Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Tenth Edition
Paul D. Leedy
Jeanne Ellis Ormrod
Descriptive Research
Descriptive Research Designs
• Observation Studies
• Correlational Research
• Developmental Designs
• Survey Research
• Divide the observation period into small segments and record whether
the behavior does or does not occur in each segment.
• Have two or three people rate the same behavior independently, without
knowledge of one another’s ratings.
• Train the raters to use specific criteria when counting or evaluating the
behavior; continue training until consistent ratings are obtained for any
single occurrence of the behavior.
• Cross-sectional studies are easier to conduct because all of the data can
be collected at one time. In a longitudinal study, data is collected over
a period of months or years and participants may drop out.
• The researcher begins with two or more age groups (the cross-sectional
piece) and follows each age group over a period of time (the
longitudinal piece).
• face-to-face interview
• telephone interview
• written questionnaire
• the Internet
• Structured or semistructured
• Structured
• Accessible participants
16. Save controversial questions for the latter part of the interview.
1. Keep it short.
5. Give a rationale for any item for which the purpose is unclear.
10. Conduct one or more pilot tests to determine the validity of your
questionnaire.
11. Scrutinize the almost-final product one more time to make sure it
addresses your needs.
6. Be gently persistent.
Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e 8-22
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
Practical Application:
Computerizing Data Collection in Descriptive Research
5. Use the computer to monitor the quality of the data being collected.
▪ What specific data will I need to solve the research problem and subproblems?
▪ What procedures do I need to get the information? How should I implement the
procedures?
▪ How do I get a sample that is truly reflective of the entire population about which
I am concerned?
▪ How do I control for possible bias in the collection and description of data?
▪ What do I do with the data once I have collected them? How do I organize them
and prepare them for analysis?
Leedy & Ormrod
Practical Research: Planning and Design, 10e 8-30
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.