RESEARCH DESIGNS

Dr. Khalid Manzoor Butt

Research Design
• Research interest of social investigators are virtually unlimited.

• Any social setting is a potential target for scientific examination.

• The diversity of possible social topics and/or situations investigated,

most contemporary social scientific research is characterized by some
type of study plan.

• The study plan is conventionally labeled as research design.

Research Design
• Kirk (1968,p.1) and Selltiz et al. (1959, p.50) indicate that research
designs are plans that specify how data should be collected and analyzed.
• No single research design is university applicable for all social researchers
at any particular time.

• Each type of research design function to allow the investigators to conduct

social inquiry in different ways and at different levels of sophistication.
Selecting on the kinds of questions an investigator wishes to answer.

• The decision to select the best design of the three (in view of the social
question to be answered) involves sequencing the weakness, strengths and
function of each research plan with the researcher's interests and obtaining
the best fit.
Some Major Functions of Research Design
• Regardless of the type of research design selected by the social
investigator, all plans perform one or more functions outlined.

• The number of functions performed by any design largely depends upon

the sophistication of it coupled with the researcher's concerns.

• The most important function of the research design is that they provide
the researcher with a blueprint for studying social questions.

• Without adequate drawings and plans, a homebuilder would become

burdened with insurmountable problems such as where to place the
foundation, what kinds and qualities of material to use, how many
workers are required, how large should the home be and so on.
Some Major Functions of Research Design
• By the same token, a social researcher faces comparable obstacles if he
commences his study without some kind of research plan. To minimize
his research problems, there are several decisions he should make
before beginning his project.
(Every selected action needs justification)
1. description of the target population about which he seeks
information.
2. The sampling methods used to obtain his elements.
3. The size of sample.
4. The data collection procedures to be used to acquire the needed
information.
5. Possible way of analyzing the data once collected.
6. Whether or not to use statistical tests.
 Some Major Functions of Research Design
• Research designs dictate boundaries of research activity and enable the
investigator to channel his energies in specific directions.

• Without the delineation of research boundaries and/or objectives, an

research’s activities in a single project could be virtually endless.

• The structure provided by the research plan enables the investigator to

reach closure and consider any given project completed.

• It enables the investigator to anticipate potential problems in the

implementation of the study. It is customary for researchers to review,
they may learn about new or alternative approaches to their problems.
Some Major Functions of Research Design
• Many articles in the professional journals, as well as specialized
monograph, include suggestions for further study.

• More important, many authors provide criticism of their own work so

that future investigations of the same or similar topics may be
improved.
Research Design Objectives
• Selltiz et al. (1959, p.50) indicate that research design are closely linked
to an investigator’s objectives. Accordingly, they specify that research
design are exploratory, descriptive, and/or experimental in nature.
Consistent with these types of research design, they delineate four major
purpose of social research.

• 1. to gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to gain insights.

• 2.To describe things.
• 3. To determine associations between or among variables.
• 4.To test hypothesis.
Research Design Objectives
• It has been noted that a common function of research design is to
assist the investigator in providing answers to various kinds of social
questions.

• Research designs are guidelines for investigative activity and not

necessarily hard-and-fast rules that must remain unbroken.
 Exploratory Objectives
• It is assumed that the investigator has little or no knowledge about the
problem or situation under investigation (beggars-gamblers)

• Exploratory research has as one of its chief merits the discovery of

potentially significant factors that may be assessed in greater detail and
depth at a later date and with a more sophisticated type or research design.

• For instance, if a researcher wanted to study social interaction patters of

inmates in prison system but knew little or nothing about the structure and
functioning of penal institutions, an exploratory research project would be
in order.
• A preliminary investigation of several prison setting and interviews with
wardens and/ or other prison officials would enable the researcher to
develop a more sophisticated and specific study plan.
 Descriptive Objectives
• Descriptive studies provide researcher with a vast amount of information about
many social settings.

• Description of the occupational role of truck drivers/beggars.

• Contrasted with exploratory studies, descriptive design are more specific in that
they pay direct attention to particular aspects or dimensions of the research target.
• Descriptive studies can reveal potential relationship between variables, thus
setting the stage for more elaborated investigation later.

• Design with the objectives of experimentation implicitly include the control of

variables.

• The researcher experiments by observing the effects of one or more variables

upon others under controlled conditions (better class teacher better results)
A Basic outline for a Research Proposal
• Ideally all social research is preceded by a research proposal.
• A research proposal is a relatively brief statement of the problem to
be investigated. It also include specific study objectives, a
representative.

• Review of the literature pertinent to the problem, a theoretical and/or

substantive justification for the study, and some methodological
guidelines to follow.

• The research proposal is referred to by different names. For instance,

a doctoral student preparing for a doctoral dissertation may refer to
the research proposal as a dissertation proposal. A master’s candidate
may prepare a thesis prospectus.
A Basic outline for a Research Proposal
• Others may simply refer to the proposal as a research plan.

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Statement of Objectives
• 3. Review of the Literature
• 4. Theoretical structure and /or conceptual scheme.
• 5. Hypotheses
• 6. Methodology
• 7. Statement of theoretical and substantive implications.
Introduction
• The introduction of a research proposal should place the problem to
be studied in some kind of historical perspective.

• The researcher should briefly illustrate the historical development of

the current problem under investigation.

• He should also locate his particular interests in the problem fairly

precisely. In short, the researcher reveals the problem to be studied
and what dimension or dimension of it will be given extensive
analysis or treatment.
Statement of objectives
• What the researcher wishes to accomplish as a result of his
investigative activity. What are the specific goals to be achieved?
Sometimes this section is broken down into such part to include
major and minor objectives or questions.

• In this event the researcher possibly arranges his objectives in a

hierarchical fashion, listening them from most important to least
important.

• Decisions as to how many objectives will be identified are based on

the breadth of the research, the interests of the investigator, time, cost
and man-power considerations. Some studies may have a single
objective, whereas other projects may have twenty or thirty of them.
Statement of objectives
• If a researcher has too many research objectives, he may encounter
great difficulty in trying to tie together a lot of loose ends.

• Too many research objectives also necessitate a more complex

theoretical scheme. Therefore, it is recommended that the investigator
limit his objectives to a reasonable number.
Review of the Literature
• The literature review is designed to familiarize the investigator with
any relevant information pertaining to the topic being studied.
• In a research proposal it is usually not necessary to discuss all
literature uncovered by the research. A positive feature of a proposal
literature review is to highlight representative ideas from articles
and books on the subject treated.

• For instance, if there are 1000 articles on a particular topic that

reflect varying and opposing points of view, the investigator may
select 10 or 20 of them that seems to represent the major viewpoints
and conflicting opinions and/or findings. Of course, when a
dissertation or thesis is involved, the expectation may be that the
researcher reviews a much larger portion of literature in the final
research report.
Review of the Literature
• If the research topic is relatively new, it is likely that little or no
information exists in the available literature.

• It is assumed that the researcher has presented the articles reviewed in

a coherent fashion and has woven them together meaningfully in the
main presentation. A summary following their presentation will be of
great value to the reader as well as the researcher.

• Researcher should make every effort to present articles.

• That represents a balance position. Discussing articles favorable to
one point of view while ignoring those favoring an opposing point of
view reflects researcher bias.
Theoretical Structure
• In a sense this section of the research proposal is the heart of it. This
is where the researcher formulates and develops an explanation for
the relationships between the variables he is investigating. How does
it come to be some that variable X and Y are associated with one
another?

• Included here are the assumptions, propositions and definitions the

researcher uses to develop the explanatory framework upon which the
entire research project rests. Subsequent research will either supporter
fail to support the existing theoretical framework presented here.
Hypotheses
• A tentative solution of the problem.

• Hypotheses are logically deduced from the theoretical framework.

• Hypotheses may be viewed as specific statements of theory in testable

form.

• It should be noted that usually the number of hypotheses coincides

closely with the objectives of the project stated earlier.
Methodology
• The methodology section makes explicit the study design and
constitutes the “how to do it” phase.

• 1. the population to be studied:

• 2. The type of sampling plan to be followed:
• 3. the size of sample to be drawn:
The Pilot Study
• Although it is not essential for researchers to conduct preliminary
investigations of more extensive projects, it seems well worth the
time and effort in many instances to conduct what is known as a pilot
study.

• Pilot studies are usually considered to be trial investigations of

specific research problems that will be treated more intensively at a
later date. Just as various products are tested on small consumer
audiences prior to large-scale manufacture, distribution and
marketing.