Chapter Three

Research Design
Research Design
 is the most important element of any research work.
 must be developed, immediately after the research problem has
been formulated.
 refers to the plan, structure, and strategy of research
conceived so as to obtain answers to research questions--the
blueprint that will guide the research process.
 It is a master plan specifying the methods and procedures
for collecting and analyzing the needed information.
Features of Research Design
 is always based on the research question.
 guides the selection of sources and types of data needed.
 is a framework for specifying the relationships among the
study’s variables.
 outlines procedures for every research activity.
 The design which minimizes bias and maximizes the
reliability of the data collected and analyzed is considered a good
design.
Research Design …
 preparation of appropriate research design involves
consideration of the following:
 Research Paradigm
 Objectives of the study
 Methods of data collection to be adopted
 Source of data- sampling design
 Tools for data collection
 The measurement procedures
 Data analysis
 Reporting the results
 Research Paradigms
Questions of method are secondary to questions of paradigm
the basic belief system or world view that guides the
investigation.
is a way of framing what we know, what we can know, and how
we can know it.
Guides not only in choices of methods but in ontologically and
epistemologically fundamental ways.
Also known as research philosophy that contains important
assumptions about the way in which you view the world.
 underpins your research strategy and the methods you choose as
part of that strategy
Epistemology, Ontology and Methodology
• are major ways of thinking about research philosophy:
 Epistemology and Ontology.
 centre primarily on the development of knowledge and theory but
which, in turn, have helped shape approaches to research..
1. Epistemology
• Addresses the question, “How do researchers know what they
know?”
• Deals with what constitutes acceptable knowledge in a field of
study.
• organizes and explains knowledge in the form of theories.
• Theory
o A “generalizable” explanation of a phenomenon.
o An organized framework of knowledge
Epistemology, Ontology, …
2.Ontology
• is concerned with nature of reality.
• Addresses a question “How do researchers conceptualize
what they study?”
• raises questions of the assumptions researchers have about
the way the world operates and the commitment held to
particular views.
• The two aspects of ontology are objectivism and
subjectivism.
• Objectivism: states that social entities exist in reality
external to social actors.
 Ex.: management activities are based on job descriptions
Epistemology, Ontology, …
• Subjectivism: holds that social phenomena are created from
the perceptions and consequent actions of those social actors.
• is a continual process in that through the process of social
interaction these social phenomena are in a constant state of
revision.
• is related to social constructionism which stresses the
necessity of exploring the subjective meanings motivating the
actions of social actors.
• Social constructionism views reality as being socially
constructed.
• Ex.: Customers may have different interpretations of the same
situation based on their perceptions.
Epistemology, Ontology, …
3. Methodology
• Addresses the question, “ How do researchers select
their methods and tools?”
• How the researcher accesses and reports what is learned
about the reality.
• Procedures for making knowledge valid and
authoritative.
• Can be quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods
depending on the paradigm chosen.
Common Research Paradigms
Based on our ontological and epistemological orientations,
we can have the following paradigms to follow:
1. Positivism: is guided by the principles of objectivity,
knowability, and deductive logic.
• operates from the assumption that society can and should
be studied empirically and scientifically.
• Value free- abandon their biases and values in a quest for
objective, empirical, and knowable truth.
2. Interpretivism: suggests that it is necessary for
researchers to understand the differences amongst
humans as social actors
• emphasis is on conducting research among people
Common Research Paradigms…
3. Social constructionism: posits that “truth” is a varying,
socially constructed, and ever-changing notion .
• We create reality ourselves through our interactions and
our interpretations of those interactions.
• social context and interaction frame our realities.
4. Critical paradigm: focuses on power, inequality, and social
change.
 Unlike the positivist paradigm, the critical paradigm
posits that social science can never be truly objective or
value-free.
Categories of Research Design
The way you formulate your research question and
objectives determine the types of research design to
use.
This is about the purpose of your research.
The classification of research purpose most often used
in the research methods’ literature identifies three
types of research design: Exploratory, Descriptive
and Causal.
Descriptive Research
It is simple to understand as the name itself suggests
that it involves describing something as it exists at
present, such as:
 characteristics or functions;
 estimate the percentage of customers in a particular
group exhibiting the same purchase behavior;
 perceptions of product characteristics; and
 is undertaken to provide answers to questions of
who, what, where, and when but not how and
why.
Causal Research

It is used to obtain evidence of cause-and-effect

relationships which is otherwise known as the
independent-dependent relationship or the
predictive relationships.
Causality may be thought of as understanding a
phenomenon in terms of conditional statements of
the form “If x, then y.”
Causal Research….
 Causal study can be done:
To identify which variables are the causes and which
are the effects.
In statistical terms, causal variables are called
independent variables and effectual variables are
called dependent variables.
To determine the nature of the relationship between
the causal variables and the effect to be predicted.
Causal research requires a strong degree of
planning on the design stage as its success depends
on the structure of the design.
Exploratory Research
 Exploratory research is used in a number of situations:
 To gain background information.
 To define terms, to clarify problems and hypotheses, to
establish research priorities
 when the researcher does not know much about
the problem and needs additional information or
requires new or more recent information.
 The main emphasis of such study is on the discovery of
ideas and insights
Research Onion
END