Topic 3: Research Approaches and Research Designs

Introduction
In this approach we go to discuss the various research approaches. Approaches in research are
determined philosophical position of the researcher. Research approach then influences the
research methods, techniques of data collection, and analysis and interpretation of the findings.
Objectives
By the end of this topic you should be able to:
1. Mention and explain the various research paradigms
2. Highlight and discuss the various research design.
3. Describe the various philosophical paradigms that influence research design
4. Explain how research design influences research methods
5. Differentiate between quantitative and qualitative research designs

Learning activities

Learning Activity 3.1: Reading

Read the provided topic notes on research approaches and research designs. You have also been
provided with some links to more information of research approaches and design.

Learning Activity 3.2: Submitted Assignment

With illustrations, distinguish between positivist/post-positivist and interpretivist/constructivist
research paradigms Post your article in the journal provided (10 marks)
Learning Activity 3.3: Discussion
i. Discuss the following research designs
i. Descriptive research design (5 marks)
ii. Exploratory research design (5marks)
ii. With illustrations differentiate between sample and sample design (4 marks)
iii. Identify and discuss any three sampling designs used in conducting scientific research (
Post your discussion in the provided discussion forum
Assessment
The submitted assignment in activity 3.2 and 3.3 will be graded
Topic Resources
http://www.modares.ac.ir/uploads/Agr.Oth.Lib.17.pdf
Topic 2 Notes
APPROACHES TO RESEARCH
There are two basic approaches to research. These include quantitative approach and the
qualitative approach.
Qualitative approach:
This research is concerned with subjective assessment of attitudes, opinions and behaviour.
Research in such a situation is a function of researcher’s insights and impressions. Such an
approach to research generates results either in non-quantitative form or in the form which are
not subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis. Generally, the techniques of focus group
interviews, projective techniques and depth interviews are used.

Quantitative approach:
It involves the generation of data in quantitative form/numbers which can be subjected to
rigorous quantitative analysis in a formal and rigid fashion. This approach can be further sub-
classified into inferential, experimental and simulation approaches to research. The purpose of
inferential approach to research is to form a data base from which to infer characteristics or
relationships of population. This usually means survey research where a sample of population is
studied (questioned or observed) to determine its characteristics, and it is then inferred that the
population has the same characteristics. Experimental approach is characterized by much greater
control over the research environment and in this case some variables are manipulated to observe
their effect on other variables. Simulation approach involves the construction of an artificial
environment within which relevant information and data can be generated. This permits an
observation of the dynamic behavior of a system (or its sub-system) under controlled conditions.
The term ‘simulation’ in the context of business and social sciences applications refers to “the
operation of a numerical model that represents the structure of a dynamic process. Given the
values of initial conditions, parameters and exogenous variables, a simulation is run to represent
the behavior of the process over time.”5 Simulation approach can also be useful in building
models for understanding future conditions.

Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

The basic and applied researches can be quantitative or qualitative or even both. Quantitative
research is based on the measurement of quantity or amount. Here a process is expressed or
described in terms of one or more quantities.

The result of this research is essentially a number or a set of numbers. Some of the
characteristics of quantitative re-search/method are:
1. It is numerical, non-descriptive, applies statistics or mathematics and uses
numbers.
2. It is an iterative process whereby evidence is evaluated.
3. The results are often presented in tables and graphs.
4. It is conclusive.
5. It investigates the what , where and when of decision making.
Statistics is the most widely used branch of mathematics in quantitative research. It finds
applications not only in physical sciences but also in economics, social sciences and biology.
Quantitative research using statistical methods often begins with the collection of data based
on a theory or hypothesis or experiment followed by the application of descriptive or inferential
statistical methods.

Qualitative research
Qualitative research is concerned with qualitative phenomenon involving quality. Some of the
characteristics of qualitative research/method are:
1. It is non-numerical, descriptive, applies reasoning and uses words.
2. Its aim is to get the meaning, feeling and describe the situation.
3. Qualitative data cannot be graphed.
4. It is exploratory.
5. It investigates the why and how of decision making.

We measure and weigh things in the study of substance or structure. Can we measure or weigh
patterns? We cannot measure or weigh patterns. But to study patterns we must map a
configuration of relationships. That is, structures involve quantities whereas patterns involve
qualities. If one wishes to investigate why certain data are random then it is a qualitative
research. If the aim is to study how random the data is, what is the mean, variance and
distribution function then it becomes quantitative. Explaining how digestion of food takes place
in our body is a qualitative description. It does not involve any numbers or data and quantities.
1. The detection of a particular compound is a quantitative analysis. This can be done by
carrying out physical or chemical tests.
2. Determination of exact amount of a particular compound present in a volume is
essentially quantitative analysis.
3. This can be done by volumetric, gravimetric and colorimetric methods or instrumental
methods.
4. Experimental and simulation studies are generally quantitative research.
5. In fact, qualitative methods can be used to understand the meaning of the numbers
obtained by quantitative methods.

RESEARCH DESIGN
A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a
manner that aims to combine relevance to the research purpose with economy in procedure. It is
the conceptual structure within which research is conducted; it constitutes the blueprint for the
collection, measurement and analysis of data (Kothari, 2009). A research design therefore
includes an outline of what the researcher will do from writing the hypothesis and its operational
implications to the final analysis of data. Research design is a sort of work plan detailing what
ought to be done to complete the project (Murray, 2006). Research design a logical sequence of
activities that describes relationships among proposed research activities ultimately connecting
data to a study questions and conclusions (Yin, 2009). This logical model stipulates the logical
flow of events in the research process ultimately allowing the researcher to draw conclusions,
relationships, and causal relationships that exist among the variables under scrutiny.
Welman and Kruger (2001) argue that the research design is the strategy or plan which is used to
acquire participants or subjects, how to collect and what type of data to collect form then, in
order to arrive at conclusions about the initial research questions. In other words, the research
design articulates what data is required, what methods are going to be used to collect and analyze
this data, and how all of this is going to answer your research question
In formulating a research design the following decision are made:
1. What is the study about?
2. Why is the study being made?
3. Where will the study be carried out?
4. What type of data is required?
5. Where can the required data be found?
6. What periods of time will the study include?
7. What will be the sample design?
8. What techniques of data collection will be used?
9. How will the data be analyzed?
10. In what style will the report be prepared?

Based on the above decisions, the overall research design can be split into the following parts:
1. The sampling design which deals with the method of selecting items to be observed for
the given study;
2. The observational design which relates to the conditions under which the observations are
to be made;
3. The statistical design which concerns with the question of how many items are to be
observed and how the information and data gathered are to be analyzed; and
4. The operational design which deals with the techniques by which the procedures
specified in the sampling, statistical and observational designs can be carried out.

Importance of Research Design

1. The design helps the researcher to organize his ideas in a form whereby it will be possible
for him to look for flaws and inadequacies.
2. Research design, has a great bearing on the reliability of the results arrived at and as such
constitutes the firm foundation of the entire edifice of the research work.
3. Research design facilitates the smooth sailing of the various research operations, thereby
making research as efficient as possible yielding maximal information with minimal
expenditure of effort, time and money.

Features of Good Research design

1. It should give smallest experimental error
2. It should minimizes bias in research
3. It should maximizes the reliability of the data collected and analyzed
4. It should be flexible to provide an opportunity for considering many different aspects of
a problem
5. It should be related to the purpose or objective of the research problem and also with the
nature of the problem to be studied
Preparation of the research design involves consideration of the following:
1. The means of obtaining information
2. Availability and skills of the researcher and his staff
3. Explanation of the way in which selected means of obtaining information will be
organized and the reasoning leading to the selection
4. The time available for research
5. The cost factor relating to research

TYPES OF RESEARCH DESIGNS

Bryman and Bell (2007) identify five types of research designs, namely:
a) Experimental design, which is unusual in management research due to the challenge of
accomplishing exact control levels when dealing with organizational behavior.
b) Cross-sectional design or social survey design, which involves data collection on
several cases during the same time frame in order to collect qualitative or quantitative
data related to two or more variables, in an effort to determine associations between the
variables after the data has been analyzed. This study can therefore be classified as a
cross-sectional design, because both qualitative or quantitative data were collected on
several variables during the same time.
c) Longitudinal design is specifically used to monitor changes over a period of time in the
relevant research environment.
d) Case study design is an intensive examination of a particular situation or instance.
e) Comparative design is where identical or contrasting cases are studied, and the
similarities or differences are reported.

Marczyk, G et al (2005: 138-172) point out there are endless ways to classify research designs.
In their analysis they provide three broad categories: experimental, quasi-experimental, and
nonexperimental. Most authors distinguish between experimental, quasi-experimental and non-
experimental research designs. In accordance with the common literature we further adapt to the
general categorization between experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental research
designs.

Experimental Designs
Both experimental and quasi-experimental research can either take place in a laboratory or in the
field. The results on has discovered in the laboratory environment to the “real world”, because
what we try to avoid by means of a laboratory setting (i.e. the confounds) is exactly what we are
confronted with in the real world. Hence laboratory setting lack external validity. So in most
cases one can either achieve internal or external validity (Bortz & Döring, 2006; Huber, 2005).
In which participants are randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The design is
appropriate in studies concerned with establishment of relationship between variable or
hypothesis testing. In an experiment the researcher investigates the effect of a treatment by
comparing at least two groups that experienced different types of treatment. If those groups
received no treatment at all it’s called control group. This design is most appropriate in
controlled settings such as laboratories. It attempts to explore cause and affect relationships
where causes can be manipulated to produce different kinds of effects. Such design is expensive
and used in medical, computer science and psychology fields.
Basic Principles of Experimental Designs
a) Principle of Replication
According to the Principle of Replication, the experiment should be repeated more than once.
Thus, each treatment is applied in many experimental units instead of one. By doing so the
statistical accuracy of the experiments is increased.
b) Principle of Randomization
The Principle of Randomization provides protection against the effect of extraneous factors by
randomization. In other words, this principle indicates that we should design or plan the
experiment in such a way that the variations caused by extraneous factors can all be combined
under the general heading of “chance.”
c) Principle of Local Control
Dividing a phenomenon into various parts to compare results and even reduce experimental error
by means of a two-way analysis of variance
-Control and experimental group

Quasi-Experimental Designs
Random assignment is perfect in ensuring internal validity of a research study, but not always
feasible in real world environments. If randomized designs are not feasible, researchers make of
quasi-experimental designs.

Nonexperimental, quasi-Experimental designs can provide information from which to draw

causal inferences, this is not the case with for nonexperimental designs (i.e., descriptive and
correlational designs). These designs have no control over extraneous and other variables and the
environment of the study. The most widely used approaches in nonexpereimental designs are
case studies, naturalistic observation, surveys, and focus groups.

a) Case studies which carry out an in-depth analysis of a single case (person or few people)
with an aim of providing accurate and complete description of the case.
b) Naturalistic Observation involves observing organisms in their natural settings for
example observing children playing in the school playground to learn about their
socialization.
c) Survey studies which ask a large number of people questions about their behaviors,
attitudes and opinions. Some surveys are merely descriptive but others attempt to
establish relationships among variables and such are referred to as correlational studies.
d) Focus groups-Focus compromise of formally structured, organized group of individuals
assembled together to discuss a subject(s) or issue during a specified period of time.

Most common non-experimental research design types

a) Exploratory research. It is a type of research design utilized in studies where there are
no earlier studies to refer to. This is the most useful (and appropriate) research design for
those projects that are addressing a subject about which there are high levels of
uncertainty and ignorance about the subject, and when the problem is not very well
understood (i.e. very little existing research on the subject matter). The major emphasis
in such studies is on the discovery of ideas and insights of phenomenon under
investigation.
 b) Descriptive research design. It is a type of research design utilized in studies concerned
with describing the characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group, with
manipulation of conditions. The main aim of descriptive research is to provide an
accurate and valid representation of (encapsulate) the factors or variables that pertain /
are relevant to the research question. The design is only concerned with narration of facts
and characteristics concerning individual, group or situation. Most of the social
researches utilize descriptive research design. In this design , the researcher must be able
to define clearly, what he wants to measure and must find adequate methods for
measuring it along with a clear cut definition of ‘population’ he wants to study.
Creswell (2009) gives a method oriented classification when he distinguishes qualitative,
quantitative and a mixed methods approach as the three research design types. Building on his
“six core dimension” and the possible combinations of those Vaus (2001) mentions “four broad
types of [research] designs” (p.48):
1. experimental,
2. Longitudinal
3. cross-sectional designs
4. case studies.

The most common non-experimental research design types though are:

a) Exploratory research. It is a type of research design utilized in studies where there are
no earlier studies to refer to. This is the most useful (and appropriate) research design for
those projects that are addressing a subject about which there are high levels of
uncertainty and ignorance about the subject, and when the problem is not very well
understood (i.e. very little existing research on the subject matter). The major emphasis
in such studies is on the discovery of ideas and insights of phenomenon under
investigation.
b) Descriptive research design. It is a type of research design utilized in studies concerned
with describing the characteristics of a particular individual, or of a group, with
manipulation of conditions. The main aim of descriptive research is to provide an
accurate and valid representation of (encapsulate) the factors or variables that pertain /
are relevant to the research question. The design is only concerned with narration of facts
and characteristics concerning individual, group or situation. Most of the social
researches utilize descriptive research design. In this design , the researcher must be able
to define clearly, what he wants to measure and must find adequate methods for
measuring it along with a clear cut definition of ‘population’ he wants to study.
c) Case Study research design
Case study research design involves an in-depth study of an individual or group of
individuals. Case studies often lead to testable hypotheses and allow us to study rare
phenomena. Case study design should not be used to determine cause and effect, and
they have limited use for making accurate predictions. There are two serious problems
with case studies — expectancy effects and atypical individuals. Expectancy effects
include the experimenter’s underlying biases that might affect the actions taken while
conducting research. These biases can lead to misrepresenting participants’ descriptions.
Describing atypical individuals may lead to poor generalizations and detract from
external validity.
 d) Correlational Research Design - It attempts to explore relationships to make
predictions. It uses one set of subjects with two or more variables for each. It is a design
in which scores on two variables are simply measured without manipulation of any
variables, to determine whether there is a relationship. Correlational research design
examines the relationship between two or more non-manipulated variables. e.g What is
the relationship between birth order and education? What is the relationship between
cigarettes smoked in a day and health care costs? What is the relationship between how
close to the front you sit in a classroom and your grade in class? What is the relationship
between software piracy and the laws of copyright?

e) Longitudinal research design

It is a research design is a type of research method used to discover relationships between
variables that are not related to various background variables. This observational research
technique involves studying the same group of individuals over an extended period of
time. Data is first collected at the outset of the study, and may then be gathered
repeatedly throughout the length of the study. In some cases, longitudinal studies can last
several decades.
It is a research design where a sample of the population is studied at intervals to examine
the effects of development. In a longitudinal design, you have a group of people and you
study something about them. Then you collect their contact information. After a set
amount of time - be it weeks, months or years - the participants are called and asked to
return.
Tests are re-administered to see what changes are in the participants. The benefit of this
type of research is that it allows researchers to look at changes over time. Because of this,
longitudinal methods are particularly useful when studying development and lifespan
issues.
However, longitudinal studies require enormous amounts of time and are often quite
expensive. Because of this, these studies often have only a small group of subjects, which
makes it difficult to apply the results to a larger population. Another problem is that
participants sometimes drop out of the study, shrinking the sample size and decreasing
the amount of data collected.

Such research design is more structured than exploratory research. The design in such studies
must be rigid and not flexible and must focus attention on the following:
1. Formulating the objective of the study (what the study is about and why is it being
made?)
2. Designing the methods of data collection (what techniques of gathering data will
be adopted?)
3. Selecting the sample (how much material will be needed?)
4. Collecting the data (where can the required data be found and with what time
period should the data be related?)
5. Processing and analyzing the data.
6. Reporting the findings.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS
There are two main approaches to a research problem, qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Quantitative research generates numerical data or information that can be converted into
numbers. Quantitative researches are evaluated against the strengths and weaknesses of
statistical, quantitative research methods and analysis. Qualitative Research on the other hand
generates non-numerical data. It focuses on gathering of mainly verbal data rather than
measurements. Gathered information is then analyzed in an interpretative manner, subjective,
impressionistic or even diagnostic. Qualitative research which adopts an interpretive approach to
data and considers the subjective meanings people hold about a particular situation.

RESEARCH DESIGN ASSOCIATED WITH THE QUANTITATIVE APPROACH

Strategies of inquiry associated with quantitative research are adopted by those who appeal to the
positivist/post positivist perspectives. Surveys, experiments, quasi-experiments and correlational
studies are considered good examples of studies quantitative research and are therefore evaluated
against the strengths and weaknesses of statistical, quantitative research methods and analysis
(Creswell, 2003). As earlier discussed experiments exposes a randomly selected sample to
experimental and control groups research conditions. The less vigorous quasi-experiments use
nonrandomized designs. Surveys that include cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies using
questionnaires or structured interviews for data collection with the intent of generalizing from
a sample to a population. Surveys that include correlational studies seek to establish relationships
among variables

RESEARCH DESIGN ASSOCIATED WITH THE QUALITATIVE APPROACH

Strategies of inquiry associated with qualitative research are adopted by those who appeal to the
constructivist/interpretivist perspectives. These approaches are adopted by narrative researchers.
This assignment has drawn the following strategies from a number of books
a) Ethnographies, in which the researcher studies an intact cultural group in a natural
setting over a prolonged period of time by collecting, primarily, observational data
(Creswell, 2003).
b) Grounded theory in which the researcher attempts to derive a general, abstract
theory of a process, action, or interaction grounded in the views of participants in
a study. This process involves using multiple stages of data collection and the refinement
and interrelationship of categories of information.
c) Case studies, in which the researcher explores in depth a program, and event, and
activity, a process, or one or more individuals. Case studies carry out an in-depth
analysis of a single case (person or few people) with an aim of providing accurate and
complete description of the case, (Marczyk, G et al, 2005)
d) Phenomenological research, in which the researcher identifies the "essence" of
human experiences concerning a phenomenon, as described by participants in a study.
Understanding the "lived experiences" marks phenomenology as a philosophy as well
as a method, and the procedure involves studying a small number of subjects through
extensive and prolonged engagement to develop patterns and relationships of meaning
(Creswell, 2003)
e) Narrative research a form of inquiry in which the researcher studies the lives of
individuals and asks one or more individuals to provide stories about their lives. This
information is then retold or restoried by the researcher into a narrative chronology. In
 the end, the narrative combines views form the participant's life with those of the
researcher's life in a collaborative narrative (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000).
f) Naturalistic Observation involves observing organisms in their natural settings for
example observing children playing in the school playground to learn about their
socialization (Cohen et al, 2007)
g) Descriptive Survey studies which ask a large number of people questions about their
behaviors, attitudes and opinions (Cohen et al, 2007)
h) Focus groups were originally developed for market research have become principle
methods in qualitative research among social scientists. Focus compromise of formally
structured, organized group of individuals assembled together to discuss a subject(s) or
issue during a specified period of time (Cohen et al, 2007)