Formulating the research design Based on Ch5

The research ’onion’

The research design The way you turn your research questions (RQs) into a research project. Objectives (derived from the RQs) Sources of data Data collection plan Data analysis plan Constraint management Ethical considerations

Research design Plan + Structure + Strategy of investigation to obtain answers to research questions or problems. How the full research is to be completed? (operationalizing the variables, selecting the sample, data collection etc.)

Functions of research design Conceptualise an operational plan to undertake the various procedures and tasks Ensure that the procedures will obtain valid, objective and accurate answers to teh research question.

Elements of designing a research Methodological choice: Mono or multiple method quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods Recognising the purpose of design Exploratory (what is happening, gaining insight) Descriptive (accurate profile of sg) Explanatory (causality) Evaluate (how well sg works) Combined

Elements of designing a research Choosing a research strategy: Experiment Survey Archival and documentary research Case study (!) Action research (emergent and iterative; solutions to real problems; participative&collaborative; mixed knowledge) Grounded theory (reality is socially constructed; developing explanations to social interactions; inductive/abductive)

Elements of designing a research Choosing a time horizon: Cross sectional Longitudinal Establishing the ethics of the research Establishing the quality of the research Reliability Validity Researcher’s role: external, internal

Methodological choice: quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods

Quantitative methods Mostly positivist; or realist, pragmatist. Highly structured, standardized data collection techniques Usually associated with a deductive theory building and then testing its results. Sometimes inductive approach can also be involved. Examines relationships between numeric variables. Statistical and graphical techniques. Principally associated with experimental or survey strategies.

Qualitative methods Interpretative philosophy (or realist, pragmatist). Mainly non-standardized data collection techniques Usually associated with an inductive theory building and then testing its results. Sometimes deductive approach can also be involved. Various research strategies: action research, case study, ethnography, grounded theory…

Multi-methods designs Multi-method qualitative: various methods to collect data but all of them are qualitative Multi-method quantitative: various methods to collect data but all of them are quantitative

Mixed methods designs Concurrent = egyidejű

Reasons to use mixed methods design

Choosing a research strategy Research strategy: a plan of how a researcher will go about answering its research question. It is the methodological link between philosophy and data collection and analysis.

Recognise the purpose of the research design Explore Describe Explain Evaluate Combined purpose

Experiment Studying the connection between independent and dependent variables. Experiments involve (1) taking action and (2)observing the consequences of that action. The classical experiment:

Survey Associated with deductive approach. Tends to be used for exploratory and descriptive purposes: what, who, where, how much, how many? Explanatory or evaluative research can also built on the created database.

Archival or documentary research A study of recorded human communication:

Case study The in-depth examination of a single instance of some (social) phenomenon.

Action research An emergent and iterative process of inquiry that is designed to develop solutions to real problems through a participative and collaborative approach.

Grounded theory An inductive approach to the study of social life that attempts to generate a theory from the constant comparing of unfolding observations. This is very different from hypothesis testing, in which theory is used to generate hypotheses to be tested through observations. Grounded Theory Method (GTM): An inductive approach to research,in which theories are generated solely from an examination of data rather than being derived deductively.

Choosing a time horizont Cross-sectional Longitudinal

Quality of the research design Validity Reliability

Threats to reliability

Threats to validity Internal validity: causal relationship External validity: generalizability

Translating research questions into data Problem Concepts Research question(s), aims, hypotheses Variables: Dependent Independent Mediating: in-between, explains the relationship Moderator: affects the relationship Control: need to be constant Confounding: difficult to measure, need to be considered Planned analyzing method: level of measurement Items in the questionnaire: understandable, fool-proof, cost-efficient Recorded data: from the questionnaire, from other data source (eg. notes, registers, background knowledge etc.), computed variables

Ethical considerations Definition: standards and norms about what is good or wrong

Aids to the researchers Ethical guidelines Ethical codes Research ethics comittees