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Classification and Types of Research

I. Unit 1 : Classification and Types of Research

II. Course Objectives:

At the end of this module, you should be able to:

1. Classify research according to design and methodology.

2. Identify the types of research
3. Describe the importance of e-research.
4. Identify the research misconduct.

III. Content / Delivery

CLASSIFICATION OF RESEARCH
According to design and methodology, a research can be qualitative or quantitative in nature.
The first aims to describe, predict and explain. The second aims to explore and describe. There
is also a third type called the mixed-method research (Types of Quantitative Research, n.d.).

Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is a traditional, positivist, scientific method which refers to a general set
order by disciplined procedures to acquire information (de Belen, 2015).

According to Cristobal & Cristobal (2013), quantitative research utilizes a deductive reasoning
to generate predictions that are tested in the real world.

It is “systematic”. It means that the researcher progresses logically through a series of steps
according to a pre-specified plan of action.

Quantitative researchers gather empirical evidence – evidence that is rooted in objective

reality and gathered directly or indirectly through the senses.

The evidence for a study is gathered according to the established plan through structured
instruments. Usually the information gathered in such study is quantitative, i.e., numeric
information that results from some type of formal measurement, and is analyzed with statistical
procedures.

To assess the quality of quantitative studies, the commonly used is the degree to which
research findings can be generalized to individuals other than those who participated in the study
(Referred to as the generality of the research). It is based on the concepts of manipulation and
control of phenomena and the verification of results validating empirical data. It frequently uses
a deductive or theory-testing approach.
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Classification and Types of Research

Types of Quantitative Research

Quantitative Research is a type of empirical investigation. It means that the research focuses
on verifiable observation. Most often this type of research is expressed in numbers. A researcher
will represent and manipulate certain observation that they are studying.

There are four basic types of quantitative research, these are:

1. Survey Research
Survey research uses interviews, questionnaires, and sampling to get a sense of
behavior with intense precision. It allows researchers to judge behavior and then present findings
in an accurate way. Survey research can be conducted around one group specifically or used to
compare several groups.

2. Correlational Research
Tests for the relationship between two variables. Performing correlational research is
done to establish what the effect of one on the other might be and how that affects the
relationship. The purpose is to use two or more variables to better understand the conditions of
events that we encounter, to predict future conditions and events and correlation does not always
mean causation.

3. Causal-Comparative Research
It looks to uncover a case and effect relationship. This research is not conducted
between the two groups on each other. They look solely for a statistical relationship between the
two variables it tries to identify, specifically, how the different groups are affected by the same
circumstance. Causal-comparative research involves comparison. The study of two or more
groups is done without focusing on their relations. The use of statistical analysis is engaged the
data.

4. Experimental Research
An experimental research is guided specifically by a hypothesis. Sometimes it can have
several hypotheses. A hypothesis is a statement to be proven or disproved.

Quantitative Research Designs

Experimental Designs
This is concerned with cause-and-effect relationships in which all experimental studies
involve manipulation or control of the independent variable (causes) and measurement of the
dependent variables (effects). Mill, cited in Sevilla 2003 stated that this design utilizes the
principles of research known as the method of difference. This means that the effect of a single
variable applied to the situation can be assessed, and the difference likewise be determined.

In experimental research, the intervening or extraneous variables are not part of the study but
are believed to influence study outcomes. Campbell & Stanley, cited in Niewiadomy (2004)
labeled these are threats to internal and external validity.
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The internal validity is the degree to which changes in the dependent variable can be
attributed to the independent variable. External validity, however, is the degree to which the
changes in the dependent variable can be attributed to the extraneous variables.

Following are types of experimental designs.

True experimental designs

 Pretest-posttest control design
 Posttest only control design
 Solomon four-group

Quasi-experimental designs
 Non-equivalent
 Time series

Pre-experimental designs
 One-shot case study
 One group pretest
 Posttest

Non-experimental Designs
This is a research conducted without manipulation of the independent variable and random
assignment of the participants to group. De Belen (2015) explained that non-experimental
research put forward a lot of alternative explanations for the relationship of the variables under
study. It cannot simply conclude the cause and effect of relationships but offer other explanations.
Johnson (2007) cited categories that cannot be manipulated such as gender, parenting style,
learning style, ethnicity, retention in grade and others.

Following are types of non-experimental designs.

 Action studies
 Comparative studies
 Developmental studies
 Evaluation studies
 Meta-analysis studies
 Methodological studies
 Needs assessment studies
 Secondary analysis studies
 Survey studies
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Classification and Types of Research

Qualitative Research
Qualitative research deals with understanding human behavior in a natural setting. It is
naturalistic in nature because it studies human behavior and the reasons that govern it,
(Sanchez, 2003). The emphasis is on the complexity of humans and their ability to shape and
create their own experience. Naturalistic investigations place heavy emphasis on understanding
the human experience as if is lived, usually through collections and analysis of data that are
narrative and subjective.

Qualitative research focuses on:

1. Gaining insights on and an understanding of the individual’s perception of events;
2. Concerned with in-depth descriptions of people on events and their interpretation of
experiences;
3. Data are collected through unstructured interviews and participant observation.
4. The research is to synthesize the patterns and the theories in data.
5. Not limited by existing theories but must be open to new ideas and theories.

Qualitative research emphasizes the dynamic, holistic, and individual aspects of human
experience within the context of those who are experiencing them.

The collection and analysis of information progresses as the researcher sifts through the
information. Insights are gained, new questions emerge and further evidence is sought to confirm
the insights.

The limitations of this model are:

1. It is reductionist, it reduces human experience to just a few concepts under investigation;
2. The subjective nature of naturalistic inquiry, which sometimes causes concerns about the
nature of conclusions, and
3. Most naturalistic studies involve a relatively small group of people.

Type of Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is designed to reveal a target audience’s range of behavior and the
perceptions that drive it with reference to specific topics or issues. It uses in-depth studies of
small groups of people to guide and support the construction of hypotheses. The result of
qualitative research are descriptive rather than predictive. Qualitative research aims to gain
insight, explore the depth, riches and complexity inherent in the phenomenon.

Specific qualitative approaches are:

1. Phenomenology
The purpose is to describe experiences as they are lived. It examines uniqueness of
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individual’s lived situations. Each person has its own reality, reality is subjective. It has no
clearly defined steps to avoid limiting creativity of researchers.

2. Ethnography
The purpose is to describe a culture’s characteristics. It identifies culture, variables for
study, and review literature. In data collection, the researcher gains entrance to culture,
immerse self in culture, acquire informants, gather data through direct observation and
interaction with subject.

It involves the collection and analysis of the data about cultural groups or minorities. The
researcher frequently lives with the people and becomes a part of their culture. During the
immersion process, the researcher must talk to the key persons and personalities called the
key informants who can provide important data.

3. Historical
The purpose of historical study is to describe and examine events of the past to
understand the present and anticipate potential further effects. The method includes, formatting
idea, develop research outline to organize, investigate and collect data.

It concerns with the identification, location, evaluation, and synthesis of data from the
past. It is locating facts and relating them to the present and to the future. The data are usually
found in documents or in relics and artifacts. Data can also be obtained through oral reports.
These materials can be found in various sources like libraries, archives and personal directions.

Sources are:
a. Primary Sources: Once histories, written records, diaries, eyewitnesses’ accounts,
pictures, videos and other physical evidences,

b. Secondary Sources: Second-hand information, i.e., a person narrates information heard

from the original sources, or a material written as an abstract of the diaries and other original
materials. Any source to be used for historical research must pass the hallmarks of 1. Internal
criticism (involves establishing the authenticity or originality of the materials by looking at the
consistency of information;) and 2. External criticism based on the analysis of the printed
materials; the ink and the type of paper used; the layout and physical appearance; and age
and texture.

4. Case study
The purpose of case study is to describe in-depth experience of one person, family, group,
community or institution. It is direct observation and interaction with the subject. Data collection
includes interview with audiotape and videotape, direct, has participants’ observation, field notes,
journal, and logs.

The purposes are:

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 To gain insights into a little-known problem

 Provide background data for broader studies; and
 Explain socio-psychological and socio-cultural processes

According to Sanchez (2002), a case study involves a comprehensive and extensive

examinations of a particular individual, group or situation over a period of time. It provides
information on where to draw conclusion, and about the impact of a significant event on a
person’s life.

Phrases in a Qualitative Study

Polit (2006) cited three (3) phrases of qualitative study. These are:

1. Orientation and Overview

The first phrase is to determine what is salient about the phenomenon or culture of
interest.

2. Focused Exploration
It involves focused scrutiny and in-depth exploration of the aspects of the phenomenon
judged to be salient. The questions asked and the types of people invited are shaped based on
the outcome of the first phrase.

3. Confirmation and Closure

The researcher undertakes efforts to prove that her/his findings are trustworthy, often
going back to the study and discussing her/his understanding of it with the participants.

Mixed Methods Research Design

This third type of research is defined by Johnson & Onwuegbuzie (2004) as the class of
research where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative and qualitative research
techniques.

Researchers must know the characteristics of quantitative and qualitative research

techniques. It includes the use of induction (discovery of the problems), deduction (testing of
theories and hypothesis) and abduction (uncovering and relying on the best of a set of
explanations for understanding one’s results. The quoted authors recommend the mixed
research in education because they believe that “when two different approaches are used to
study the same phenomenon and produce the same result, the researchers have superior
evidence for the result.”
The Two Common Types of Mixed Research Design are:
1. Mixed method research in which “the researcher uses the qualitative paradigm for one
phase of the study and the quantitative paradigm for another phase of the study.”
2. Mixed model research in which “the research mixes both qualitative and quantitative
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Classification and Types of Research

research approaches within a stage of the study or across the stages of the research process”.
(Johnson, 2007).

Five Major Purposes or Rationales for Conducting Mixed Methods

1. Triangulation
Katigbak (2006) cited that triangulation is seeking convergencies and corroboration of results
from different methods and designs studying the same phenomenon.

2. Complementary
Seeking collaboration, enhancement, illustration and clarification of the results from one
method with results from the other method.

3. Initiation
Discovering paradoxes and contradictions that lead to a re-framing of the research question.

4. Development
Using the findings from one method to help inform the other method.

5. Expansion
Seeking to expand the breadth and range of research by using different methods for different
inquiry components.

Introduction to E-Research
The concept of eResearch, is “linking people to resources,” this could mean putting people
together to make use of high performing computers and to IT professionals in order to make
research easy.

Traditionally. Central to research activities are the librarians, they make resource materials
available to researchers by storing, managing, preserving scholarly materials. They create
vertical files, classify materials for easy access. In other words, librarians are trained to reduce
research materials to facilitate accessibility by having to form and collaborate to share published
works. But because of changes in digital landscape, browsing over with voluminous, dated, and
sometimes dusty reference materials take so much of the researchers’ time. It became an
unlikely endeavor among them. While other institutions exerted efforts to provide for materials in
digital form through Open Personal Access Catalog (OPAC) system, the fast-changing digital
landscape has now outrun the responses of colleges and universities to meet specific research
needs for computing infrastructure in their libraries. The role of libraries has changed from
acquiring scholarly published materials to that managing scholarship in collaboration with
researchers who develop and use these data (Lynch in Goldenberg-Hart, 2004). The reason is
obvious, they face the risk to fade from existence if they do not respond to the changing
environment.
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Classification and Types of Research

The term, eResearch is the term applied to the use of advance information and
communication technologies (ICT’s) to the practice of research. The activities include
collaboration, high performance computing, visualization, research data management and tools
(eResearch, n.d.).

The trend toward collaborative research enables individuals to accomplish studies that are
beyond the coverage of individual researchers. It made the processing and sharing of data in
greater quantities and of greater complexities open to researcher which was never done before.
The use of eResearch allows researchers to conduct research activities beyond and across many
institutions, adopt various tools and methodologies through shared digital collections, advanced
data curation, annotation tools and high computing and visualization (What is eResearch, n.d.).

E-research, (in another term format), is defined as a broader term that includes nonscientific
research but also refers to large-scale, distributed, national or global collaboration in research.
Practically, it entails harnessing the capacity of information and communication technology (ICT)
systems, particularly the power of high-capacity distributed computing, and the vast distributed
storage capacity fuelled by the reducing cost of memory, to study complex problems across
research landscape (ARC, 2005).

E-research has provided opportunities to see existing researches in a new light. The need to
add field materials, new “finds” and stored in digitally appropriate format is important in building
rich data to be used for different types of research. However, accessibility of these data could
not be possible without the capabilities offered through cyberinfrastructure. Now, let us explore
on the use of the new terms that the readers are likely to encounter with e-research in
(EDUCAUSE Review, November-December, 2005).;

Cyberinfrastructure refers to the computing and network infrastructure that enables

research environments such as the “collaboratory, co-laboratory, grid community network, virtual
Science community, e-science community, while

Grid is a specific element of cyberinfrastructure that is crucial in the development of e-

research which enables the sharing of data in the form of collection of data repositories,
specialized scientific equipment, computing power and knowledge services (EDUCAUSE, 2005).

Middleware is essentially the software that provides standard community tools and services
for knowledge management and knowledge sharing.

As expounded by Applebe and Bannon (2007), eResearch projects do not just use IT
technology, rather they are reliant on IT technology and organizational support to achieve the
outcomes of research. The table that follows provides a comparison between traditional and
eResearch framework (Appelbe & Bannon, 2007).
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Classification and Types of Research

Thus, a researcher is presented with a choice to attain the goals of research. The adoption of
eResearch is highly dependent on online collaboration. Its technologies can be applicable to
wider range of domains. Its tools can improve research outcomes through;

 Improved collaboration – through data sharing

 Utilization of local, national IT infrastructure – through data services, web services,
portals and systems
 Accessing data repositories and collections – base line data for multidisciplinary needs
 Utilizing advanced computing facilities – for larger searches or perform greater
simulation practices
 Managing and reusing research data – store data and preserve data.

Research Misconducts
 Fabrication - making up data or results and recording or reporting them.
 Falsification - manipulating research materials, or changing or omitting data or results
such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record.
 Plagiarism - the appropriation of another person's ideas, processes, results, or words
without giving appropriate credit.
 Research misconduct does not include honest error or differences of opinion.

IV. Reference/s:
 Almeida, Adelaida B., Ed.D. Gaerlan, Amelita, Ph.D. Manly, Norita E., Ph.D. Research
Fundamentals from Concept to Output. Adriana Publisher.
 https://libguides.library.cityu.edu.hk/researchmethods/ethics
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Classification and Types of Research

V. Formative Assessment

True or False. Carefully read the statement. Write True if the statement is
correct, otherwise, False if the statement is incorrect. Place your answer on
the left-side of the number.

1. According to design and methodology, a research can be qualitative or quantitative in

nature.
2. In experimental research, the intervening or extraneous variables are part of the study
but are believed to not influence study outcomes.
3. An experimental research is guided specifically by a hypothesis.
4. Qualitative research emphasizes the dynamic, holistic, and individual aspects of human
experience within the context of those who are experiencing them.
5. Qualitative research deals with understanding human behavior in a complex setting.
6. Phenomenology involves the collection and analysis of the data about cultural groups or
minorities.
7. The first phase in a qualitative study is to determine what is salient about the
phenomenon or culture of interest.
8. The purpose of case study is to describe-in-depth experience of one person, family,
group, community or institution.
9. Mixed methods research design is where the researcher mixes or combines quantitative
and qualitative research techniques.
10. Initiation is seeking collaboration, enhancement, illustration and clarification of the
results from one method with results from the other method.
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Classification and Types of Research

VI. Assignment

Instructions. Instructions: Identify the following statement given below. Choose what type of
quantitative research designs are being identified. Write the letter of the correct answer.

A B C D
True experimental Quasi-experimental Pre-experimental Non-experimental
designs designs designs designs

1. Action studies
2. Non-equivalent
3. Pretest-posttest control design
4. Meta-analysis studies
5. One-shot case study
6. Solomon four-group
7. Developmental studies
8. Survey studies
9. Time series
10. One group pretest
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Classification and Types of Research

VII. Evaluation
Instructions. Encircle the letter of the correct answer and strictly no erasure.

1. Is a traditional, positivist, scientific method which refers to a general set order by

disciplined procedures to acquire information.
A. Quantitative Research
B. Evaluation Research
C. Qualitative Research
D. Experimental Research

2. Uses interviews, questionnaires, and sampling to get a sense of behavior with intense
precision.
A. Survey Research
B. Correlational Research
C. Experimental Research
D. Causal Research

3. It looks to uncover a cause and effect relationship.

A. Correlational Research
B. Causal-Comparative Research
C. Experimental Research

4. The purpose of this research is to use two or more variables to better understand the
conditions of events that we encounter, to predict future conditions and events.
A. Survey Research
B. Correlational Research
C. Experimental Research
D. Descriptive Research

5. Experimental design utilizes the principles of research known as the __________.

A. Method of difference
B. Effect of a single variable

C. Intervening or extraneous variables

D. Indirect Variables

6. Is the degree to which changes in the dependent variable can be attributed to the
independent variable.
A. External validity
B. Internal validity
C. Validity
D. Evaluation

7. This is a research conducted without manipulation of the independent variable and

random assignment of the participants to group.
A. Experimental designs
B. Pre-experimental designs
C. Non-experimental designs
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Classification and Types of Research

D. Post-Evaluation

8. The purpose of this qualitative approach is to describe experiences as they are lived. It
examines uniqueness of individual’s lived situations.
A. Historical
B. Ethnography
C. Phenomenology

9. The purpose of this qualitative approach is to describe a culture’s characteristics.

A. Historical
B. Ethnography
C. Phenomenology
D. Experimental

10. Is essentially the software that provides standard community tools and services for
knowledge management and knowledge sharing
A. Cyber infrastructure
B. Middleware
C. Grid
D. Courseware

VIII. Research Study

Instructions. Visit your library. Got to the thesis area. Use the template to complete the Matrix
of Research below. Give at least two (2).

Matrix of Research
Dimensions
Title of Classification Types of Purpose Time/Year Data
Researcher/Author
Research of Research Research Collection
Technique

Prepared by:

Dr. Ronaldo S. Tinio, CCpE/MCP

Consultant, CpE