DESCRIPTIVE RESEARCH DESIGN

DEFINITION
Simplified: Only the facts are
recorded. There are no experiments.
The aim is to observe and describe
behaviour. The idea is to understand
the facts objectively. It focuses on
the characteristics, attitudes and
perceptions. In descriptive research
design, a descriptive sample is
selected to observe and define a
population.
● Describes problems and
solutions. Concerned with
describing the characteristics
of a particular individual or a
group of individuals.
ELEMENTS
1. CLEAR DEFINITION OF THE
PROBLEM: Concepts and
theories related need to be
clearly explained.
2. METHODS OF DATA
COLLECTION: Methods to be
adopted should be clearly
explained.
3. PREPARATION OF
INSTRUMENTS: Instruments
must be according to the
objectives, suitable and
understandable for the
respondents, valid, unbiased,
specific, and etc.

OBJECTIVES
4. SAMPLING DESIGN: Should
give full representation to the
CENTRED AROUND DESCRIBING,
population.
PREDICTING, AND STUDYING.
5. DATA COLLECTION AND
ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES:
● Objectively describe a
Should explain the field
phenomenon and collect
conditions. Collected data
factual knowledge about it.
should be examined for its
● It does not explain why the
completeness,
phenomenon exists, or how it
comprehensibility,
works.
consistency, and reliability.
● It is purely observation.

DIFFERENT TYPES

1. UNIVARIATE: Only one

variable is studied.
2. EXPLORATORY: Goal is to
further understand a less
understood phenomenon.
3. COMPARATIVE: Comparing
and contrasting two or more
subjects.
 DESCRIPTIVE CORRELATIONAL
DEFINITION
A descriptive correlational
study is a study in which the
researcher is primarily interested in
describing relationships among
variables, without seeking to
establish a causal connection.
It only observes the
relationship between the two
variables. Descriptive correlational
research can help us understand the
relationship between two variables,
but it cannot answer the question of
cause and e ect. We can only see
whether the variables are related,
but we cannot know how they are
related and how they a ect each
other.
Predictive correlational studies predict
the variance of one or more variables
based on the variance of another
variable.
● It is quantitative.
● It is not experimental.
● Can provide a picture of the
current state of a airs. For
instance, in psychology, it can
be a picture of a given group of
individuals, their thoughts,
behaviours, or feelings.
● GOAL: Get a picture of the
current thoughts, feelings, or
behaviours in a given group of
people.
EXAMPLES
You can either use two
quantitative variables, or two
qualitative variables, or two a
combination of quantitative and a
qualitative variable.
QUANTITATIVE + QUALITATIVE
- The amount of time a person
spends watching television
(quantitative)
- Their interest in sports
(qualitative)
QUANTITATIVE + QUANTITATIVE
- The size of a person's hand
- The size of their shoe
"Is there a correlation between
people's hand size and their shoe
size?"
QUALITATIVE + QUALITATIVE
“Is there a correlation between the
type of school a person goes to
(private / public / religious) and how
religious the person is?”
- The type of school a person
attended
- How religious they are/If they
are religious
 EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH DESIGN
DEFINITION
Experimental research is used
to find a causal relationship. That is:
you want to know WHY, but you do
not want to just observe the
correlation. Experimental research
involves the manipulation of the
independent variable, and you will
have a control group to compare it
to.
This allows you to see how changing
the independent variable is a ecting
the dependent variable.
● Basically the opposite of
Descriptive Correlational. In
DC, your only goal is to find the
relationship between the
variables while in ERD, your
goal is to see the variables’
cause-and-e ect relationship
and how the manipulation of
one variable a ects the other.
CHARACTERISTICS
CHARACTERISTIC 1
The conscious manipulation by the
researcher of a treatment or, more
generically, an independent variable
of interest.
(You have an independent variable
which you purposely manipulate and
change.)
For example, you are trying to find
out if smoking has an e ect on
people's lung health. You are going
to manipulate one group and give
them cigarettes to smoke for 3
months. Then you will manipulate
another group and give them a
placebo. The purpose of this study is
to test if there is a causal
relationship between smoking and
lung health.
INDEPENDENT: Cigarettes
DEPENDENT: Lung Health
CHARACTERISTIC 1
The random assignment of
units to treatment and control
groups.
(You should randomly select the people
who would be part of your
experimental group and control group.
You need to assign people randomly to
your groups. You need to avoid the bias
of choosing people yourself. This will
help keep your experiment fair.)
You don’t want to just go
around asking people if they want to
put a cigarette in their mouth for 3
months. Instead you would have
people come into your lab and
randomly pick if they are in the
experimental or control group.
GOAL/FOCUS
The goal of experimental research is
to find a causal relationship. The
purpose of experimental research is
to see WHY something happens.
APPLICATIONS
1. Agriculture
2. Medicine
3. Biology
4. Marketing Research
5. Industrial Production