Research Design - Unit 3 Dr. Jeanie M. Thorndike

Research Design The research design is the master plan specifying the methods and procedures for collecting and analyzing the needed information (i.e., data).

Types of Research Design Three traditional categories of research design: Exploratory Descriptive Causal The choice of the appropriate design depends largely on the objectives of the research and and how much is known about the problem and the objectives.

Basic Research Designs Exploratory Research Descriptive Research Causal Research

Exploratory Research Objective and Design Exploratory research is used in a number of settings: To gain background information To define terms To clarify problems and hypotheses To establish research priorities To develop questions to be answered A variety of methods are used to conduct exploratory research designs: Experience surveys Focus groups Case analysis Secondary data analysis

Descriptive Research Objective and Design Is undertaken to answer questions of who, what, when, where, and how, but not why Two Classifications of descriptive research studies: Cross-sectional studies Measure units from a sample of the population at only one point in time. Samples are drawn is such a way as to be representative of a specific population Longitudinal studies Repeatedly draw sample units over time

Causal Research Objective and Design To determine causality To test hypotheses To make “if – then” statements “If x, then y.” To answer questions Causal relationships are typically determined by the use of experiments