Designing Your Study and Selecting a Sample Chapter Four Designing Your Study and Selecting a Sample

Overview A research design is a plan or map. To design a study, you must Select a topic for a research study. Focus this topic and shape it into a research problem that reflects your theoretical framework. Select the sample to be studied.

Selecting a Topic Choose a question are you genuinely curious about and motivated to answer! Research topics most often come from observing and asking questions about your everyday activities. They can also come from social and political issues, from the literature on a topic, or from theory.

The Problem Statement A problem statement is usually no more than two pages long. It states the context of the study, the gap in the knowledge base, and the significance of the problem. It ends with the purpose statement and three or four research questions.

The Theoretical Framework A theoretical framework consists of the concepts or theories that inform your study, and is derived from the orientation or stance that you bring to your study. It generates the “problem” of the study, specific research questions, data collection and analysis techniques, and how you will interpret your findings. A study proposal or report without a clearly articulated theoretical framework may be rejected by selection committees and publication outlets.

The Theoretical Framework, Cont’d. You can visualize the relationship of the theoretical framework to the purpose of your study as a set of nested boxes. Theoretical Framework Problem Statement Purpose of Study

Reviewing the Literature “Literature” = theoretical or conceptual writing + empirical data-based research studies The literature review is a a narrative essay that integrates, synthesizes, and critiques the important thinking and research on a particular topic. You may feel shy about “criticizing” past scholarship, given the negative overtone of that word, but the ability to evaluate literature critically is a desirable trait in a researcher.

Literature Review: Why? Literature review helps you Identify the theoretical framework of your study. Shape the problem statement. Choose efficient research designs and data collection techniques. Support how the study is framed and concepts are defined. Demonstrate the study’s necessity and importance. Place the study in the context of the knowledge base.

Literature Review: How? Define the scope of the search. Check bibliographies, indexes, and abstracts that reference specific aspects of the topic. Decide which full-length resources to obtain. Obtain and review full-text documents, carefully noting bibliographical references. Begin developing an annotated bibliography. Write the review once you recognize that you have covered all of the relevant literature in the area, or know the literature well enough to cite studies, people, dates, theories, historical trends, and so on.

Sampling Purposeful Sampling: Selecting an “information-rich” sample from which the most can be learned about the issues central to the purpose of the inquiry. You must establish and give rationales for your criteria. Theoretical Sampling: An ongoing, iterative sample selection process in which analysis occurs simultaneously with identifying the sample and collecting the data. Two-Tier Sampling in Qualitative Case Studies: First, establish the criteria that will guide case selection and then select a case (or cases) that meets those criteria. Then, do some sampling within the case, unless you plan to interview, observe, or analyze all the people, activities, or documents within the case.

How Many in the Sample? There are no simple rules for determining sample size! Stop sampling when You have an adequate number of participants, sites, or activities to answer the question posed in the purpose statement. No new information is forthcoming from new sampled units. If you are submitting a proposal that requires you to state sample size, you can offer an approximate number of units to be included and adjust it in the course of the investigation.