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Research Design Methodologies Explained

This document discusses methodology and research design. It explains that research design involves advance decisions about methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing information. It notes that studies in natural sciences often use an objectivist ontology and positivist epistemology, while social sciences often use interpretive epistemology and constructionist ontology. Research design is based on choices about inductive vs deductive reasoning, qualitative vs quantitative vs mixed methods, theory testing vs theory building, and conceptualizations of facts. Key types of research design discussed are exploratory, descriptive, and analytical. The document emphasizes that research design choices depend on considerations of ontology and epistemology.

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137 views12 pages

Research Design Methodologies Explained

This document discusses methodology and research design. It explains that research design involves advance decisions about methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing information. It notes that studies in natural sciences often use an objectivist ontology and positivist epistemology, while social sciences often use interpretive epistemology and constructionist ontology. Research design is based on choices about inductive vs deductive reasoning, qualitative vs quantitative vs mixed methods, theory testing vs theory building, and conceptualizations of facts. Key types of research design discussed are exploratory, descriptive, and analytical. The document emphasizes that research design choices depend on considerations of ontology and epistemology.

Uploaded by

Sarita Lama
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Methodology and

Research Design

Youba Raj Luintel


Dhruba Karki
Tribhuvan University
Research design is a set of advance decisions that
make up the master plan specifying the methods and
procedures for collecting and analyzing the needed
information.
Choice of Research Strategy…

 Study in the natural sciences often requires an objectivistic


ontology and a positivist epistemology
 Study in the social sciences often requires an interpretive
epistemology and a constructionist ontology
 However, it is occasionally possible to combine these
strategies by coding qualitative data quantitatively (i.e.
measuring ‘love’ making)
Key considerations
 Inductive or deductive?
 Qualitative or quantitative, or mixed-method?
 Theory testing or theory building?
 What is fact = figure?
 Number of women raped
 Number of poor households
 What is fact = meaning and experience
 Lived experience of raped women
 Stories and narratives of poor people living under the poverty line
Research Design is based on:

 Ontology (Does the data exist in a tangible or an intangible form?)


 Objectivism = explain independent external outcomes
 Subjectivism = understand how social factors interact

 Epistemology (How should we be attempting to assess knowledge?)


 Positivism = explain a phenomenon
 Interpretivism = understand a phenomenon
Exploratory Descriptive Analytical

Onset research Explanatory research Experimental

To scope out Describe persons, places, Causal


times
Qual/quan Qual/quan Quantitative
Explores: What and How Who, what, when Why and How
(but not WHY)
Case study, survey polls Larger population, Hypothesis testing
Interviews, Focus group representative sample Dependent/independent
Online survey Cross sectional studies variables
Literature search (secondary Longitudinal studies Control groups
data)
Observation
Often inductive Inductive or deductive Often deductive
Theory building Theory building or testing Theory testing

Often Constructivist Positivist or constructivist Often positivist


1. Exploratory

 To scope out
 To generate some initial ideas (hunces)
 To test the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study
2. Descriptive

 What, where, when


 Making careful observations and detailed documentation
 Statistical measurement
 Or, rich observation (and ideographic)
 Underlying logic of manifest reality
 Meaning making
2. Descriptive …

 Why and how


 Explanations of observed phenomenon
 Underlying logic of manifest reality
 Meaning making
3. Analytical

 A direct assessment of how one variable influences


another
 This allows the establishment of causality
 All other variables must be held constant
 A single (independent) variable is manipulated and the
effect measured/predicted
 Positivist (= a neutral, detachede and value-free
researcher)
What we learn, then?

 Selection of particular Research Design is not a free


choice on the part of the researcher
 It demands many considerations including ontological
and epistemological embeddedness
Thank you!

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