1. Formulating the research design
Based on Ch5

2. The research ’onion’

3. 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

4. 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.)

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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)

8. 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

9. Methodological choice: quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods

10. 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.

11. 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…

12. 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

13. Mixed methods designs
Concurrent = egyidejű

14. Reasons to use mixed methods design

16. 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.

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

18. 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:

20. 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.

21. Archival or documentary research
A study of recorded human communication:

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

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

24. 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.

26. Choosing a time horizont
Cross-sectional
Longitudinal

27. Quality of the research design
Validity
Reliability

28. Threats to reliability

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

31. 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

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

36. Aids to the researchers
Ethical guidelines
Ethical codes
Research ethics comittees