Guide for Research for more information.

To my knowledge, the methodological part of a review paper is mainly characterized by accurately

describing how the relevant literature was selected (which database, which search terms, which
inclusion/exclusion criteria) and how it was then analyzed and summarized. This is also called a
review protocol. Furthermore, one could differentiate which type of review is carried out (e.g.
integrative review, systematic review,...).3

(Afshar and fifty 1987, Minar 1994, Badran 1995, Kandiyoti 1996, Rajavi 2004 Hammond 2021).