What is descriptive research?

•Describes the characteristics of the variables under study

•Focuses on answering questions relating to “what” than the “why” of the research subject

•Simply describe the nature of demographic segment, situation, or phenomenon under study

•Also called observational research method as none of the variables are influenced during the
process

•Quantitative market research or social research

•Appropriate choice when, you aim to identify and explain the characteristics, frequencies, rends
and categories of people, phenomenon

•The intent is to produce statistical information about aspects of subject under study
Definition
“When a particular phenomenon is under study, the research is needed to describe it, to
clarify and explain its inner relationships and properties”.

-Huczynski & Buchana, 1991

“The descriptive research will portray an accurate profile of people, events or situations”.

-Robson, 1993

“Descriptive research should be thought of a mean to an end rather than an end, itself”.

-Yin, 1994
“Descriptive research refers to the methods that describe the characteristics of the variables
under study”.
Characteristics of Descriptive Research
Quantitative in nature
● Attempts to collect quantifiable information for statistical analysis
● Descriptive research does not fit neatly into the definition of either quantitative or qualitative research
methodologies, but instead it can utilize elements of both, often within the same study

Uncontrolled variables
● Just helps identify and describe the characteristics, trends, frequencies, categories etc
● Involve naturalistic data, no control of researcher on data
Cross-sectional study
● Descriptive research is generally a cross-sectional study, different sections belonging to the same group are
studied
● Analyzes data of variables collected at one given point in time across a sample population or a pre-defined
subset

Directs further research

● Points out the patterns between variables and describes them, guides researchers to further find out why
such patterns have been found out and the association between them
● Can also help point towards the types of research methods used for the subsequent research
Applications of descriptive research
Define respondent characteristics
● Close-ended questions to draw concrete conclusions about the respondents: patterns, traits, behaviour,
attitude, or opinion about a phenomenon
● Ex: understanding from youth the hours per week they spend on browsing the internet
Measure data trends
● Measure data trends with a descriptive statistical capabilities
● Ex: election polls, a sample is taken from population of “all likely voters” in upcoming elections
Conduct comparisons
● Understand how different groups respond to a specific situation, phenomenon, product, service etc.
● Ex: audience response to media content, asking general questions that measure the impact of media
content; demographic questions like age, income, gender, educational qualification, ethnicity etc. helps
understand which type of content impact population the most, which population is impacted the most etc.
Validate existing conditions
● Non-invasive research method , quantitative observation, & some aspects of qualitative observation
provide opportunity for in-depth analysis
● Help ascertain the research object’s existing conditions and underlying patterns prevalent in a population
● Ex: frequently used by psychologists to get an estimate of the prevalence of psychological disorders i.e.
“more than 60% of women between ages 50-60 suffer from depression”
Descriptive research methods
1. Survey Method
● Most popular and easy forms of research to obtain descriptive information
● Surveys, polls or questionnaires are used
● Good descriptive research should have a survey that taps into both open-ended and closed-ended questions
● Entails the collection of large amounts of data in a limited span of time
1. Observational method
● Researcher finds the actions of subjects under study in their natural setting
● Majorly used in the marketing and social science fields Naturalistic
Observation
Non-participant observation:
● Observing without actively participating
● Entering the group/system involved, while staying separate from the activities being observed
Participant observation:
● Observing from inside by taking part in group to be observed
Non-participant Participant
1. Case study method
Observation Observation

● In-depth study of an individual or a group

● Limited in their scope, don’t allow the researcher to make cause-effect conclusions or accurate predictions
● There could be a bias on the researcher’s part
● Weak generalizations and moving away from external validity
Data Analysis
● Descriptive statistics simply describe what is or what the data shows
● Descriptive Statistics are used to present quantitative descriptions in a manageable form

Ex: consider a simple number used to summarize how well a batsman is performing in
cricket, his batting average: total number of runs/number of times they’ve bat.
● Every time you try to describe a large set of observations with a single indicator you run
the risk of distorting the original data or losing important detail
● Given these limitations, descriptive statistics provide a powerful summary that may enable
comparisons across people or other units
● Descriptive Statistics: Average, percentage, frequencies, measures of central
tendency- mean, median and mode, standard deviation are used to summarize
the descriptive data
Advantages of descriptive research
● Diverse primary data collection methods
● Provides thorough information
● Helpful in developing hypothesis
● Forms the bases for decision making
● Cheap and quick to conduct
● Provides both quantitative and qualitative data
● Can be conducted in natural settings

Disadvantages of Descriptive Research

● Misleading Information
● Biases in studies/halo effect
● Representative issue
● Limitation in terms of scope