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RESEARCH DESIGNS

Research Design refers to a scheme of action for meeting the objectives of the study.

From the available research designs, the researcher is to select the most appropriate, effective
and efficient which will help him in attaining the study goals.
Appropriate – the research design is suited or fitting to the problem under study
Effective – the design selected shall help the researcher in producing the intended
results of the study
Efficient – the ratio of cost and efforts spent for the project is low but the results are at
least on a high level

Notes: No versatile research design that is applicable to an investigation; everything lies on the
type of study that has been selected by the researcher to pursue. The research design chosen
shall not only consider the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficacy but also the validity of the
research results.

Threats to Validity

1. History

- refers to events which happen during the life of a study

- the events are not part of the study nor anticipated when the research was on the
planning stage
- the events may produce effects that influence the outcomes of the study, either
increasing or decreasing expected results
- e.g. The Migration Patterns of People in Central Luzon, Philippines
• the volume and direction of migrants were collected
• the reasons of migration were recorded
• other factors related to the geographical movement were considered
• An event happened which affected the study. Mt. Pinatubo Volcano erupted
which was not part in the planning stage of the study. People during that time
migrated not because of the reasons identified by the researcher but because they
were forced to do so.

2. Selection

- this threat occurs when the subjects of the study are chosen to form the study
groups
- if two groups are selected for comparison purposes, as in experimental studies, it
could be that the difference between the groups, after one group has been exposed
to an intervention or treatment, is due to other factors and not due to the treatment
itself. Factors need to be considered are sex, age, education, and economic status.
- e.g. A Study on the Fertility of Two Groups of Women
• Group A may have lower fertility than Group B not because the former group uses
contraceptive methods but because in the selection of the women to compose the
groups, more women in the menopausal stage were assigned to Group A while more
of those in the reproductive ages were assigned to Group B.

3. Testing

- refers to the effect of a test given repeatedly

- the subjects are given an intervention or treatment (pretest) and the same test is
given in the posttest
- memory recall: the subjects might remember the questions/items in the pretest
• to control this threat is to rephrase the items or arrange them differently so that
posttest will look different
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• if pretest is not necessary, do not anymore give a pretest

4. Instrumentation

- refers to the unreliability or lack of consistency in measuring instruments which may

result to an invalid assessment of performance

- e.g.
• the change of the instrument in the pretest and the posttest
• the items written in the questionnaire do not exactly relate to the objectives of the
study

5. Maturation

- refers to the change (physiological or psychological) which happens to the subjects

involved in a study conducted over a relatively long period of time
- e.g. Evaluation conducted at the end of a training which took in a month
• the effectiveness of the training during the evaluation may not only be caused by
the trainer and the input given but may also be caused by the maturation of the
participants with respect to knowledge, experience, age, etc.
• a failure of this training may not only be caused by the trainer and the way the
input is given but may also be affected by the participant’s tiredness, boredom,
restlessness, tardiness or even absences.

6. Mortality

- refers to the loss of cases or subjects during the posttest stage of the study
- this is often true when the same group of people are taken during the posttest
- e.g. A Study on the Performance of AB Pol Sci Students in Math
• some of the students may drop before the semester ends
• the low or high performance during the posttest may not be due to a particular
intervention but may be caused by the lost of some subjects

Notes: 1. These are the well-known threats to validity. There are other threats which are not
included in this presentation.
2. The research design that a researcher may select for his particular study may be
vulnerable to one or more of the validity threats.
3. It is therefore important to distinguish an effect caused by an intervention from an
effect caused by the validity effect.

TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS

1. Historical

- the ultimate goal is to know or understand how an institution, political territory,

event, or condition developed into their present status
- aims to find out the whole truth on issues which are vague, confusing, doubtful, or
incomplete; thus fueling various speculations
- systematic and objective location, evaluation, and synthesis of evidences in order to
establish the facts and draw conclusions about the past events which could be used
for understanding a situation, planning, or forecasting
- e.g. These examples are taken from the book of Ardales, 2008
• History of Himamaylan
• Historical Analysis of Interregional Migration
• The Sakdal Movement: A Historical Assessment
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• Social and Political Philosophies of Graciano Lopez Jaena

• A Demographic Projection of the Collegiate Population of Baguio City

2. Descriptive

- aims to find out what prevails in the present:

• conditions or relationships
• held opinions and beliefs
• processes and effects
• developing trends
- seeks to determine relationships between variables, explores causes of phenomena,
tests hypotheses, and develops generalizations, principles or theories on the basis of
its findings
- concerns on the conditions and things which exist at the time of the study
- considers only past events and influences which are deemed related to the present
study

Types of Descriptive Researches

a. Survey
– most commonly used design
– detailed and quantified description of a population – a precise map or a
precise measurement of potential
– suitable for studies which objective is to see a general picture of the
population under investigation, describe the nature of existing conditions, or
determine the relationships that exist between or among specific variables of
the study
– types of survey: Census – complete enumeration
Sample Survey – popularly known as “survey” which takes
only a portion of the population
– Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. Gender Roles in Sustainable Agricultural and Aquacultural Productivity: The
Case of Western Visayas
ii.Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Traditional and Modern Medicines in
Iloilo and Negros Occidental
iii. The Poverty Condition of Artisanal Fishermen in Iloilo Province

b. Case Study
- appropriate design to use when the aim of the study is to have a deeper,
more thorough and more comprehensive understanding of an individual or
group such as the family, class, organization or community
- used when the purpose of the study is to prove deeply and to analyze
intensively the multifarious phenomena that constitute the life cycle of the
unit with a view to establishing generalizations about the wider population to
which that unit belongs
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. Alternative Strategies for Financing Primary Health Care: Lessons from
Six Case Studies
ii. Rural Women in Rice Enterprises: A Case Study
iii. A Case Study on How Working Mothers Adjust to Their Conflicting Roles
as Mothers and as Career Women

c. Trend Study
- used when the objective of the study is to predict (on the basis of the
available data) the direction and future status of certain phenomenon like
population size, school enrolment, business growth, household expenditures
and residential location
- two categories: Short-Term Studies and Long-Term Studies
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- the former category is more reliable because the latter one may be affected
by time, maturation and other threats
- doing repeated short-term trend analyses on a particular phenomenon will
not only forecast the future but will also provide an information regarding
the behavior of the particular event or situation
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. Socioeconomic Change and Breastfeeding Trends: The Case of the
Philippines
ii. Infant and Child Mortality in the Philippines: Levels, Trends and
Differentials
iii. Trends in Female Migration to the Cities and the Changing Structure of
Employment in the Philippines

d. Content Analysis
- used when the objective of the study is to find out the type and the quality of
message found in current documents
- also known as “document analysis”
- applied for an objective, systematic and quantitative description of the
manifest’s content of communication
- uses of content analysis: (Berelson, 1971)
• describes trends in communication content
• traces the development of scholarship
• discloses international differences in communication
• compares media or “levels” of communication
• audits content against objectives
• constructs and applies communication standards
• serves as aid in technical research operations
• exposes propaganda techniques
• measures the “readability” of communication materials
• discovers stylistic features
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. Comparative/Contrastive analysis of content of comic books pre/post
martial law
ii. A content analysis of Panorama vis-à-vis generally accepted standards of
press freedom in Third World Countries
iv. Study of stylistic simplicity in English literature

e. Feasibility Study
- applicable when the objective of the study is to find out the viability of
starting a business venture, implementing a development program,
establishing an institution, forming an organization, putting up a television
network or constructing a commercial building
- thorough and systematic analysis of all factors that affect the possibility of
success of a proposed undertaking
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. Opening a college program such as nursing, computer education, and
criminology
ii. Expansion of a business venture in other cities or regions
iii. Creating an additional department in a company or government system

f. Development Study
- used when the purpose of the researcher is to find out how and to what
extent individuals grow or develop in terms of physical, intellectual,
emotional and social dimensions
- Classification:
Longitudinal – requires considerable time to finish, say a year or a number
of years
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- the primary concern is to find out the change or progress of

participants over time
Cross-sectional – conducted at one point in time
- the focus of the investigation is to determine the
differentials between and among individuals who vary in
age, sex, and other characteristics after they were subjected
to some interventions or treatment such as a new method in
teaching English or Math
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. The researcher studies the intellectual development of children at
different ages or grade levels as influenced by certain teaching strategy
ii. The Filipino Child in the Family: A Developmental-Clinical Approach
iii. The Development of Social Awareness Among Filipino Children
iv. A Comprehensive Longitudinal Study of Premature and Low Birth Weight
Filipino Infants

g. Follow-Up Study
- conducted with the goal of finding out what happened to individuals who
completed a program, a treatment, or a course of study
- its evaluative aspect is not only focused on the individual who underwent the
program but also the program itself
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
Follow-up studies among individuals who underwent skills training,
guidance program, instructional program, rehabilitation program, and
those studies whose aim is to determine the efficacy of certain drugs

h. Evaluation Study
- to find out whether or not a given program is working well or an institution is
successful
- the success or failure is measured using its expressed goals as the basis
- it is interested in the outcomes or results of some specific program or policy
- the results of the evaluation study could be a good area of another research
- it can be a requirement for programs seeking for funding
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. Impact Evaluation of Community Extension Services Center Projects in
Adopted Barangays of the University of Iloilo
ii. An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Training Guidance Counselors on
Adolescent Fertility Management
iii. Rural Electrification: Its Effects on People’s Socio-Economic Life and
Aspirations

i. Ethnographic Study
- uses the technique of observation and integration to the group, and
conversation and interviews with the informants
- the aim of the research is to study the characteristics, way of life, belief,
attitudes, fears and hopes of cultural and ethnic groups
- employs a qualitative approach, with few, if any, quantitative data gathering
techniques

j. Relational Study
- the aim of the research is to find out the direction and extent of relationship
between two or more paired variables or two or more sets of data
- it allows estimation of relationship between the study variables (positive or
negative; high or low)
- uses statistical measures of correlation
- determine how much variation happens in one variable in relation with the
variation in another variable
- tries to identify the causes/effects of social phenomena
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- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)

i. Relationship Between Economic Status and Academic
Performance and Career Preference of Senior High School
Students
ii. Correlates of Rural Youth’s Participation in the Rural
Development
iii. PAR Presentation and Individual Case Study Methods:
Implications to Quality Nursing Education

k. Ex Post Facto Study

- means “ from after the fact”
- also known as “causal comparative design”
- the investigator studies the problem by analyzing past events or existing
conditions to determine influence or causation
- the method to use when the aim of the researcher is to find out the existing
differences in the status, behavior, attitude and belief of groups of individuals
- used when the researcher attempts to relate the observed current behavior
with the earlier experiences
- the researcher should be aware that he “does not have the direct control of
independent variables because their manifestations have already occurred or
because the manipulability of these variables is not possible”
- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)
i. Some Factors in Job Satisfaction Among Employees in a Five Star
Hotel in Metro Manila
ii. Psychological Factors Associated with Formation of Ideal Family
Size Among Young Catholic and Muslim Students in Two Cities of
Southern Philippines

l. Replication and Secondary Analysis

- Two questions which have been asked in the research classes or training:

1. Is it alright to repeat or duplicate the same study?

- The answer is “YES”. This means that it is alright to duplicate or replicate
previous studies for as long as the study should be conducted in a different
setting and time using a new set of subjects or individuals.
- Advantages of replication/duplication: It is useful in challenging or verifying
the conclusions of the previous studies. It is used to strengthen the results of
the previous study which may lead to the development of new
generalizations and theories.

2. Is it okay to use data which have been gathered and analyzed by a

researcher?
- The answer of the second question is also “YES”. The said analysis is
technically known as secondary analysis and involves different hypotheses,
research design, and method of statistical analysis.
- Advantages:
a. The new investigator may bring objectivity, a fresh point of view to
the investigation and may think of better question to be raised or
hypotheses to be tested.
b. Secondary analysis may bring greater expertise to the area of
investigation and greater skill in experimental design and statistical
analysis.
c. The reanalysis would involve less expense in both time and money.
d. Secondary analysis may provide useful experience for the students or
research methodology by enabling them to use real data, rather than
simulated or inferior data, for the purpose of exercise.

- Examples: (Ardales, 2008)

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i. Social Change In Mindanao: A Review of the Research of the Decade

ii. Fertility in the Philippines: Further Analysis in the Republic of the
Philippines Fertility Survey in 1978
iii. A second Look at the Unemployment Problem
iv.The 1979 Survey of FP/KAP of MCRAS in Western Mindanao: A
Reanalysis

Other Research Designs:

3. Experimental Research Design
• Pre-experimental Design
a. Posttest only design
b. One group pretest-posttest design
c. Static-group comparison design
• True Experimental Design
d. Pretest-posttest control group design
e. Posttest-only control group design
f. Solomon four-group design
• Quasi Experimental Design
g. Non-equivalent control group design
h. Time-series design
i. Separate sample pretest-posttest design
j. Counterbalanced design

4. Factorial Research Design

5. Action Research Design
6. Participatory Research Design
7. Operations Research Design

Notes:
1. The researcher may use one or more designs. The objectives of the study will determine
the type and the number of designs to be used.
2. The details of each design are not anymore included in the discussion of these designs.